Urban research methods included

studies, research reports, market

surveys, questionnaires and

statistical analysis

Urban research methods

urban setting or which seeks to analyze and

understand urban processes

(1) an historicized and appropriately contextualized

understanding of the different knowledge frames by which

cities have been recorded, comprehended and studied

(including a sense of the situated production of these distinct

knowledge frames)

(2) an introduction into the techniques of data collection,

representation and analysis that flow from these quite

distinctive knowledge frames

two types of core knowledge

. . . upon actual city places and processes

Dr Jane Jacobs http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/14-15/dpt/cxprge11012.htm THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH School of Geosciences

- Appreciate the skills required for advanced research on

the city

- Understand what methods and techniques are relevant to

what kinds of studies and projects;

- Be equipped to discern the appropriate methodologies

for the research projects they wish to pursue

- Know the relationship between theory and methodology

and techniques;

- Be able to analysis critically different urban knowledge

frames and associated methodologies

- To ascertain and apply specific data collection and

analysis frameworks

- Be able to present in written, visual, verbal and other

forms, analyses of specific components of the city.

Dr Jane Jacobs http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/14-15/dpt/cxprge11012.htm THE

UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH School of Geosciences

emphasis on understanding urban environments, usually with the

objective of improving urban outcomes. It included research covering

one or a number of the spatial, biophysical, social, cultural and

economic dimensions, and included terms or subject areas such as:

1. better urban outcomes through good design at different scales

(strategic, city, town, suburb, precinct, place) and for different densities

2. urban design related to land use and spatial planning

3. urban form and transport

4. planning for urban infrastructure

5. urban intensification

6. urban design as part of ‘smart growth’ and/or related terms (eg, low-

impact development, transit-oriented development, sustainable

development)

7. effects of urban design on social and/or cultural outcomes and the use

of urban design to help achieve social and cultural outcomes

8. how urban design contributes to economic, social and cultural value

9. urban open space planning and design.

Models of urban structure

Urban / Services FYI 1. Cities have many

issues to deal with

Race relations

Traffic

Water delivery/ infrastructure

Pollution

Sprawl

2. Cities are ranked in a hierarchy: hamlet to megalopolis

• Largest megalopolis in USA = NYC area (Bos – Wash)

3. There are only 3 World Cities: NYC, London, Tokyo

• Other cities are ranked based on importance to their service areas (SEP)

4. Primate cities have 2x the amount of population as the next largest city in the same country (London, Paris, Buenos Aires….)

5. The USA has 3 basic models of urban structure:

– Concentric Zones/ Burgess,

– Sectors/Hoyt,

– Multiple Nuclei/ Ullman and Harris

6. Continents have different urban characteristics:

• Europe-older/more historic cities, poor in suburbs, not inner cities….

• Asia-cities are built as ports for trade b/c of colonialism

• Latin America-High income houses are built on a spine from the CBD

• Africa-3 separate CBDs: colonial, modern, market zone (pre-colonial)

7. All cities fit w/in Christaller’s central place

theory.

• Some have greater ranges and need bigger

thresholds.

Burgess – Concentric Zone model

A model describing land uses as a series of circular belts or rings around a core central business district, each ring housing a distinct type of land use.

Studied 1920’s Chicago to make this model

• 5 concentric zones

• Immigrants lived in inner zones causing affluent residents to move further out

Weaknesses--

does not allow for change in the city

does not allow for physical geographic

barriers like mtns, rivers, etc..

Sector model/Hoyt A description of urban land uses as wedge-

shaped sectors radiating outward from the central business district along transportation corridors.

Answered drawbacks of Burgess Model

Growth creates PIE shaped urban structures

CBD isn’t as important is Burgess says it was

Sectors develop along transport routes (hwy, RR, etc)

The Sector Model -Homer Hoyt

(1939)

There tends to be a

filtering down process

as older areas are

abandoned by the

outward movement of

their original inhabitants,

with the lowest-income

population becoming

the dubious

beneficiaries of the least

desirable vacated

areas.

(1945)

The postulate that large

cities develop by peripheral

spread not from one central

business district. There are

several nodes of growth,

each of specialized use.

The separately expanding

use districts eventually

coalesce at their margins.

Multiple Nuclei Model – Harris and Ullman

Urban Realms Model

• Modeled after L.A. in the 1990’s

• Post WWII cities grew increasingly outward

• Nuclei or Realms become less dependent on each other, and much less on the CBD

• Realms became largely self-sufficient in most cases

• Regional shopping centers became like the CBD

Construction ‘ring roads’ created growth explosions at major highway intersections in outer areas

Leads to emergence of EDGE CITIES (Woodlands)

Models of urban structure Color code the map using 10 colors or patterns

so you can distinguish the zones in each model.

1. Central Business District

2. Wholesale/Light manufacturing

3. Low-class residential

4. Medium-clas residential

5. High-class residential

6. Heavy manufacturing

7. Outlying business district

8. Residential suburb

9. Industrial suburb

10.Commuter zone

Edge Cities

• Edge Cities – Joel

Garreau

Nodal concentrations of shopping

and office space that are

situated on the outer fringes of

metropolitan areas,

typically near major highway

intersections.

The Concentric Zone Model - Ernest Burgess(1925)

1. CBD is primary and at the center, CBD is also divided into districts (financial, retail, fashion, etc)

2. Zone in transition – residential deterioration and encroachment by business and light manufacturing

3. Independent workers homes – closely spaced homes, typically blue collar homes

4.Better residences – middle class/white collar

5.Commuter zone – suburban ring

The Sector Model -Homer Hoyt (1939)

Sector 1 – high rent

2 Intermediate rent

3. Low Rent residential

4. Education and recreation

5. Transportation

6. Industrial

7. Core

The Concentric Zone Model - Ernest Burgess(1925)

It recognizes four concentric circles of mostly residential diversity at increasing distance in all directions from the wholesaling, warehousing, and light industry border of the high-density CBD core.

A zone in transition is marked by the deterioration of old residential structures abandoned, as the city expanded, by the former wealthier occupants and now containing high-density, low income slums, warehouses

and (in some areas) gentrified buildings.

Other Urban models info

The Galactic City

As suburbs continue to sprawl they spawn many suburban nucleations, which are simply multiple downtowns and special function nodes and corridors, which are linked by the metropolitan expressway system.

Squatter Settlements

An area within a city in a less

developed country in which people

illegally establish residences on land

they do not own or rent and erect

homemade structures.

Density Gradient

The change in density in an urban

area from the center to the periphery.

Gentrification

The movement into the inner portions of American cities of middle- and upper-income people who replace low-income populations, rehabilitate the structures they occupied, and change the social character of neighborhoods.