1. Urban
Geography
Chapter 9

2. City – a conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to
serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics.
Urban-The buildup of the central city and the suburban realm – the
city and the surrounding environs connected to the city.

3. 20th Century-the Urban Century
• 1900 only 13 cities had 1
million people
• 1999 about 362 cities had
1 million
• By 2025 there will be 650
cities of 1 million or more
• Sometime in 21st cent. The
world will become mostly
urban
• Western Europe, US &
Canada are 4/5 urban
• China and India are only
3/10 urban

4. Urban Definitions
• Urban-a general term for
towns, cities and
suburban areas
• City-nucleated settlement
with many functions and
a central business district
• Town-small than a city-
less complex
• Suburb-subsidiary area
that is exclusively
residential, commercial or
industrial-not self
sufficient.

5. Urban Morphology
The layout of a city, its
physical form and
structure.
Berlin, Germany
With wall (above)
And without wall
(right)

6. Ancient Cities
• Between 7,000 & 5,000
b.p. agricultural societies
became more complex
with irrigation & larger
scale farming
• Stratified societies
developed with priests,
merchants,
administrators, soldiers
and farmers
• Central authority or the
state developed which led
to the rise of ancient
civilizations such as Egypt,
Greece & the Roman
Empire.

7. Urban Definitions
• Central City-main city around
which suburbs have grown
• Urbanized area-continuously
built up area with buildings &
population density with no
reference to political
boundaries
• Metropolitan area-a large
scale functional entity
containing several urbanized
areas that are integrated as
an economic whole

8. Attributes of Cities
• Centers of political
power • Cultural and Artistic
• Centers of industrial pursuits
power • Centers of education
• Centers of technology and research
• A market place for • Entertainment of all
goods types
• Specialization in • Sports teams, arenas
products and services and parks
• Services of all types • An anchor of society
• Medical advances

9. Five Hearths of Urbanization
• Mesopotamia, 3500 BCE
• Nile River Valley, 3200 BCE
• Indus River Valley, 2200 BCE
• Huang He and Wei River Valleys, 1500 BCE
• Mesoamerica, 200 BCE

10. Five Hearths of Urbanization
In each of these hearths, an agricultural surplus and social
stratification created the conditions necessary for cities to
form and be maintained.

11. Function & Location
• Earliest civilizations probably
developed with the need for
organization to create irrigation
and provide enough food
• Availability of water, good
farmland and defensible sites
helped certain towns thrive
• Positions on travel & trade
routes created urban growth.
• Urban elites or decision makers
evolved.
• Writing made the codification of
laws and record keeping
possible.

13. Maya and Aztec America

14. Theocratic Centers
• God-kings or theocratic
rulers developed in some
ancient cities.
• Priests, temples and
shrines took center stage
in the Yucatan,
Guatemala and Honduras
when the Maya Indians
developed the great cities
of Tikal, Chichen-Itza,
Uxmal and Copan.
• They also served as
educational centers with
teachers and
philosophers