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Evolvement of US Urban System: Part I

Evolvement of US Urban System: Part I. Geo309 Urban Geography. Instructor: Jun Yan Geography Department SUNY at Buffalo. Outline. Expansion & Realignment (1840-1875) Principles of Urban Growth. Last Class. Economic activities: from natural resource harvest to long distance trade

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Evolvement of US Urban System: Part I

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  1. Evolvement of US Urban System: Part I Geo309 Urban Geography Instructor: Jun Yan Geography Department SUNY at Buffalo

  2. Outline • Expansion & Realignment (1840-1875) • Principles of Urban Growth

  3. Last Class • Economic activities: from natural resource harvest to long distance trade • Transportation: river boats; rivers and canals • Domestic market: limited, mainly localized • Urban system: • Embryonic: local service centers • Linear pattern: along rivers/canals; not far inside • Limited dependence

  4. Comparative Advantage • Specialization & trade • A classical international trade model by David Richardo (Richardian Model) to explain the pattern and the gains from specialization & trade (countries) • Definition: The ability to produce a good at lower cost, relative to other goods,comparedto another city/country • Opportunity cost: the resources are limited. The more they are used on one product, the less on the other product. • So it’s better of for a city if it devotes more or entire resources to the product/activity that the resources can be best used relatively (not absolutely), compared to another city. • So cities tend to specialize in and export goods in which they have comparative advantage

  5. Comparative Advantage: A Numerical Example • Suppose two cities have the same amount of workers: 1000 • City I: 2 workers to make 1 A; 10 workers to make 1 B; • City II: 4 workers to make 1 A; 100 workers to make 1 B; • 2 < 4 and 10 < 100, thus City I has absolute advantage on both A and B • But City II has comparative advantage on A since 2/10 > 4/100 • And City I has comparative advantage on B since 10/2 < 100/4 • Scenario 1: no specialization & no trade; 50% on A, and 50% on B for both • Scenario 2: specialization but no trade; 70% on B & 30% on A in I; in II, 100% on Athe total production of both A & B increase. The world are better off. • Scenario 3: specialization & trade; II trade 120 A for 10 B from I. Both are better off!!! Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3

  6. Expansion and Realignment (1840-1875) • From trade to embryonic industrial system: still increasing domestic market • Foundation: industrial revolution in US • Still increasing agricultural productivity • Rural-urban migration • Immigration • New types of cities: diversity, specialization • Power site: coal mines; falls and running water • Mining: coal mines, cores • Transportation: transshipment points • Heavy manufacturing: close to raw materials; close to water

  7. Expansion and Realignment (1840-1875) • Transportation plays a major role: • Steam river boats vs railroads • Railroads start out as complementary but later on the competition becomes fierce • Nationalizes the regional economies: bigger market, bigger raw material supply bases  Economies of Scale

  8. Economies of Scale: Explanation • Type of costs for a typical firm: • Fixed costs: do not change with the total production (e.g. equipments, machinery…) • Varied costs: change with the total production (e.g. labor, raw materials) • Equations • Total Cost (TC) = Fixed Cost (FC) + Varied Cost (VC) • Average Cost (AC) = TC/N= (FC + VC)/N • Example • Scenario 1: N=100, VC=10*100=1000, FC=5000, TC=6000, AC=6000/100=60 • Scenario2: N=1000, VC=10*1000=10000, FC=5000, TC=15000, AC=15000/1000=15

  9. Rail Road Expansion 1860 1890 1860: 30,000 miles 1880: 70,000 miles 1890: 163,579 miles

  10. Expansion and Realignment (1840-1875) • Hierarchical markets: urban system solidification • River ports slow down • Cities along major railroads grow rapidly • Benefit most: those transshipment points, e.g. Chicago (1840: <5,000; 1875: 400,000) • Two major wholesaling alignments: NYC-Buffalo-Detroit- Chicago-Milwaukee; Philadelphia-Pittsburgh-Cincinnati-Louisville • Urban grown mainly focus on the existing towns and cities

  11. Expansion and Realignment (1840-1875) • ‘Manufacturing Cities’ Top 20 cities

  12. Expansion and Realignment (1840-1875)

  13. Principles of Urban Growth: Initial Advantage • Initial advantage: diversity, specialization • No need to invest on urban infrastructures by individual firms: Transportation, communication, utility… • Capitals and ancillary services in existing centers • Pools of labor: larger with diversity of skills • Market: larger, more affluent • This is a special case of external economies in cities • Collective (not exclusive) benefits from the existing of investment or the investment by others

  14. Economic Basics: Externality • Externality:An externality occurs whenever the activities of one economic agent affect the activities of another agent in ways that are not reflected in market transactions. • Negative externality (external diseconomies):pollutions, noises, traffic congestions… • Positive externality (external economies):benefits from other’s economic activities

  15. Principles of Urban Growth: Initial Advantage • Agglomeration economies: another name of above positive external economies (Urbanization economies) • Labor • Urban infrastructure • Ancillary services • Localization economies: similar firms located close to each other and sharing the same advantages • Labor: special skills • Shared supply: parts, row materials… • Ancillary services: adapt to the particular needs of this type of industry; e.g. machinery maintenance & repair • Research & Development (R & D) facilities: “industrial parks”

  16. Rank-Size Rule • Rank-size rule: size of cities and their ranks within the system • Pi=P1/Ri • Pi : Population of city i, • Ri : rank of city i, • P1 : population of the largest city • Log linear relationship: Ln(Pi)=Ln(P1) –Ln(Ri) • Distorted: • Primate city • Intermediate cities

  17. Rank-Size Rule • Rank-size rule: • Slops move to the right with time: every city grows • Relative position of a specific city often changes: some grow faster, some grow slower, some even decline

  18. An Explanation: Innovation Diffusion • Innovation diffusion: • Variability of urban growth rates decreases with urban size • Possible explanation: Lager cities are likely to produce more innovations • Innovation: A major factor for economic restructuring & growth urban growth • Probability of innovations successfully adopted • Is a function of: • Urban size: hierarchy effect • Distance from the heart of innovation: neighborhood effect • A random factor

  19. Next Class • Central Place Theory • Readings: chp 2, pp 33~35

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