Chapter 13: Urban Patterns Key Issues #3 & #4
Key Issue #3 Why Do Inner Cities Face Distinctive Challenges?
Physical Problems of Inner City Housing Poor Condition of Housing - Built before 1940 Middle class families move out and sell to lower income families Filtering subdividing one house into apartments
Mistreatment of Inner City Residents Landlords stop maintaining houses when too pricey Have to meet building codes Abandonment leads to vacant buildings across cities Neighborhoods once packed w/ immigrant families now have 1/10 the population Redlining banks not giving loans to certain neighborhoods -Illegal!!!
Urban Renewal Cities acquire blighted neighborhoods and rebuild Public housing housing for people who pay 30% of rent - 1% of all U.S. Much higher % in inner city 1/5 of all UK is public housing Western Europe (minus UK) subsidizes construction costs but does not own housing WELSH PUBLIC HOUSING
Public Housing Public housing from 50s and 60s is now considered unsafe -Bad elevators, drugs, gangs High rises have been demolished in many cities - Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Newark, St. Louis, Glasgow, and Liverpool (council estates)
More Public Housing New public housing are 2-3 story buildings and row houses -High rises for elderly Scattered site low income housing dispersed throughout city UK subsidizes nonprofit housing associations for special need
Public Housing/ Urban Renewal Problems US gov. stopped subsidizing housing Supply is lower but number needing it is higher Urban renewal criticized for destroying social cohesion of neighborhoods Called Negro Removal (60s) Reduced supply of cheap homes
Gentrification Process of middle-class moving into renovated inner-city hoods May be larger and better constructed than suburban homes Attractive architectural details Proximity to downtown jobs/culture Attractive to singles and couples w/o kids Alters ethnic patterns (Chicago) Cities encourage w/ low cost loans and tax breaks Criticized as subsidies for middle class at expense of poor families forced to move US law requires reimbursement to families forced to move due to rising rent (same as W. Europe) Cities also renovate old houses specifically for low income families - Helps disperse throughout city
Social Problems Underclass citizens trapped in cycle of economic /social problems High unemployment, alcoholism, drugs, juvenile crime, general crime Lack job skills (low grad. rates) Low skill jobs are declining 1 million homeless per night 3 million per year 1/3 are mentally unstable 1/4 are children
Culture of Poverty 2/3 of children are to unwed mothers 80% single parent homes in inner city Mothers chose between work and being w/ children Rates of drug use are increasing more rapidly in inner cities
Culture of Poverty $$ obtained through crime Gangs control drug trade Ethnicity and finances play a role in where people live and who they vote for Gov t unintentionally supports culture by not enforcing laws against deadbeat dads / lowering/losing welfare benefits w/ father in home.
Urban Economic Problems Gap widening between cost of services and $$ to pay for them 1. Cities cut services (libraries, transit routes, trash collection, school funding) Leads to middle class moving out 2. Cities could also raise tax revenues Mostly done through gentrification rather than raising taxes Creates less money for poor $$ from federal gov. drastically reduced in 1980s State gov ts pick up the slack
Impact of Recession Severe recession beginning in 2008 began in housing market Despite bad credit many received first time buyer mortgages w/o background check = Subprime loans Inner city specifically targeted due to largest # renters When housing market took a downturn many were unable to pay mortgages and faced foreclosure. Plus falling housing prices caused homes to be worth less than mortgage upside down!
Key Issue #4 Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges?
Annexation American living in suburbs: 1950: 20% 2000: 50% - HUGE Growth! Legally adding land area to a city Normally, people have to approve being annexed Annexation was desired in the 19th century City provided the best services Today, periphery residents prefer not to be annexed White flight people want more control over tax dollars Leads to cities being surrounded by suburbs
Physical Definitions of Urban Divided by three ways: 1. Legal Boundary 2. Continuously built up area 3. Functional Area Legal Definition of city Self gov. unit w/ elected officials, taxes, and provides services City surrounded by suburbs is a central city. Urbanized area Central city and surrounding burbs Pop. density exceeds 1,000 per sq. mile In U.S. 70% urbanized, 30% central cities, 40% suburbs
Metropolitan vs. Micropolitan Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Area of influence of a city (TV, sports, work) Encompasses: 1. 50,000 or more people, 2. County of city location, 3. Adjacent counties w/ high pop density and large % of people working in central city 362 MSAs in 2003 (83% of U.S. pop.) Not a perfect tool. Some MSAs include extensive land area that is not urban (Great Smokey Mountains and Sequoia National Park) MSAs are 10% urban but urban areas contain 90% population Micropolitan Statistical Area -Smaller urban areas of 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants -10% of U.S. population
Megalopolis Overlapping metropolitan areas Boswash, southern Great Lakes (Chicago-Milwaukee to Pittsburgh), Los Angeles to Tijuana) German Ruhr (Dortmund, Dusseldorf, and Essen) Randstad in Netherlands (Amsterdam, the Hague, and Rotterdam) Tokaido (Tokyo and Yokohama) The suburban boundaries overlap but CBD retains distinct cultural differences (Baltimore and Washington D.C.)
Tied together by a beltway (EX: I-295) Edge Cities nodes of consumer and business services (Tysons Corner, VA) Originated as suburbs for commuters but now have malls, factories 5 million sq. ft of office space, 600K sq. ft. of retail space High daytime pop., low nighttime Located at transportation nodes Lateral Commuting- commuting between suburbs and edge cities Counter Commuting- from CBD to edge cities...who is that? Peripheral Model AKA Galactic City or Urban Realms Model
Population Distribution / Density -Density Gradient - # of houses per unit of land decreases from center of city out -Changed recently as fewer people now live in center of city -Gradient is more spread out currently -Europe also has flatter gradient -Low income residents live in high rises on outskirts of city
Suburban Sprawl Suburban Segregation Sprawl Spread of development over landscape Current system of land development inefficient -Periphery of U.S. cities is a Swiss cheese of development -Roads/electricity/sewage needs to be expanded (TAXES!!!!!) -Can effect supply of local dairy and vegetables Greenbelts rings of mandatory open space in Britain Residents separated from commercial and manufacturing activities Housing typically built for only one social class Prior to the suburb, segregation was vertical rather than horizontal Zoning Ordinances building codes that separated houses, apartments, industry, and commerce Minorities discouraged through lot size requirements and no apartment rules
Retail in Suburbs - Changed shopping patterns / stagnated downtown sales Neighborhood shops vs. planned, focused in one area away from homes Become focus of activities walking, meeting friends Factories/ Warehouses migrated to suburbs b/c cheaper land better truck access on interstates Plus for location shorter commute Negative lower income workers further to travel Suburban Business
50% of all trips are work related 25% social and personal business Transportation Railroad enabled suburban living in 19 th century Streetcars, trolley s, trams Automobile permitted large-scale development of suburbs further from CBD U.S. gov. encouraged auto use by paying for 90% of interstate 95% of travel is by car 25% - 33% of city is devoted to car use New technology makes car use easier/ reduces traffic GPS Toll Roads
Rush hour -Bus and trolley service has declined dramatically since 1940s Public Transit Fixed heavy rail (subways/trains) Chicago and NYC make good use Atlanta, D.C., Miami, San Fran, Denver, and Baltimore have made new subway systems Boston and NYC used interstate $$$ to modernize rapid transit Fixed light rail (streetcars/trolleys) Baltimore, Buffalo, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Portland, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Diego, San Jose California is leading constructor of light-rail Cost often exceeds profit Gov. subsidies needed at times More in Europe than US -Euro and Japan have maintained better lines -Paris and London have added over 300 total miles of lines (Reseau Express Regional in Paris) -Train a Grande Vitesse in France