Johann Heinrich Von Thunen Theory

This model was first proposed by Johann Heinrich von Thunen in 1826 in his book, The Isolated State. He was a farmer in northern Germany and a nineteenth century economist.

The Von Thunen model depicts how commercial farmers figure out which crops and animals to cultivate based upon the market location. A commercial farmer cultivates land for the purpose of making a profit. A critically variable in this model that these commercial farmers take note of is the cost of land versus the cost of transporting products to markets because their goal is to make a high profit. Transportation cost depends on the distance from the market and the different kind of products. Locational rent is a term used by Von Thunen to explain his theory which is the equivalent to land value. It corresponds to the maximum amount a farmer could pay for using the land, without making losses.

The equation is L = Y(P − C) − YDF (L= locational rent, Y= Yield, P= Market price of the crop, C= Production cost of the crop, D= Distance from the market, F= Transport cost).

The model consists of four rings that surround the city or central market. The central market can be compared to the central business districts in the city models. The rings starting from the one closest to the city are:

1. Horticulture and Dairy because the products are perishable and need to be close to the city so they will not become spoiled.

2. Foresty such as the production of timber and firewood for practical uses such as fuel and building material. They also have to be close to the center because of their weight and transportation issues.

3. Extensive fields, such as grains for bread, because they last longer than those in the first ring so they can be farther away from the central market. They are also lighter making it easier for transportation.

4. Ranching or grazing is in the outermost ring because they require the most space and farmers can walk/herd animals to market if needed.

Beyond the last ring is land that is too great of a distance to make a profit from the city.

Although this model can be accurate today in some area, Von Thunen assumed a lot of factors and did not consider site or human factors making his model weak in many ways and attracts a lot of criticism. Some of the things he assume include:

• The city is located centrally within an "Isolated State."
• The Isolated State is surrounded by wilderness.
• The land is completely flat and has no rivers or mountains. A river might modify the shape of the rings because transportation costs change when products are shipped by water routes rather than over roads.
• Soil quality and climate are consistent.
• Farmers in the Isolated State transport their own goods to market via oxcart, across land, directly to the central city.
• There are no roads.
• Farmers behave rationally to maximize profits
• Government policies and changes in demand or price of the commodity

Von Thunen also did not consider modern technology that had yet to be invented in his time. For example there are refrigerated cars for the transportation of dairy products which make them last longer and travel longer distance. Also there is the transportation of animals by rail which is faster than having them being grazed into the city.

His ideas do tend to apply in LDCs where some of the advantages of modernization apply less so.

All in all, the Von Thunen model is a good example of the balance between land cost and transportation costs. The closer you get to the city, the higher the price of land increases. These commercial farmers have to balance the cost of transportation, land, and profit to produce the most cost-effective product for their market. In reality however, things don't work out exactly how they’re suppose to in this model which is true in every model.

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Weber's Theory

A model of industrial location proposed by A. Weber (1909, trans. 1929), which assumes that industrialists choose a least-cost location for the development of new industry. The theory is based on a number of assumptions, among them that markets are fixed at certain specific points, that transport costs are proportional to the weight of the goods and the distance covered by a raw material or a finished product, that perfect competition exists, and that decisions are made by economic man.

Weber postulated that raw materials and markets would exert a ‘pull’ on the location of an industry through transport costs. Industries with a high material index would be pulled towards the raw material. Industries with a low material index would be pulled towards the market.

Once a least-cost location has been established, Weber goes on to consider the deflecting effect of labour costs. To determine whether the savings provided by moving to a location of cheaper or more efficient labour would more than offset the increase in transport costs, isodapanes are constructed around the point of production at the point of minimum transport costs. The extra price of the wage bill is calculated for the point of production. If the source of cheap labour lies within the isodapane which has the value of the higher wages differential (the critical isodapane), it would be more profitable to choose the site with low labour costs rather than the least transport costs location.

Industrial location may be swayed by agglomeration economies. The savings which would be made if, say, three firms were to locate together, are calculated for each plant. The isodapane with that value is drawn around the three least-cost locations. If these isodapanes overlap, it would be profitable for all three to locate together in the area of overlap.

Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/weber-s-theory-of-industrial-location#ixzz1FDsbblRQ

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Environment in Urban cities

In order to improve environmental quality, health and quality of life in cities and towns, more emphasis should be given to developing attractive, efficient and safe infrastructure for people to grow in every sphere of life.

A. Importance of Urban green cover in improving environmental standard:

In the last decade many of the developing countries in Asia, East Europe and Africa have seen rapid growth of industrialization, due to which many of the countries have emerged as economic power house. This rapid growth in industrialization has lead to unplanned development of urban areas by large scale cutting of trees, converting agricultural land into human habitation and deforestation. This has affected adversely on general environment and maintaining ecological balance. Rapid migration and increase in population in the urban areas has also lead to large scale spreading of air & water pollution, garbage etc., and also impairing aesthetic value of area / land. Traffic congestion, water shortages, solid waste, and air, water and noise pollution are common noticeable problems in almost all the urban areas since last few years. The escalated urbanization, associated with environmental degradation, has generated a debate on how much urban green space has been lost due to the urbanization process. Integrated means of addressing the ecological and environmental, economic and social concerns are still neglected in the framework of development. As a result, large areas of urban green space are declining rapidly, and causing numerous environmental problems. However, both environmental awareness and environmental legislation (setting of standards etc.) have advanced considerably in recent years, but enforcement is lagging almost everywhere.

Now, it is well recognized that urban green space plays an important role in the social and natural sustainability of a city. An increase of vegetated surfaces in the urban landscape, provide ecological diversity etc. – can help mitigate several negative effects of urbanization on climate, air pollution, since they contribute to the reduction of the structural differences between the urban area and its rural surrounding. The mitigation processes operated by the vegetation take place both through biophysical and microclimatological properties. Urban green cover form essential structural and functional elements that make cities and urban regions more livable places for their citizens. It is thus, key role of improving the quality of urban life as well as environment. Their imperceptible role in arresting pollution, acting as dust-busters, reducing noise pollution by muffling the sounds of urban living, their cooling effect on the city’s temperatures, and how all of this can help keep climate change at bay, are well-known.

Good quality green space enhances the quality of urban life and contributes to wider Government objectives such as improved health, more sustainable neighbourhood renewal and better community cohesion, especially in more deprived communities. Neglected parks attract anti-social behaviour and have the potential to undermine regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods.

Urban green spaces provide a wide range of outputs, however, due to their multi-functional characteristics, the development and management of parks and green spaces is becoming a more and more complex planning issue that needs careful consideration, if green spaces are to be successful places, accepted and appreciated by citizens.

B. Planned urban development is the key to improve city conditions:

Rapid urbanization is transforming life throughout the developing world. Urbanization as a process is in itself is the biggest challenge for cities. It is also irreversible process. Urban planners claim that, urbanization is similar to an inevitable evil. The hub of civilization has been cities since the advent of industrial age. The economic process surrounding it is built on exploitation of nature and resources, killing rural outpost, creating inequalities and driving people to high density spaces – leaving rural spaces more exposed to un-controlled exploitation. Cities continue to grow in a haphazard manner. The city crises are many facets but it is only the clogged roads that are seen to be for what they are: impossible to live with. Issues like having enough water and power and getting rid of waste are considered serious.

The biggest challenges for these cities are increase in human density, which leads to problem of food, clothing & sheltering, sanitation, increasing number of slums and so the environmental degradation. Shortage of proper education, better health facilities, and most importantly a gap in demand and supply chain which contribute towards illegal operations getting started in those areas. In addition, low infrastructural and transport facilities in relation to the population growth make living condition problematic. Urban development is the key indicator for information of development indices. Some of the factors and problems to addressed are summerised as: (a) stable political situation, (b) economic strength, (c) corruption issue and public awareness, (d) skilled urban planners, (e) international relations for cultural sharing, (e) most important of all is willingness in the people and government to support for development.

Planned urban development is the key to overcome such problem of urbanization. Good land planning and infrastructure building in developing countries would help to create a perfect base which can be further nurtured with pollution free environment with sufficient greenery, better delivery of basic services like water and sanitation and finally a society with decent living. Research and demonstration are urgently needed if we are to realize our common dream of dynamic, environmentally and use-friendly cities. It is possible to revitalise depressed areas in ways that satisfy the wishes of residents and businesses. Resources such as land and materials can be reused and recycled. The scope for improving the way that buildings are designed, constructed and disposed of is tremendous. In managing the built environment, sustainability must be incorporated at various levels, from regional planning to individual construction sites. Planners, city councils, designers and urban residents all help to determine how cities develop and what construction methods are used.

Environmental issues play a central role in urban planning. However, in emerging megacities, infrastructure growth often takes precedence over the environment. Solving transportation issues has the highest priority in the cities surveyed, and air pollution is seen as the main environmental issue. The environment also plays a major role in the area of energy issues. Thus, alternative sources of energy will have a bright future in megacities. To meet growing demand for mobility, power, energy and water in the long term, megacities must not only build out their infrastructures and use them more efficiently; they must also proactively manage demand. However, city government experts are aware of the fact that efficiency must be improved significantly.

C. Relevant principles, in relation to sustainable development in cities:

(i) Manage the urban sprawl, that is to limit tendency of growing suburban by increased access to non-developed areas, utilise the potential of the deteriorated areas and un-build plots, develop and enhance development in central neighbourhoods, locate new development in the vicinity of public transport nodes and railway stations, enhance development in inner city-areas, reinforce housing conditions and improve quality of life.

(ii) Innovation of neglected neighbourhoods and mix businesses, services and social groups within the city-structure, particular attention should be drawn to selected neighbourhoods experiencing social problems.

(iii) Manage carefully the cities’ eco-system, particularly regarding public places, green structure, water, energy, waste and noise.

(iv) Develop efficient and environmentally public transport, which can contribute to sustainable mobility.

(v) Establish inter-municipal and inter-city bodies, in order to co-ordinate planning and implementation of measures which cross administrative borders.

(vi) Conserve and refine important cultural heritages, and develop city networks.

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"Smart Growth"

Morris defined "smart growth" -- a term not universally appreciated by all planners and developers -- as "land use and transportation planning that is used as community building, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability as an alternative to sprawl that has dominated our landscape for more than fifty years.

"When I speak about sprawl, I am referring to the low-density, single-use development that has spread out across every region of our country… and, unfortunately, throughout the globe. And though it offered the prospect of escape from the ills of urban life to a better quality of life, it has, in fact, become its own problem. It consumes natural resources at an extraordinary pace. It displaces economic and social and academic capital, encourages the development of isolated commercial real estate; eventually sprawling abandoned gray fields…when communities [that] support the transfer decide to transfer their wealth to the next tier of urban development.

"The most significant aspect of sprawl in the context of our discussion today is that it confines mobility and obligates us to automobile use. The further we migrate from urban [and even village] centers…the more we have to drive.

"Sprawl... is land use planning as if peak oil didn't matter. It wasn't by accident that we go here," Morris stated.

Besides the climatic, economic and political consequences of our overly oil-dependent lifestyle, are the health impacts, Morris pointed out. He cited two 2003 studies which linked suburban sprawl to obesity and hypertension. He also noted that the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the drop in the incident of asthma attacks in the city when commuters were asked to leave their cars at home and telecommute, use transit or limit the number and duration of trips.

Morris took the rest of his presentation to discuss the concept of "placemaking" where land use and transportation planning converge in the development of livable, walk-able communities. One such example is the West Hyattsville TOD illustrated above and in the planning map below.

This is an important, uplifting and positive talk and we strongly recommend that you listen to it in its entirety because Morris discusses many of the tools available to communities that can help them not just reduce their energy consumption, but actually improve the quality of life for their citizens, while reducing automobile use. You can download the 11.38 MB file to your computer hard drive for playback on your favorite MP3 device or you can use the Flash-based MP3 player below the illustration of the Maryland project.

EV World expresses its thanks to ASPO USA, Steve Andrews and Randy Udall for granting us permission to attend and record this historic event. The next conference will be held in Boston, Massachusetts in 2006.

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Central Place Theory

Apart from the simple lack of fuel and vehicles, the main reason why we will travel less is because our societies will be more local. Instead of thinking on a national or county level, we will think on a level that is small enough to control with our limited transportation but large enough to supply just about all of our needs. A hierarchical system of settlements will exist rather like the Central Place Theory. This is a system devised by Christaller which basically states that settlements grow on a hierarchical system. The larger the settlement, the more services it has but the fewer of them there are. An idealised layout is shown below.

Central Place Theory

In a society of the future, most people would live in the villages (up to approximately 1000 people although the ideal number for human society seems to be around 150), surrounded by farmland (natural or reclaimed) from which they grow all or most of their food. (These are not necessarily the present day country villages; they are just as likely to be suburbs where gardens, parks, and unused roads and building areas are converted to agricultural land.) These villages will have basic services such as a bakery, pottery, machinery shop, carpenters, etc. One building in the village would be converted into a communal hall used as a workshop, library, school, pub, meeting place, etc.

The next up the hierarchy would be the market town, surrounded by a number of villages/suburbs. This would still have to have areas to grow food but, being larger, it could contain services that do not exist in the level below. Doctors, dentists, vets, clothing manufacturers, glassmakers, boat and cart builders, specialist traders, and so forth. As the name suggests, it would also be the place where people would travel every so often to sell their spare food and wares for other things.

Above this would be the town proper. The likely reason for retaining large settlements like this would be that they held factories and industries such as coal mining, steel works and forestry, universities (and even centres for leisure activities). These would have another level of government which would be necessary for defence, emergency services and universal matters such as money.

In the present day central place theory, there are other levels, the city and conurbation, but these will not exist as individual entities. With so little transport and so much growing land needed, massive areas such as London and New York will have to break up into villages/suburbs and towns for the inhabitants to survive.

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Urban Settlement

These settlements are multi-functional (have many functions). Secondary and tertiary functions take place in urban settlements.

Types of settlements according to their MAIN function:
1. Trade and transport towns and cities:
a) Gap or gateway towns form where traffic routes converge – at mountain passes, ports and    bridges, for instance. An example is Worcester in the Western Cape.
b) Junction towns form at railway or road junctions. An example is De Aar in the Northern Cape.
c) Break-of-bulk towns form where one type of transport is changed for another – at a harbour goods are offloaded from the ship and onto a truck to be transported inland. An example is Port Elizabeth.

2. Specialised towns and cities:
These towns have one dominant function and are located where the resource needed for this function is available – recreational towns, for example, Plettenburg Bay, and mining towns, for example, Kimberley.

3. Central places:
These towns provide services to the surrounding population. Examples are Harrismith and Bethlehem. Many South African towns are central places.
In many cases the original main function of an urban settlement has changed, for example, Johannesburg was originally a mining town but its main functions now are commercial and government.

Urban hierarchySettlements form a hierarchy based on their size, number of people and functions.

High and low order functions
High-order functions are specialised functions and are found only in settlements that are high in the hierarchy, for example, a university or the main branch of a bank. Low-order functions are not specialised functions and are found in settlements low in the hierarchy as well as in settlements at the top of the hierarchy, for example, a corner café or agency of a bank.

There are more settlements at the base of the hierarchy and fewer settlements at the top:

Very large, highly complex urban areas have developed in some countries:
••A conurbation is a large urban area composed of a number of towns that have merged, for example, Midrand to Pretoria.
••A megalopolis is formed by the merging of conurbations, for example, New York and the urban areas on the east coast of the US.

Central Place Theory (developed by Christaller)This theory is used to explain the distribution of central places of different sizes and complexity. Remember that a central place is an urban settlement that provides services to the surrounding population.

Concepts:
It is important that you learn these definitions!
•• Threshold population – the minimum amount of people required to support a business. Low-order services or goods have a smaller threshold population as they are used often.
•• Range – the maximum distance that people will travel to obtain a service or goods. Low-order goods have a small range.
•• Sphere of influence (also called the market area) – the area served by a central place. Places that are low in the hierarchy have a small sphere of influence. Christaller believed that the sphere of influence should be hexagon-shaped so that all areas were served by a central place.

Therefore to summarise central place theory: there are more low-order central places and they are closer together. Low-order places have a smaller sphere of influence and serve a smaller population. They offer fewer functions and these are low-order functions.

Form or morphology of urban settlements
•• Shape: dependent on physical factors, economic factors and transport routes. Be able to identify the shapes of towns in the mapwork examination.

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Internal structure of cities

The question of how the growth of Kerala's cities is to be planned was part of the discussions at the National Seminar on Spatial Technologies for Land Use Planning in Trivandrum the other day. The Governor of Kerala called for vertical growth to make the best use of scarce urban land. His view was one side of a major discussion - the debate over vertical versus horizontal growth in urban planning - which has been raging in cities across the world for a very long time now. Various theories and models have been developed to explained the various growth mechanisms of urban areas. In many cases, the pattern of growth is often a product of geography or of the socio-economic evolution of the particular urban area, as is the case with many natural systems. The jury is still out on as to which model is the best for the citizens or even as to whether the different models can be or need to be compared.

Before even starting to ponder how our own city can be developed, we need to understand at least an outline of the interesting and increasingly complex subject of Urban Structure. According to that all encompassing compendium of our times, Wikipedia, “Urban structure is the arrangement of land use in urban areas. Urban structure can also refer to the urban spatial structure, which concerns the arrangement of public and private space in cities and the degree of connectivity and accessibility.”

In plain-speak, urban structure is an understanding of which parts of a city are located where – are all the offices located together, are they homes located according to economic status and so on. Urban planners, sociologists, economists and geographers broadly agree on three structural models:

• Concentric Ring Model

• Sectoral Model

• Multiple Nuclei Model

The Concentric Ring Model

When a city has a high-density Central Business District surrounded by decreasing zones of development density, the urban agglomeration is said to be distributed as concentric rings. This form of urban development is seen in cities like New York or Chicago or Mumbai, to a lesser extent.

Conceptual view of the Concentric Ring model (Courtsey: Wikipedia)

(Inside-->Out) - CBD, Factory Zone, Zone of Transistion, Working Class Zone, Residential, Commuter)

The CBD usually has, as it name implies, most of the business space in the urban area along with some residential areas. The cost of space is usually very high due to the limited space and the high demand. However, while up-market residential and business space is very expensive, many inner cities of this type also have run-down areas inhabited by the less well-off among its citizens. These could be the older parts of the city centre where the dilapidated buildings find few high-income takers or where the transportation network is poorly developed. These areas usually spiral downwards unless revived with comprehensive redevelopment schemes.

The Bid-Rent curve (Courtsey: Wikipedia)

Immediately outside the CBD lie mid-rise districts with a predominantly residential nature. The residents are mostly middle-class and this middle ring is usually well linked to the city centre through public transport.
Finally, there are the suburbs which lie farthest for the centre of the ring city. These are almost exclusively low-rise, usually detached houses which are inhabited by the upper and middle classes. The suburbia, familiar to us in innumerable movies, is far removed from the hustle and bustle of the city centre but necessitates a long in-and-out trip everyday, the famous “commute”.

The concentric ring model may sound very convenient, and indeed, anyone not too kindly disposed towards social equality may see it as a great way to keep the masses down. Other than the fact that it creates and encourages social inequity, the concentric ring structure also imposes other difficulties like inefficiencies in transport. That may sound counter-intuitive, after all isn’t simple for everyone to travel in and out of a single focal point? But, what if the Airport is on the other side of the CBD? It means either a long, frustrating trip through the chaos of the inner city or a even longer detour along a ring road, if one fortunately exists.

The congestion at the city centre usually means very tall buildings and expensive real estate. Even if an alternate or parallel CBD was proposed, organisations may be reluctant to leave the existing centre of activity and such a shift would also require a massive change in the supporting infrastructure which would be focused on the existing CBD.

The Sectoral Model

This structure looks very much like the typical pie diagram that one sees a lot in presentations and textbooks. The urban area is divided into often well demarcated areas arranged around a common centre, where the land uses varies from sector to sector. So, one sector may be dedicated to industrial manufacture, another to high-rise residential and a third to mid-rises. Such structure can be seen in cities like Calgary, Canada.

The Sectoral model enables easy expansion of the city outwards as long as radial space is available and is not constrained by some natural barrier like a water-body. However, conflicts of interest between adjacent zones of different types – say heavy industry and residential – is not uncommon. Sectors may not be planned as such, and may develop over time due to a variety of factors. A natural harbour could develop into a commercial and entertainment zone (around a marina, perhaps) or into a industrial zone. The repercussions on a neighbouring residential zone are obviously radically different.

Having different sectors scattered all over the place also makes the transportation solution a very complex one. Different routes may need to be developed for routing people and cargo, for example.

The Multiple Nuclei Model

No, I have not deviated into zoology. Rest assured, the multiple nuclei model is yet another form that a city can take, even if it sounds like something that got left behind when the little green men left after their picnic. As its name implies, this model describes urban areas which have more than one centre. There are two or more centres of activity surround by areas of residential or mixed use.

Multiple nuclei can evolve over time from the concentric ring structure, for example. You must think I am off my rocker, when I say cities evolve. Surely, evolution is the property of living things, as Mr. Darwin said. Well, cities are living too, aren’t they? In a way, urban environments are complex ecosystems populated by millions of intelligent constituents, including you and me. Like any dynamic system, cities too can evolve. In fact, far from being a property only of living things, elements of evolution can be seen in any system in which there is change and competition.

Multiple nuclei can evolve when a city develops new centres as its original one gets too congested. Look at Mumbai, for example. Once, South Mumbai with Nariman Point and its skyscrapers as its focus, was the island city’s only CBD. Over time, as this centre became impossibly congested, new business districts have evolved, most notable in Bandra-Kurla and in Navi Mumbai. The same is the case with Gurgaon and Noida in the case of New Delhi. These nuclei may each have residential districts develop around them as people try to minimise the commute to their respective work places. While the new nuclei may give the city more scope to expand, it is not without its own ails.

Each nucleus and its surrounding areas may not be totally self-contained. In Bangalore, for instance, there are multiple business hubs – Electronics City, Whitefield, Airport Road, Outer Ring Road etc – but most of the social infrastructure lies in a few areas mostly in South Bangalore, which leads to very heavy commuting and its associated chaos.

Multiple nuclei almost invariably require high-volume transportation systems like Mass Rapid Transit Systems (MRTS) which are very expensive but are indispensable to move hundreds of thousands of people quickly, safely and comfortably. High speed linkages also need to be put in place to allow access to common infrastructure points like the city’s airport(s) or railway station(s) from all the nuclei. Strong urban planning is also called for to ensure that mixed-use development surrounds each nucleus, reducing the need for long commutes.

(Thus ends Part I. Part II, talking about how all of this applies to Trivandrum, is ready and will be up in a few days, once everyone has a chance to wade through this one. Stay tuned and thanks for your patience.)

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