Models of City Structure & Urban Development - AP Human Geography

The Transition Zone is characterized as industrial and typically dominated by manufacturing facilities. It surrounds the mainly commercial city center and is surrounded by working-class residential housing, maximizing access to markets to sell manufactured goods and housing for factory workers.

The outermost ring of the Concentric Zone Model is commuter-residential and consists mainly of low-density, estate-style housing, usually comprised of high-income professionals. Urban overcrowding is typically unappealing to people, so property values for low-density and spacious estates will be at a higher premium than higher-density urban properties.

Both the Von Thunen and Burgess models consist of a circular pattern of ring-shaped zones that are designated based upon their value, significance, and accessibility to the central business/market areas of a settlement. The Von Thunen model prioritizes perishability of goods and accessible fuel sources (lumber) to the central populated area, while the Burgess model prioritizes accessibility of labor to industrial/commercial areas. Both result in a circular, layered model.

The Transition Zone consists largely of low-quality housing that is close in proximity to industrial and manufacturing jobs in the Commercial Business District (CBD). Since the housing in this zone tends to be unpleasant, its cost is low and the proximity to entry-level jobs attracts low-income families. The Working-Class and Commuter Zones often consist of higher-quality housing, but the cost of living is often inflated and getting to the jobs often requires an automobile, which many low-income families cannot afford.

The Transition Zone is composed of poor-quality housing for low-income residents in close proximity to commercial and industrial areas. Rural migrants to China's big industrial cities are typically living in poor-quality, low-cost housing very close to the factories at which they work, which best represents the Transition Zone of the Burgess Model.

A city that is described as a Concentric Zone Model city will have a central business district which is surrounded by a series of rings with varying levels of development. Generally the closest ring will be for low quality housing and the furthest ring will be for suburban housing.

The central business district (CBD) is where a large amount of businesses are located. In the concentric zone model, it is located in the center of the city. Houses and apartments are less common in the CBD and tend to be more prevalent outside of it.

The outermost zone of the concentric zone model is the commuter zone, which includes the suburbs. These are the people who live furthest away from the central business district and therefore have to commute the greatest distance to work.

A city that lacks a centralized business district or downtown area and that has several distinct neighborhoods that all act as regional centers within one larger city is best captured using the “Multiple-Nuclei Model.”

A Multiple-Nuclei Model city is a city that does not have one central area, but instead has several nodes that act as regional centers for economic or residential activity within one larger city. Los Angeles, with its many distinct neighborhoods, is a prototypical example of this type of city.

A “gateway city” is a city that serves as a port of entrance for migrants arriving in a country or a large geographic region. Cities like New York City, San Francisco, and Rio de Janeiro are classic examples of gateway cities.

In human geography the term “gateway city” refers to a city that acts as a port of entry into a country or a large geographic region. San Francisco with its natural harbor and immigrant population, often referred to as the “gateway to the west,” is a classic example of a gateway city.

Medina is a prominent city in Saudi Arabia and, with its mosques, open-air markets, and prominent courtyards. As such, Medina is a classic example of an “Islamic city” from religious, cultural, and aesthetic perspectives. Sofia is in Bulgaria; Venice is in Italy; Barcelona is in Spain; Tblisi is in Georgia.

London, Tokyo, and New York City are the only cities in the world that are considered to be first-tier world cities. This means they are global centers of culture, economics, and politics that have a disproportionately massive influence on the global population. Capital cities and economic centers like Moscow, Brussels, Mumbai, Los Angeles, and many others are considered to be “second-tier world cities.”

Many cities first began to take shape in the late Medieval period. These cities, common throughout Europe and parts of the rest of the world, are characterized by their narrow, winding streets and looming, intimate buildings. They generally have some defensive fortifications and cathedrals and ostentatious churches dotting the landscape.

Lagos is the capital city of Nigeria and is by far the most populous city in Africa. More than ten million people live within the city of Lagos, and an additional ten million live within the metropolitan area of Lagos. The next most populous cities in Africa are Cairo, in Egypt, and Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Istanbul, the capital of Turkey and an ancient and significant city, is the most populous city in Europe. Istanbul actually lies at the boundary between Europe and Asia, but the city itself is considered European. There are more than fourteen million people living within the city limits of Istanbul, compared with twelve million in Moscow, 8.5 in London, 2 million in Paris, 3.1 million in Madrid, and 1.4 in Munich.

“Islamic cities” are considered as a distinct category of city within the study of human geography. Typically Islamic cities arose in places with warm climates and fairly little rainfall so they tend to be painted white (to reflect sunlight) and have facilities to recycle rainwater. They also typically contain vibrant open-air markets and picturesque mosques.

All of these answer choices are models used to depict the spatial layout of urban environments except the Inside-Outside Model.