Urban Settlements

• All towns/cities share four zones: core, inner city, suburban ring, urban fringe — the Burgess Concentric Ring model.
• Land value peaks at the CBD (most accessible point) and generally falls with distance — this is the bid-rent / distance decay theory.
• In LEDCs, the pattern flips: the wealthy live centrally, the poor (in squatter settlements) live at the fringe — the Latin American city model.
• Urban land use constantly changes: CBDs pedestrianise and build malls; inner cities regenerate via UDCs and gentrification; the urban fringe grows through urban sprawl.
• Growth on the edge of cities uses either greenfield (untouched countryside) or brownfield (previously developed) land — each has trade-offs.
• Urban areas face recurring problems: congestion, pollution (air/noise/light/visual/water), inequality, housing shortages, and crime.
• Sustainability — social, economic, environmental — is the modern solution framework, seen in ecotowns, congestion charging, and public transport investment.
• Case Study: Seoul, South Korea — a real megacity showing housing shortages, congestion, pollution, inequality, and sprawl in action.

The Four Zones (Burgess's Concentric Ring Model)

Think of a city like a tree stump's growth rings. The very middle is the oldest part — where the settlement first began — and each ring around it was added later as the city expanded outward. Because each ring was built in a different era, for a different purpose, each one looks and functions differently.