Urban Functions

Basic activities: town-forming activities; serve a larger population than just the community and bring wealth into the area

E.g.: tourism, military facilities; transportation

Non-basic activities: town-serving activities; they exist to meet the needs of the local population

E.g.: grocery stores, municipal services

  • As basic activities grow in a community, the additional wealth stimulates the expansion of the non-basic sector
  • Multiplier effect – leads to unequal growth – communities that have a locational advantage enjoy growth in basic activities and the multiplier effect produces ever-greater employment in the non-basic sectors; those who have a locational disadvantage suffer as they do not attract individuals

City Forms

  1. Political and religious cities – designed to serve important religious or political functions (e.g.: national capital, holy centre)
  2. E.g.: Washington, D.C.
  1. Organic cities – evolved naturally in ways that fit the physical landscape; rarely grow very large
  2. E.g.: Amsterdam
  1. Planned cities – designed to keep urban functions apart
  2. E.g.: Vancouver
  1. Transit cities – made up of sub-centres linked to a city core by transportation services
  2. E.g.: New York City
  1. Automobile cities – expand outward in all directions from the city core; they grow rapidly
  2. E.g.: Los Angeles
  • Every city has an official plan – a broad plan for growth and development that is usually drawn up after lengthy consultation with the people of the city

Key Issue – sustainable cities: those in which resource decisions today do not compromise the quality of life for future generations

  • See worksheet 15-2 for characteristics of sustainable cities
  • A sustainable approach recognizes the decisions must take into account the community, economy, and environment and the ways in which these components interact

Urban Problems and Sustainable Opportunities

  1. Energy Consumption
  • Cities account for 80% of world’s use of fossil fuels
  • Sustainable cities would reduce amount of energy required (e.g.: local renewable forms of energy, solar roof tiles)
  1. Transportation
  • In North America, 94% of urban dwellers commute to work by car
  • Reducing reliance on cars reduces pollution and increases space for more beneficial uses
  • Key to making transportation in cities sustainable is to make cities more compact (build up instead of out)
  1. Food
  • Almost all food in cities has to be transported (cost and pollution)
  • More local food supplies would be available if zoning protected agricultural areas from urban growth
  1. Density
  • Too many cities waste space
  • In sustainable cities, people use less space (e.g.: infilling – increases density by rezoning and rebuilding in populated areas to allow more people to live in the same place)