URBAN GEOGRAPHY REVIEWER

the sorting out of population groups according to conscious preferences for associating with one group
or another through bias and prejudice

Segregation

Apartheid, (Afrikaans: “apartness”) policy that governed relations between South Africa's white minority
and nonwhite majority and sanctioned racial segregation and political and economic discrimination
against nonwhites

agricultural production that exceeds the needs of the society for which it is being produced, and may be
exported or stored for future times.

Agricultural surplus

Social stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. In the
United States, it is perfectly clear that some groups have greater status, power, and wealth than other
groups.

Stratified social system

a means to re-organize, re-order society....

Modern work as a response to the problems of the industrial, capitalist cities of Europe

Urban Planning

a term coined by sociologist Saskia Sassen to mean a major city that acts as a control center for the
global economy.

Global city

what a place represents as compared to other places

symbolism

the ways in which spatial patterns and cities are shaped and influenced by the residents.

Social Space

The idea that the urban condition replaces industrialization as driving issue of historical change.

Urban Revolution
The shift in ownership of spaces from public to private.

Privitization

Emotional connections people feel towards specific places.

Place attachment

Specific sites shaped by lives of humans. Much more emotional and sentimental

Places

Geographic entities with distinct shapes. Very abstract concept that's generic and statistical.

Spaces

What was the favorite street game in a medieval town?

Soccer

How could a peasant become a free man?

Reinvented much of the economic system that would lead the West to global leadership. Power based
on economic activity.

venice

public place and market in Greek city-state

Agora

religious and political building in Greek city-state

Acropolis

Western Europe

birthplace of industrial revol. and first to have high level of urbanization

Civilization

an advanced state of human society in which a level of culture, science, industry, and governemt has
been reached

Cities with huge command and control power. Highly influential in a global context. The Global Triad
centred around Global Cities: New York, London and Hong Kong/ Singapore

Global Cities

Five Early Urban Hearths

Posted on September 19, 2018 by Rashid Faridi

Mesapotamia

The first urban settlements are thought to have started around 3500BC in lower Mesopotamia (Sumer)
around the Tigris and Euphrates. First was Ur, which from 2300 BC to 2180BC was the capital city of the
Sumerian Kingdom, extending north along the Fertile Crescent, possibly as far as the Mediterranean. In
the year 1885BC Ur and the other southern cities were captured by Babylonians.

An Important milestone in development of urban settlements were Zigurrat. Ziggurats were built by
many civilizations namely Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians

Egypt

There is still an open debate over whether it was diffusion or independent inventions but it is probable
that agricultural and other advanced technologies, possibly including city-building, diffused across the
Fertile Crescent, then south-west into the Nile valley. By 3500BC a number of the Neolithic farm hamlets
along the lower Nile had expanded to ‘overgrown village’ status and formed clusters of several
politically independent units, each containing sizeable irrigation projects like Qanat. The transition from
settled agricultural communities to cities taken place around 3300 BC when the lower Nile region was
unified by the first pharaoh, Menes. The early Egyptian cities were not as large and as densely populated
as those of Mesopotamian cities because of the practice of changing the site of the capital, usually the
largest settlement, with the succession of a new pharaoh limited the growth opportunity of any single
city and the security provided by extensive desert on both sides of the Nile which meant that once the
valley was unified politically, Egyptian cities, unlike those of Mesopotamia, did not require elaborate
fortifications and garrisoned troops for protection.

The Indus Valley

The Harappa civilisation dates around 2500 BC in the Indus valley in present-day Pakistan. Twin famous
capital cities distinguished it, a northern one of Harappa in the Punjab and Mohenjo-Daro, 500 km down
the river. The Indus valley towns were planned and the layout of each town was in marked contrast to
the organic growth of Mesopotamian cities such as Ur. Both cities were designed on a grid pattern with
wide, straight streets forming rectangular blocks. Socio-spatial segregation was prevalent, with blocks
or precincts occupied by a specific group such as potters, weavers, metalworkers and the elite. Each city
covered approximately one square mile in area and accommodated around 20,000 people.
The Harappa kingdom was ruled from the twin capitals by a single ‘priest-king’ with absolute power in
his hand . Some evidence of trade with the Sumerian city-states by 2000 BC are found but the
unchanging material culture and still undeciphered written language suggest that, in contrast to the
cities of the Nile valley, the Harappa culture and cities emerged on their own. Following a thousand
years of stability, the Harappa civilization was phased out.

The Yellow River

The valley of the Huangho ,the Yellow River(Yellow in colour due to Loess) was the birthplace of the
Shang civilisation that came into existence around 1800BC. The most significant feature is that individual
cities, such as An-Yang, were linked into a network of agricultural villages; a town wall did not separate
an urban subculture from a rural one. This form of ‘urban region’ is notably without precedent in the
early civilisations of Mesopotamia, the Nile and the Indus.

The layout of the cities shared that of other ancient urban areas of Asia, similar to ones in Egypt and
Mexico: a central core with the surrounding area divided into four regions, one for each of the cardinal
directions.

Mesoamerica

The earliest cities in the New World appeared around 200 BC—in southern Mexico (Yucatan),
Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Thus Mesoamerican peoples were entering a stage of development
equivalent to the Neolithic of the Old World at a time when Mesopotamian cities were 2,000 years old.
Of the several civilisations that evolved in Mesoamerica, the Mayan, which flourished between AD 300
and AD 1000, was the most culturally advanced. Cities such as Tikal, Vaxactum and Mayapán were
centres of small states ruled by a leader drawn from a priest-hood and organised into a loose
confederation. Mesoamerican society was highly stratified, with the elite occupying central city land
around the palaces and temples, and the lower classes occupying the periphery of urban settlement.
City design was highly advanced.

Globalisation

Globalisation means that the world is becoming interconnected by trade and culture exchange.

Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of
massively increased trade and cultural exchange. Globalisation has increased the production of goods
and services. The biggest companies are no longer national firms but multinational corporations with
subsidiaries in many countries.
Globalisation has been taking place for hundreds of years, but has sped up enormously over the last
half-century.

Globalisation has resulted in:

increased international trade

a company operating in more than one country

greater dependence on the global economy

freer movement of capital, goods, and services

recognition of companies such as McDonalds and Starbucks in LEDCs

Defining glocalisation

Glocalisation: The adaptation of a global product for a local market place. The word comes from an
amalgamation of the words globalisation and localisation.

Globalisation: The spread of economic, cultural and social ideas across the world.

Localisation: The act of operating locally in terms of employees, product, supply of raw materials, etc.

The aim of nearly all companies is to maximise profits. Therefore TNCs glocalise their products in order
to increase market share and increase profits. Other reasons why TNCs may glocalise include:

To meet health and safety regulations

To meet electrical requirements e.g. voltage, plug type

To meet local laws

To match availability of components, produce, etc.

To meet local customs and tastes e.g. no pork in a Muslim country or beef in an Hindu country

To meet socio-economic status of market place

To meet local climatic or terrain conditions

To match local languages and ideas of acceptability

MacDonalds is a great example of this, even opening a vegetarian restaurant:

McDo’s goes Veggie: “The world’s second-biggest restaurant chain after Subway already tailors its
menus to suit local tastes — which in India means no beef to avoid offending Hindus and no pork to
cater for Muslim requirements.

It will open its first vegetarian outlet in the middle of next year near the Golden Temple in the Sikh holy
city of Amritsar in northern India, where religious authorities forbid consumption of meat at the shrine.

“It will be the first time we have opened a vegetarian restaurant in the world,” a spokesman for
McDonald’s in northern India, Rajesh Kumar Maini, told AFP.”

McDonalds is probably one of the best examples of how TNCs adapt their global brand and products to
adapt to the local market place. Despite having nearly 70 million customers daily in over 30,000
restaurants in nearly 120 countries worldwide, it is constantly trying to expand and increase its market
share. Below is a list of some ways that McDonald’s has adapted its brand and products to increase its
market share:

In Muslim countries pork has been removed from the menu

In Hindu countries beef has been removed from the menu

In Muslim countries halal food is used and in Jewish countries kosher food is used

Certain local festivals or customs maybe celebrated e.g. during Ramadan in Muslim countries,
McDonald’s will offer Iftar buffets at the breaking of fast.

The types of burgers/products are changed to local tastes e.g. McRice in Indonesia

The number of McCafe’s have been increased in localities with a coffee culture or office workers in a
hurry

The number of drive-thrus or playgrounds maybe increased in locations with a large numbers of car
owners or children

In France, Ronald McDonald was replaced by Asterix as the company logo

In locations Antigua in Guatemala McDonald’s has changed its store frontage to blend in with local
architecture

Staff have different uniforms depending on local culture

Changing language of menus, signs, etc.

URBAN PROCESSES
Invasion

one land use function enters into another land use zone.

Succession

the invading function becomes the dominant function.

Urban redevelopment

mainly small scale redevelopment initiated by private owners or developers.

gentrification

the restoration of run down older, inner city buildings

agglomeration

the grouping together of different or related land use functions that benefit from each other's land use
operations or share common infrastructure.

aggregation

the grouping together of similar or compatible land use functions either vertically or horizontally.

Segregation’

process where dissimilar or incompatible land use function repel each other in order to avoid land use
conflict.

Urban Blight

poor quality, deteriorating structures.

Urban sprawl

the low density outward growth of urban area into the surrounding rural lands and natural ecosystems.

planning

official government policies/strategies to formalise land use zones by grouping compatible land.

What is the minimum population CONCENTRATION of an Urban area?

What is the minimum population DENSITY of an Urban area?

- 1,000

-400 ppl/km2
Urban

A process of expansion of cities in term of size (area and population), growing importance of cities as
central places and cities ability to attract more people from other places into their domains - the process
of becoming urban.

• A group of cities that has merged into one or the expansion of several cities in a particular area into
one continuous city.

Megalopolis:

A metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million people.

Mega city

country more economically ahead and with greater technological advantages

more developed country

A country that is at a relatively early stage in the process of economic development and technological
advances.

Less Developed country

the theories of urban origins are... hydraulic, economic, military, religious,

hydraulic theory: _______ authority organized ______ and administered ________ (assigned _____ over

_________) central / labor / surplus / rights / resources

hydraulic theory: ______ is a system in which every farmer was compelled to pay either a part of his
_______ and / or by his _______ taxation / harvest / labor

economic theory: cities evolved because they were in need of a ________ marketplace

earliest cities: Uruk, Sumer had neighborhoods based on _________, _____ roads, _______ ____ built,
access was limited by _____ and ______, and had _______ growth in the city

occupation / major / outside walls / walls and gates / organic

diffusion of urbanization: changes in balance between people and their resources could promote or
hinder _____ ______ urban growth

URBAN GEOGRAPHY

quantitative & qualitative study of towns & cities around the world, their development, spatial form,
attributes, dynamism and interdependencies with other places
URBAN ECOLOGY

SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION of city districts and neighborhoods (ethnic neighborhoods,
gentrification proc

esses); new concern with urban environmental quality, green spaces, park

describes WAY OF LIFE fosters in urban settings; the distinctive attitudes, values, and patterns of
behavior in urban settings

URBANISM

A conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as center of politics, culture, and
economics

CITY

* AGRICULTURAL VILLAGES

- began 10,000 years ago

-small,egalitarian villages

-most of population in agriculture

*First Urban Revolution: Enabling components

1. an agricultural surplus or population pressure (2 related theories)

2. social stratification (leadership class)

Origin -1st hearth area, 3500 BCE

-between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers

-Archaeological evidence of leadership class; both theories related b/c irrigation

-temples dominated landscapeof the City

MESOPOTAMIA

Primacy

top rank-sized city is distorted because the largest or second largest city is disproportionately larger in
relation to the lower-order citieS

-key economic, political, and cultural nodes in the global economy

-international influence through organizing financial flows, trade, information, & political power
-"control centers" for the flows of information, cultural products, and finance for globalization

Answer and reason out

Reasons why people migrated at Reasons why people were still Population Growth May Cause
Urban Areas homeless
1. 1. 1.
2. 2. 2.
3. 3. 3.
4. 4. 4.
5. 5. 5.