Social Area Analysis. Urban Structure in Less Developed Countries

Social area analysis, which is the mapping of selected variables representing social and economic status in different neighborhoods and regions within cities, has been developed to describe the spatial arrangement of land uses in actual cities in order to answer this question. Through social area analysis, it has been found that most variables can be grouped on one of three dimensions: lifecycle status, economic status, and ethnicity. Each of these dimensions is associated with one of the models.

Variables associated with life-cycle status include measures of family size, marital status, number of people per household, and percentages of children and the elderly in neighborhoods. These variables usually fit the concentric-zone model. Elderly people, single young people, and childless couples are concentrated around the center of cities, while families with young children and teenagers tend to be found in suburbs (Figure 10-14).

Figure 10-14 The Concentric-Zone Model and Life-Cycle Status. In most American cities, the pattern of life-cycle status conforms to the concentric-zone model, as illustrated by the Phoenix metropolitan area. Single people, childless couples, and the elderly cluster near the center; families with children are found farther away

The second major category of variables consists of those associated with economic status. These include personal income, occupational level, and educational attainment and related variables. These are associated with the sector model. In many cities, initial spatial divisions between high- and low-status neighborhoods perpetuated themselves as cities expanded outward over time.

Ethnic-status variables, such as measures of the percentages of people belonging to various ethnic groups, best fit the multiple-nuclei model. Many cities retain distinctive ethnic neighborhoods in which schools, churches, shops, newspapers, and other cultural institutions focus on the preservation of the ancestral ethnic culture. Ethnic neighborhoods are particularly evident in Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, New York, Toronto, and other cities that attract the bulk of the "new" migrants from less developed countries.

Urban Structure in Less Developed Countries. Human geographers have applied social area analysis to the social structure of cities outside Europe and North America. This research has demonstrated substantial differences between the structure of typical American and European cities and that of cities in the less developed countries (Figure 10-15).

Figure 10-15 Models of Urban Structure in Less Developed Countries. In many less developed countries, the concentric-zone, sector and multiple-nuclei models fail to describe urban structure accurately. Alternative models that account for cultural variation describe urban structure better

In Latin America, most of the major cities were founded by the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Unlike their French and British counterparts, the Spanish did not encourage extensive industrial and commercial activity. Instead, Spanish colonial cities were founded as centers for governmental administration, religious activity, and regulation of the extraction and export of wealth to the mother country.

The Spanish conquerors laid out cities according to precise standards. Each city was built around a central plaza dominated by government buildings and a Roman Catholic church. The central plaza also contained markets, warehouses, and other buildings intended to service the population's material needs. Around the plaza, houses were laid out according to a grid system with streets intersecting at right angles.

Contemporary cities in Latin America are growing at explosive rates. Rapid urban growth in this region results from high birthrates and extensive in-migration from rural areas. Unfortunately, many Latin America cities lack the physical infrastructure to cope with the steady flow of new residents. Population growth exacerbates chronic shortages of housing, transportation, and public services.

Despite the shortage of housing, large numbers of Latin Americans continue to move to urban areas. Many live in squatter settlements, residential areas of the urban poor in less developed countries (Figure 10-16).

Figure 10-16 Squatter Settlements. Millions of poor people are clustered on the outskirts of large metropolitan areas of less developed countries. They construct shelters from any available building materials like this settlement on the outskirt of Jerusalem

In some Latin American cities, squatter settlements are home to a quarter of the urban population. Their shelter consists of makeshift shacks fashioned from any building materials they can find. Electricity, running water, and central sewers are rare. Needless to say, poverty is rampant in squatter settlements.

Urban Social Structure in Asia.Although much of Asia's population remains rural,Tokyo. Seoul. Bombay, Calcutta, and Shanghai areamong the largest cities in the world. Many of the major cities of Asia were founded by European colonial powers. As elsewhere in the world, these cities were founded near seacoasts in order to expedite the flow of raw materials and finished products between Europe and Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Rangoon, Calcutta, and Bombay are examples of European-founded port cities in Asia.

Other major cities, including Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul and Delhi, were founded long before European colonialism began. Most of these are inland cities, and many were centers of administration for the empires in which they were located. Palaces, temples, and other monuments symbolize these administrative functions. Examples include the Forbidden City of Beijing and the Red Fort of Delhi.

In Asian cities founded by European colonial interests, European and Asian sectors were clearly distinguished. In the European sectors were Western-style buildings and streets and the population densities were relatively low. In the Asian sectors, traditional local architecture prevailed and population densities were considerably higher.