Urban Land Use Models :: Papers

Urban Land Use Models Often in geography models are used to try to explain something that we can see in the physical environment. During the 20th century a number of models were developed to try to explain how urban areas grew. Although models show a very general idea of the shape of the city, all of the ones described here have aspects that can be seen in most cities in the developed and developing world. The Burgess Model In 1925, E.W. Burgess presented an urban land use model, which divided cities in a set of concentric circles expanding from the downtown to the suburbs. This representation was built from Burgess's observations of a number of American cities, notably Chicago. According to this model, a large city is divided in concentric zones with a tendency of each inner zone to expand in the other zone. Urban growth is thus a process of expansion and recon version of land uses. For instance on this figure zone II (Factory zone) is expanding towards zone IV (Working class zone), creating a transition zone with recon version of land use. Although the Burgess model is simple and elegant, it has drawn numerous criticisms: * The model is too simple and limited in historical and cultural applications up to the 1950s. It is a product of its time. * The model was developed when American cities were growing very fast in demographic terms and when individual transportation was still uncommon. Expansion thus involved recon version of land uses. This concept cannot be applied in a contemporary (second half to the 20th century) context where highways have enabled urban development to escape the recon version process and settle in the suburbs. * The model was developed for American cities and has limited applicability elsewhere. It has been demonstrated that