Commission on Higher Education

CALABANGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Brgy. Belen Site, Calabanga Camarines Sur

URBAN GEOGRAPHY
COMPILATION OF REPORTS

Submitted by:

MARIA CRISTINA S. IMPORTANTE

JOSEPHINE PAJARES
IRENE GAIL G. ELOPRE

Submitted to:

LOPE ESPIRITU JR.

Instractor
Table of Contents:

I. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------ page 1

II. An Overview of Urban Geography --------------------------------page 2-4
 Definitions
 Functions of Urban Areas
 Settlement

III. Group 1:

IV. Group II: The Economic Base -------------------------------------------

 The Economic Base Theory
 The Economic Base Theory Assumptions
 The Multiplier Effect
 The Base Multiplier
 Determination of Base Sector
 Location Quotient method

V. Group III: Systems of Urban Settlement ---------------------------------

 Urban Hierarchy
 Types of Settlement
 Rank-Size and Primacy
 Primate City
 Characteristic of Primate Cities
 World Cities
 I. Introduction

The study of cities and city life from a geographical perspective (see city).

Although urban geography is one of the most popular and productive parts of
human geography, a precise delineation of the field is understandably difficult.
Attempts to find the essential characteristics of urban places or urban life, for
example, by contrast with the rural and rural life, have proved inconclusive
(see rurality; urbanism). In much of the world, the distinction between urban and
non-urban is blurred or meaningless, as those characteristics once associated with
cities such as waged labour, electricity, or the preponderance of secondary relations
(i.e. with strangers) become more widespread. In one sense, therefore, the vast
majority of human geographical work may be described as urban by default.
Considering urban settlements in historical perspective also complicates the search
for essential urban qualities.
Furthermore, the geographical study of urban life is informed by and contributes
to studies in allied disciplines; one of the main journals in the field is simply
called Urban Studies. A final complication is that the city as a spatial form can be
regarded as both the cause and the consequence of social relations. From one
perspective, exemplified by the Chicago School of urban ecology, cities shaped social
effects among their inhabitants. By contrast, many Marxist-inspired geographers in
the 1970s thought of cities as the projection of less visible economic processes;
inquiry should focus on the processes rather than the outcome. In this regard,  David
Harvey’s contributions have been critical in pointing a way forward.
Despite some ambivalence about the term ‘urban geography’, over the past sixty
years urban geographers have developed some distinct and ongoing themes (Hall
and Barrett 2012). Perhaps the most important has been the study of the internal
social and spatial structure of cities, in part inspired by ideas from the Chicago
School. Urban morphology considers the spatial layout and appearance of cities in
different historical and national contexts. It can be extended by typologies of
different kinds of urban area, for example, edge city, exurb, or suburb.
Most focus has been on the social differentiation of urban areas by class,
age, race, gender, and sexuality, as well as its causes and consequences
(see community; gentrification; segregation; social area analysis; social geography).
A second long-standing theme considers cities as systems or networks, linked by
flows of people, goods, money, and information (see Central Place
Theory; urban system; World City Network). The third area of inquiry has considered
the diversity of cities in historical and international contexts, again frequently
through typologies (see industrial city; pre-industrial city; post-industrial city). Here,
an important development in the past two decades has been the recognition
that normative models or ideas derived from a narrow set of mainly Western cities
are not universal.
 II. An Overview of Urban Geography

This subjects aims to analyze the essential processes shaping socio-cultural

geographies of contemporary cities. It will discuss different issues affecting cities
such as:
1. Socio – cultural geographies of contemporary cities (present situation,
existing today)
2. Political – affairs of state, policy making, legislation
3. Economy – financial affairs, discussion of the different types of economy
implemented in some cities
4. Culture – civilizations = mores, tradition, ethnicity, customs way of life, arts,
music and literature
5. Health – physical condition, sustainability of life
6. Planning – preparation, development, arrangement, scheduling, forecasting,
design, organization, formation, projection
7. Human Mobility – migration of people from rural to urban areas
8. Transportation – kind of transportation being used by the people from one
place to another
9. Sustainability – maintain the standard of living
10.Future of the cities

Definition

Urban areas are not of a single type, structure, or size. What they have in
common is that they are nucleated (central part), non-agricultural settlements. The
world urban often is used in place of such terms as town, city, suburb, and
metropolitan area, but it is general term, and it is not used to specify a particular
type of settlement.
The world CITY or TOWN denote nucleated settlements, multi-functional in
character, including an established central business district and both residential and
non-residential land uses.

Towns – have smaller size and less functional complexity than cities, but still
have a nuclear business concentration.
Suburb – Implies a subsidiary (subordinate) area, a functionally special segment
of a large urban complex.
Central City – Large cities having many suburbs. It is common to call that part
of the urban area contained within the official boundaries of the main city around
which the suburbs have been built.
Urbanized Area - Refers to a continuously built up landscape defined by
building and population densities with no reference to the political boundaries that
limit the legal city of which it is extension.
 Metropolitan Area - Refers to a large scale functional entity, perhaps
containing several urbanized areas, discontinuously built up but nonetheless
operating as a coherent and integrated economic whole.

Functions of Urban Areas

People gather together to form couples, families, groups, organization, towns,

and so forth. Our human support systems are based on the flow of information,
goods, services and cooperation among people who are located at places
convenient to one another. Non subsistence groups establish stores, places of
worship, repair centers, and production sites as close to their home places as
possible and reasonable.
Types of Functions:
 retailing
 wholesaling
 manufacturing
 business service
 entertainment
 religious service
 political and official administration
 military defensive needs
 social service
 public service
 including sanitation and
 police service
 transportation
 communication service
 meeting activity
 visitor service and
 places for its residents to live

Settlement
Settlement patterns is one most important subjects of Urban Geography. It can
range in size from a small village with a few hundred residents to a metropolitan city
of over 1 million people.

Two essential concepts in the study of urban geography.

1. Site – actual location of a settlement on earth, and the term includes the
Physical characteristics of the landscape specific to the area.

2. Situation – defined as the location of the relative to its surroundings and

other places.
III. Group 1
IV. The Economic Base
The concept of the economic base shows how settlements are affected by
changes in the economic conditions. Economic-base concepts originated with the
need to predict the effects of new economic activity on cities and regions.
Economic-base models focus on the demand side of the economy. They
ignore the supply side, or the productive nature of investment, and are thus
short- run in approach.

The Economic Base Theory

Alexander (1954) mentioned four notions regarding the applicability of

this areas:
 The concept provides a view of economic ties which bind a city other
areas.
 It permits the most satisfactory classification of cities in terms of
regional functions. Cities are more accurately distinguished by their
basic economy than by their total economy. The basic express a city’s
service to its region
 The concept provides a view of economic ties which bind a city other
areas.
 It permits the most satisfactory classification of cities in terms of
regional functions. Cities are more accurately distinguished by their
basic economy than by their total economy. The basic express a city’s
service to its region
Basic Sector
Part of the employed population of an urban unit is engaged in either
the production of goods or in the performance of services for areas and
people outside that urban area. They include workers engaged in “export”
activities whose efforts result in money flowing into the community.
Examples:
Manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, national
government, hotels/lodging etc.

Non-basic Sector
Other workers support themselves by producing goods for residents of
the urban unit itself. Their efforts, necessary to the well-being and the
successful operation of the settlement, do not generate new money for it.
These people are responsible for the internal functioning of the urban unit.
They are crucial to the continued operation of its stores, professional offices,
city government, local transit, and school systems.
Examples:
Retail trade, wholesale trade, local government, services, construction,
transportation, communication.
 The Economic Base Theory Assumptions

Economic base theory assumes that the export sector is the primary cause of
local economic growth. Economic base theory assumes that all local economic
activities can be assigned to either the basic or non-basic sector i.e. any economic
activity is base or non-base (export or local). Variation in basic employment structure
among urban areas characterize the specific functional role played by individual
cities.
Most cities perform many export functions, and the larger the urban unit, the
more multifunctional it becomes. Economic base theory has several advantages as
an explanation for how the economy works, and how a region can generate
prosperity, and it is easy to explain in a nontechnical way.
Regional prosperity is achieved by building up the base through exporting
more goods from the base or preventing fewer imports.

The Multiplier Effect

The term multiplier effect implies the addition of non-basic workers and
dependents to a settlement’s total employment and population as a supplement of
new basic employment; the size of the effect is determined by the community’s
basic/non-basic ratio. The changing numerical relationships shown in the graph are
understandable when we consider how settlements add functions and grow in
population. A new industry selling services to other communities requires new
workers, who thus increase the basic workforce. These new employees, in turn,
demand certain goods and services, such as clothing, food, and medical assistance,
which are provided locally by the non-basic workers.
Example
A grocery clerk must also buy groceries.
The more non-basic workers an urban area has, the more non-basic workers
are needed to support them, and the application of the multiplier effect becomes
obvious.

The Base Multiplier

It is method for estimating the impact of the basic sector upon the local
economy.
FORMULA:
Base multiplier = Total employment
Base employment
E.g. Basic jobs in a Region (agriculture + tourism + mining etc.) are 100 and non
basic jobs (retail + local business etc.) are 200 so the Total Jobs Basic + non Basic
= 300

Adding to the formula

Formula:
Base multiplier = 300
100
Base multiplier = 3
So that means if a firm added 10 basic jobs the whole economy would grow by 30
jobs of that region.

Determination of Base Sector

Direct Method - conducted through a survey directly to businesses where they

market their products and where they buy raw materials.

Indirect Method- establish a base and non-base activities based on the

assumption that you define yourself.

Mixed Method- by survey and through assumption.

The location quotient is probably responsible for the long life and continuing
popularity and use of economic-base multipliers. These quotients provide a
compelling and attractive method for estimating export employment (or income).

Location Quotient method LQ = (ei/e)

(Ei/E)
Where ei = local employment in industry i
e= Total local employment
Ei = National employment in industry i
E= Total National employment

Location Quotient Method

E.g. Industry i has 100 jobs on a local level and total local jobs are 1,000 and
industry i has 250 jobs on a national level and total national jobs are 10,000 so
LQ = (100/1,000) =10%
(250/10,000) =2.5%
LQ = 4
To know the number of basic jobs in industry i we use
Formula
 (1-1 / LQ) x Total jobs of Industry i in a region (e.g. 100)
Adding values = (1- 1/4) x 100
= 0.75 x 100
= 75
Means that the industry i have 75 Basic jobs and 25 non Basic jobs.

Surplus or export employment in industry i can be computed by the formula

EXi = (1 - 1/LQi)*ei , LQi > 1
= (1- 1/4) x 100
= 0.75 x 100
= 75
which is easily shown to be the difference between actual industry employment in
the area and the "necessary" employment in the area.

In fact, then, excess employment can be computed without reference to location

quotients through this reduction of the formula:
EXi = ei - (Ei/E)*e
= 100 - (250/10,000)*1,000
= 100 - (0.025)*1,000
= 100 - 25
= 75
 V. Systems of Urban Settlement

The various functions that an individual urban area performs are reflected
not only in the size of that settlement, but also in its location and relationship
with other urban units in the large system of which it is part.

The Urban Hierarchy

Ranks each City based on the size of population residing within the
nationality defined statistical urban area. Because urban population depends
of how government define their metropolitan areas, urban hierarchies are
conventionally ranked at the national level; however, the ranking can be
extended globally to include all cities.
The most effective way to recognize how systems of cities are
organized is to consider the URBAN HIERARCHY.

Types of Settlement:
1. Megalopolis – where conurbation have joined to become one large urban
area.
2. Conurbation – A group of large cities and their suburbs that have strong
kinks connecting them to each other.
3. Metropolis – A city surrounding towns that are in close proximately and has
started to merge into each other.
4. Large City – A city with a large population and many services.
5. City – A city would have a wide range of services but not as many as a larger
city.
6. Large Town – Large town now see much more varied range of shops
available when compared to villages.
7. Town – Towns see an increase in services, for example; they would have
senior schools and police stations
8. Village – Start to have some basic services like petrol station or a village
9. Hamlet – Have very tiny populations and few services, if any.
10. Isolated Dwelling – often in rural areas these tend to be farmhouse or
holiday homes.

Rank – Size and Primacy

 The observation that there are more small than large cities within an urban
system (‘the larger the fewer’) is a statement about hierarchy. For many large
countries of great regional diversity and advanced economy, the city size
hierarchy is summarized by the rank size rule. It tells us that the nth
largest city of a national system of cities will be 1/n the size of the largest city
In 1949, George Zipf devised his theory of rank – size rule to explain the size
of the cities in a country. He explained that the second and subsequently
smaller cities represent a proportion of the largest city.

Primate City

One that is more than twice the size of the second ranked city. In fact,
there may be no obvious “second city” at all, for a characteristic of a primate
city hierarchy is one very large city, few or no intermediate-sized cities, and
many subordinate smaller settlements.

Characteristics of Primary Cities

They dominate the country in influence and are the national focal point. Their
sheer (pure, absolute) size and activity become a strong pull factor, bringing
additional residents to the city additional residents to the city and causing the
primate city become even larger and more disproportional to smaller cities in the
country.

World Cities

In 2017, the UN population Division released a revision of its “WORLD

POPULATION prospects” a regularity issued report that analyzes world population
changes and other world demographics, estimated out of 2100.