CITB02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter week5: Highway, Concentric Zone Model
MICHAEL DEAR: THE LOS ANGELES SCHOOL OF URBANISM – AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
-LA school methods are qualitative, left of the political spectrum, Neo-Marxist, agree
that urban development is driven by capitalist self-interest
-Considered to post-modernist
-Chicago school looks at city as:
oModernist city is unified whole (coherent regional system in which the center
organizes its hinterland)
oIndividual-centered understanding of the urban conditions say that indiv.
Choices explain overall urban condition, including spatial structure, crime,
poverty, racism
oA linear evolutionist paradigm in which processes lead the city to get better over
time
- Most noticeable concept of Chicago school was the concentric zone model proposed by
Burgess
oMain ecological metaphors used to describe the uniform land surface, universal
access to single-centered city, competition for space, notion that development
occurs outward form core these metaphors included invasion, succession, and
segregation
oCore of model had CBD surrounded by a transitional zone w/ older private
houses being turned into offices/light industry immigrants were attracted to
this area
oTransitional zone was succeeded by working-men’s homes w/ stable social
groups
oThen had the middle-class residential zone
oFinally had the commute zone
- His model was a broad generalization and not meant ot be taken very seriously (b/c
topography, simplicity etc)
- City was noted to grow in a star shape w/ highways radiating form center scholars
observed that once variaitons arose in land uses near the city center, they tended to
persist as the city expanded
oCity centers grew out of the CBD (often organized along major highways)
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Michael dear: the los angeles school of urbanism an intellectual history. La school methods are qualitative, left of the political spectrum, neo-marxist, agree that urban development is driven by capitalist self-interest. Chicago school looks at city as: modernist city is unified whole (coherent regional system in which the center organizes its hinterland, individual-centered understanding of the urban conditions say that indiv. Choices explain overall urban condition, including spatial structure, crime, poverty, racism: a linear evolutionist paradigm in which processes lead the city to get better over time. Most noticeable concept of chicago school was the concentric zone model proposed by. His model was a broad generalization and not meant ot be taken very seriously (b/c topography, simplicity etc) Other urbanists proposed that cities have a cellular structure in which land uses develop around multiple-growth nuclei as a consequence of accessibility.
