Urbanization Trends and Inner-City Challenges in the U.S.

1. Urbanization PP #3 Trends related to Urbanization

2. Inner-City Trends • Inner-city Issues • Physical • Social • Economic • Most of the land in urban settlements is devoted to housing, where people live within U.S. urban areas • the most fundamental spatial distinction is between inner-city residential neighborhoods that surround the CBD and suburban residential neighborhoods on the periphery • Inner cities in the U,S, contain concentrations of low-income people

3. Physical Inner-City Issues • Process of Deterioration • Major physical problem face by inner-city neighborhoods is the poor condition of the housing • Most built before 1940

4. Process of Deterioration • Filtering • Large houses built by wealthy families in the 19th century are subdivided into smaller dwellings for low-income families • Definition: • Process of subdivision of houses and occupancy by successive waves of lower-income people • As rent decreases, so does maintenance • Eventually no one will rent, buildings abandoned • Leads to schools, shops closing as well • Redlining • Definition: • Drawing lines on a map to identify areas in which they will refuse to loan money (done by banks) • As a result, families that try to fix up houses in “bad” neighborhoods have difficulty loaning money • Technically illegal • but difficult to enforce • As the # of low-income residents increase in the city, the territory they occupy expands

5. Social Inner-City Issues • Culture of Poverty • Trapped in cycle because they live in a culture of poverty • 3/4ths of babies in inner-cities born to unwed mothers • 3/4ths of children live with 1 parent • Many mothers have to stay home • “Deadbeat Dads” no help • Many turn to drugs • Rates of use have most rapidly increased in inner-cities recently • Many obtain through criminal activities • Leads to gangs controlling drug distribution • Contributes to gang violence • Many neighborhoods segregated • Most inner-city residents are African-American and Hispanic • Underclass • Inner-city residents often referred to as a permanent underclass because they are trapped in an unending cycle of economic and social problems • Suffers from: • High rates of unemployment, alcoholism, drug addiction, illiteracy, juvenile delinquency, and crime • Schools, hospitals, shops are all deteriorated • Lack adequate fire/police protection • Homeless • Estimated that nearly 1 million are homeless in America • Future is bleak • Little to no technical skills • Fewer than ½ complete high school • Atmosphere ignores “good habits” • With less Primary and Secondary jobs, even more unemployment

6. Economic Inner-City Issues • Impact of Recession • Once of the principal causes of severe recession in 2008 was collapse of housing market • Primarily in the inner city • Banks had increased loans to low-income inner-city households buying their 1st home • Many had poor credit, no background checks • Called subprime mortgages • Investing in housing viewed as way to get higher rate of return than other investments • House prices increased rapidly • Concentric model shows inner- city residents more likely to be renters • Banks saw this as an opportunity to increase # of home owners • When people can’t repay loans= bank foreclosure • In 1st year of recession 10% of Americans behind on their mortgages • Compounding problem- the housing bubble burst • Homes have decreased in value • Home now worth less than mortgage • Eroding Tax Base • Low-income inner-city residents require more public services • But can pay very little of taxes necessary to support those services • Central cities face growing gap between need of services and funds to pay for them • Two choices: • Reduce Services • Close libraries, eliminate bus routes, collect trash less frequently • Raise Tax Revenues • Provide tax breaks for downtown offices, luxury hotels, restaurants, shops • Even with break, still pay more taxes than abandoned buildings • Federal Aid to cities has significantly decreased since 1980s • Declined 2/3rds

7. Inner-City Trends • Real Estate developers and banks contributed to growth of urban ghettos in 3 ways: • Blockbusting • When real estate agents and developers used racism to “bust up” a block by bringing in a minority family into a predominately white neighborhood • Then profited in all the turnover • Racial Steering • When real estate agents would intentionally or unintentionally steer people to buy a home in a neighborhood based on their race, which contributed to racially segregated housing patterns • Redlining • Banks refusing loans in central neighborhoods that were “red-lined” • Ghettoization • Definition: • Refers to the growth of areas of concentrated poverty • Originally comprised of mostly immigrants • Newly-arrived Irish, Italian, and German immigrants • But even larger African-American and Hispanic ghettos have grown since the 1950s

8. Attempts at Inner-City Reforms • Public housing • Many sub-standard inner-city houses have been demolished and replaced with public housing • In U.S. public housing is reserved for low-income households • Must pay 30% of their income for rent • Maintained by housing authority • Only 1% of all dwellings • U.S. has stopped funding most public housing • Instead looks to renovating old buildings from 1950s and 1960s • Renovated housing • Some non-profit organizations renovate low-income housing and sell or rent to low-income people • Example: Habitat for Humanity • Urban Renewal • Cities identify blighted inner-city neighborhoods • They acquire property, move residents, demolish, and rebuild • National government grants help finance • Has been criticized for destroyed older neighborhoods and reducing supply of low-cost housing • Called “Negro Removal” in 1960s • Many North American and European Cities have turned away from

10. Gentrification • In cities where there is strong gentrification, ethnic patterns are being altered • Chicago • Inner-city white population increasing • African-Americans, Hispanics declining • Moving farther from center • Renovations are expensive! • Cities encourage with low-cost loans and tax breaks • Encourages middle-class to move in, low-class to move out • U.S. and other countries have laws to protect low-class families • Reimbursed for moving and rent increases over 4-year period • Some argue helps disperse lower-income families more evenly throughout city • Instead of clumping in one area • Definition: • Process by which middle-class people move into deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods and renovate housing • Why? • Houses may be larger • More substantially constructed • Cheaper than suburbs • Architectural details • Close to work • No children • Not concerned with inner city schools

11. Urban Expansion • The city • Definition: • Defines an urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit • In the U.S. a city surrounded by suburbs is sometimes called a central city • Boundaries of a city define the geographic area within which the local government has legal authority • Urbanized Area • Definition: • In the U.S. the central city AND surrounding suburbs • Approximately 70% of U.S. population lives in urbanized areas • MSAs • Functional area • Minimum of 50,000 people • Surrounding counties with high population density and large % of residents working in the central city • Also have micropolitan statistical areas • Annexation • Definition: • Process of legally adding land area to a city • Rules concerning annexation vary from state to state • Usually only happens when majority of residents in the area vote in favor of doing so • Often desired in 19th century because cities offered more services • Today it is less likely, most don’t want to pay city taxes • Defining Urban Settlements • City: a legal entity • Urbanized Area: a continuously built up area • MSA: a functional area

12. Counterurbanization • Telecommuting • Modern form of commuting that involves only commuting of information, not the worker • Definition: • The increase in rural populations that result from the out-migration of city residents from their city and suburban homes in search of non-urban lifestyles • Exburbs • Noticed in the 1950s • Rings of wealthier communities that grew just outside of the suburbs

13. Peripheral Model • Developed by Chauncy Harris • According to model, an urban area consists of an inner city surrounded by large suburban and residential areas tied together by a beltway or ring road • Edge Cities • Definition: • Around the beltway are nodes of consumer and business services • Originally built as suburban residences • Services grew with population • Many are specialized nodes • Collection of hotels around airports, etc.

14. Suburban Sprawl • Urban Sprawl: • Diffusion of urban land use and life-style into formerly non-urban, often agricultural lands • Density Gradient • As you travel outward from the center city, the population density declines • According to the density gradient, the # of houses per unit of land diminishes as distance from the center city increases

15. Cost of Suburban Sprawl • Uneven Development • Definition: • Refers to urban development that is not spread equally among a city’s areas • Leaves some areas richly developed and others continually poor and decrepit • Often caused by cumulative causation • When money flows to areas of greatest profit

16. Suburban Segregation • Residential Segregation • Prior to suburbs, vertical integration in cities • Once cities spread out replaced by territorial segregation • Suburban neighborhoods discouraged entry of low-income or minority residents • Feared loss of property values • Segregated Land Uses • Zoning ordinances were developed in European and North American Cities in the early decades of 20th century • Prevented to mixing of land-uses within the same district • As suburban regions grew and became more desirable two consequences occurred • Segregated social classes • Segregated land uses

17. Suburbanization of Business • Suburbanization of Retailing • Most residents no longer want to make journey to CBD • Retailing has increased in planned suburban shopping malls • Malls have become centers for activities in suburban areas • Suburbanization of Factories and Offices • Factories and warehouses have migrated to suburbia for more space, cheaper land, and better truck access • Offices that do not require face-to-face contact are increasingly moving to the suburbs • Businesses have moved to the suburbs too • Manufacturers have selected peripheral locations because land costs are lower • Services have moved to be closer to customers

18. Transportation and Suburbanization • Motor Vehicles • Suburban explosion of 20th century relied on motor vehicles • Rather than railroads of 19th century • rail-lines restricted development to narrow ribbons within walking distance of stations • Cars/trucks permitted large-scale development from the center • Provided more flexibility • Ownership nearly universal in American households • Public Transit • Few people now live within walking distance of employment • Urban areas are characterized by extensive commuting • Historically, growth of suburbs was constrained by poor transportation • People lived in crowded cities because they had to be within walking distance of shops and employment • Invention of railroad 1st allowed people to live in suburbs but work in the central city • Later improved to streetcars/trolleys, then subways to accommodate commuters

19. Containing Urban Sprawl • Portland, Oregon • One U.S. city that has effectively instituted a boundary to contain urban sprawl • Boundary forced revitalization of the inner-city, not outward growth • While it did work, it also increased cost of living and real estate prices substantially • European cities like London, England have worked to limit urban development to a particular area by installing a green belt • A boundary that forces all urban development to occur within the city’s urban core • North American cities have a difficult time setting such boundaries • Can attract investors who want to develop lands and grow the city at the expense of rural lands

20. Neo-Urbanism • Definition: • Movement to bring together trends in healthy living, sustainable growth, and urban development • One neo-urban trend is planned communities • Neighborhoods with master-planned housing designs, walkable pathways, recreational facilities, and security features • Many recent, neo-urban designs include festival settings • Large recreational areas for communities, such as waterfront parks along rivers