concentric zone model

• author:
  Ernest W. Burgess
  • echo:
    CHICAGO SCHOOL Refers to the research and social theory that emerged in the first half of the 20th century from the world's first school of sociology at the University of Chicago. Due to its phenomenally rapid growth, the city of Chicago was seen as a laboratory for sociological research into the effects of urbanism on culture and social relationships. In criminology it focused on the socio-cultural causes of urban crime and on crime prevention.

• publication:
  Ernest W. BurgessThe growth of the city: an introduction to a research projectin Publications of the American Sociological Society n° 18, 1924.

• definition:
  Urban model introducec by Burgess in 1927, based on his studies on Chicago.He saw Chicago as a city in an industrialized country, expanding radically from its centre in a series of concentric zones.He suggested that the expansion and the formation of these concentric zones were created by succession and invasion, as the occupiers of each inner zone, seeking what they saw as more agreable locations, moved outwards to colonize the next outer zone. From the centre outwards he identified the concentric zones as: 1 the inner Central Business District; 2 a transition zone (Inner City) with residential areas invaded by business and industry from the core, the run-down dwellings being subdivided and overcrowded and inhabited by poor immigrants, especially ethnic minorities; 3 a low-income residential zone with second generation immigrant dwellings; 4 a middle-income residential zone with one family dwellings; 5 an outer commuting zone with higher income dwellings in suburban areas and satelite towns. He acknowledged that the general, simplified pattern would be modified if applied to other cities (e.g. by terrain, routes and other constraints); but he suggested that radial expansion along a broad front, stimulated by invasion and succession, was a dominant process in the shaping of the pattern of a city.

  related links:
  http://parole.aporee.org/files/fabri/city_models.gif
  (city models: )
  http://parole.aporee.org/files/fabri/three_generalizations_of_urban_structure.jpg
  (three generalizations of urban structures: )
  
  related words:
  sectoral model (definition)
  multiple nuclei model (definition)
  CBD (definition)
  

  • echo:
    Concentric Zone Model: The concentric zone model was among the early descriptions of urban form. Originated by Earnest Burgess in the 1920s, the concentric zone model depicts the use of urban land as a set of concentric rings with each ring devoted to a different land use (see Figure 1). The model was based on Burgess’s observations of Chicago during the early years of the 20th century. Major routes of transportation emanated from the city’s core, making the CBD the most accessible location in the city. Burgess identified five rings of land use that would form around the CBD. These rings were originally defined as the (1) central business district, (2) zone of transition, (3) zone of independent workers’ homes, (4) zone of better residences and (5) zone of commuters. An important feature of this model is the positive correlation of socio-economic statuts of households with distance from the CBD -- more affluent households were observed to live at greater distances from the central city. Burgess described the changing spatial patterns of residential areas as a process of "invasion" and "succession". As the city grew and developed over time, the CBD would exert pressure on the zone immediately surrounding it (the zone of transition). Outward expansion of the CBD would invade nearby residential neighborhoods causing them to expand outward. The process was thought to continue with each successive neighborhood moving further from the CBD. He suggested that inner-city housing was largely occupied by immigrants and households with low socio-economic status. As the city grew and the CBD expanded outward, lower status residents moved to adjacent neighborhoods, and more affluent residents moved further from the CBD.

• soft cover:
  Publications of the American Sociological Society n° 18, 1924.

• place:
  Chicago

• date (project or term):
  1924-1927

• definition source:
  Audrey N. ClarkThe Penguin Dictionary of GeographyPenguin Books, London 1998.