Networks of Cities Objectives

 Demonstrate the distinctions between local, national, regional and world cities in the urban
hierarchy
 Discuss how markets (and the range and threshold for goods) creates a network of cities
 Explain the regional variations in the global network of cities and how it leads to distinctive
regional urban geography
 Examine national networks of primacy and rank-size distribution

Networks of Cities Study Questions

1. Which of the following is an example of a higher order good?
a. Milk
b. *Cars
c. Hairdresser
d. Newspaper

2. Which of the following is an example of a lower order good or service?

a. Hospital
b. Furniture store
c. School
d. *Grocery store

3. Walter Christaller visualized a range of __________ structures depending if the system was
geared to optimizing markets, minimizing travel or optimism administrative boundaries.
a. Circular
b. Square
c. *Hexagonal
d. Octagonal

4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of central place theory?

a. Strengths include insights into massive urbanization; weaknesses include notions of
complementary region.
b. Strengths include insights into rapid metropolitanization now occurring; weaknesses
include don’t help us identify the effective influence of a city across space.
c. Strengths include range and threshold of goods and services; weaknesses include
unimportant tool to uncover some of the socio-spatial relations in urban networks.
d. *Strengths include the measurement and definition of complementary regions;
weaknesses include little insight into massive urbanization occurring today.

5. Has imperial primacy persisted in post imperial society?

 a. Yes, primacy was reinforced as economies shifted from tertiary, primary and then to
secondary economic sectors.
b. *Yes, it is home to royalty
c. No, because it is not home to those who manufacture the dominant forms of
representation
d. No, because it is not home to the wealthy or those who control much of the making
and moving of money.

6. Which of the following is not a reason for Bangkok’s degree of urban primacy?
a. With a population of 65 million, just over 15 million live in Bangkok.
b. *Colonization made it the center.
c. It is the unchallenged center of political, intellectual, and religious life.
d. By 2005 the city was responsible for almost half of all gross domestic product.

7. As demand grows, some traders stay in place and eventually periodic markets are replaced by
____.
a. *Fixed markets
b. Currency markets
c. Commodity markets
d. Wholesale markets

8. Which of the following is not an example of periodic markets?

a. Farmers’ markets
b. Bazaars
c. Flea markets
d. *Supermarkets

9. Which of the following best explains the threshold of bread versus a laptop computer?
a. A buyer will travel a long distance for either product.
b. A buyer will travel further for life-sustaining bread than for electronics.
c. *A buyer will travel further for a laptop computer than bread.
d. A buyer will only travel a short distance for either item.

10. Who was described as Hitler’s Geographer?

a. Michael Watts
b. David Harvey
c. *Walter Christaller
d. Carl Ritter

11. Rank size distribution is also referred to as:

a. First law of geography
b. *Zipf’s Law
c. Law of demand
 d. Law of logarithms

12. Hyperprimate cities reside in countries with a primacy value of over ______.
a. 3
b. 4
c. *5
d. 6

13. Which of the following is not an urban national network?

a. Rank size distribution
b. Primate distribution
c. Non-primate distributions
d. *Relative distribution

14. Aside from poverty and social anarchy, some national ideologies have not encouraged global
economic connections. Which city is an example of this?
a. *Khartoum
b. Brussels
c. Cape Town
d. Rio de Janeiro

15. The text identified three ideal types of large, non-world cities. Which of the following is not
one of them?
a. The poor city
b. The collapsed city
c. The excluded city
d. *The fall out city

Exercises 1 & 2
Exercise #1

Visualization: Connected States of America ( http://senseable.mit.edu/csa/index.html)

In this module, you will be able to explore the urban network making up the United States of
America. In Chapter 14, you learned about regional and global urban networks. You were
introduced to geographers’ various efforts to study the spatial logic of flows and interactions of
people, goods and other mobile phenomena. In this set of visuals and interactive programs,
you will see how American urban regions that don’t necessarily conform to expected,
conventional State boundaries. As you first encounter the interactive map, notice the links at
the top-right of the page that will take you to “Visuals,” “Interactive Map,” “Video,” “Data,”
and “Publications.” Notice on the left-hand side is the interactive map layer’s description.
Click on the “Interactive Map” link. Below the left-hand map description, you will see three
different data sets that can be toggled between. You can also explore the connections that
 make up the county that your town or city is located in. Read the Interactive Map description
and analyze the patterns of the three data sets.

1. Which of the following represents the most total call time and total number of SMS sent?
a. *Red choropleth
b. White line
c. Green choropleth
d. Brown line

2. Click on any county shape on the map and then change the data set. What changes at the
top-right of the interactive map?
a. a description of the phone call connections for that county
b. a description of the SMS connections for that county
c. a description of the insufficient data for that county
d. *a description of the selected mobile connections for that county

3. Which of the following colors represents a county that has insufficient data?
a. red
b. yellow
c. green
d. *brown

4. Type in Cook, IL. What major American city is located in this county?
a. Los Angeles
b. New York
c. *Chicago
d. Atlanta

5. What is the approximate population of Cook County in Illinois?

a. 100,000
b. 500,000
c. 1,000,000
d. *5,000,000

6. Type in Alexander, IL. What is the approximate population of Alexander County in Illinois?
a. *5,000
b. 15,000
c. 50,000
d. 150,000

You may want to open up another browser tab or window with the interactive map. You can do
this by right-clicking on the link and selecting the appropriate option. Compare the patterns in
total call times between Cook, IL and Alexander, IL.
7. Which of the following statements best describes the total call time patterns you see between
the two locations?
a. Cook, IL has a larger population and a geographically smaller network of
communication.
b. Alexander, IL has a larger population and a geographically clustered communication
network.
c. Cook, IL has a smaller population and a geographically dispersed communication
network.
d. *Alexander, IL has a smaller population and a geographically smaller network of
communication.

8. What is least likely to be one of the possible determinants of the differences observed between
the two counties?
a. total population size
b. *political preference
c. local economic base
d. relative income

Now click on the top, right-hand link for “Visuals.” Read the descriptions and analyze the
series of map visuals with associated graphics.

9. What demographic pattern is displayed in the bottom map in grayscale?

a. people
b. total population
c. *population density
d. total population growth

10. Population density is used as a proxy indicator by the interactive program’s authors for which
of the following phenomena?
a. *urbanization
b. economic development
c. infrastructure
d. globalization

11. In the center visual, what statement best describes the pattern in the data that is being
displayed?
a. Color of connections indicate that most mobile communication occurs over large
distances
b. *Higher height connections occur over shorter distances regardless of their color
c. Colored connections indicate a mobile connection between the most populous States
d. Lower height connections occur over shorter distances regardless of their color

Click on “Visuals” number “2” in the top-left. The map changes to the Call Data Community
Map. Next, click on “Visuals” number “3” in the top-left. The map changes to the SMS Data
Community Map. You may want to open up one of these visuals in another browser tab or
window. You can do this by right-clicking on the link and selecting the appropriate option.
Compare the Call Data Community Map and the SMS Data Community Map.

12. What is not one of the changes you observed between the Call Data Community Map and the
SMS Data Community Map?
 a. There are more SMS Communities
b. Call communities are geographically larger
c. *There are more Call Communities
d. SMS communities are geographically smaller

13. What is not a likely explanation for the differences in patterns between Calls and SMS Data
Communities?
a. Social networks based in SMS may have more face-to-face interaction
b. Community patterns may reflect communication preferences of users
c. Social networks based on Calls may have less face-to-face interaction
d. *Community patterns may reflect transportation preferences of users

14. Why are there more mobile communities in the eastern US?
a. Smaller, less urban population
b. More advanced communications
c. *Larger, more urban population
d. More advanced mobile users

15. Which of the following explanations would be most likelycorrect in addressing the pattern of
having less data in the northern middle of the US?
a. The data is skewed to where the people are
b. The data hasn’t been collected for those areas
c. *The data is skewed between one mobile carrier
d. The data doesn’t exist, as there is no mobile service

Exercise #2

Visualization: Urban Observatory ( http://www.urbanobservatory.org/; direct link to

interactive: http://www.urbanobservatory.org/compare/index.html)

In this module, you will be able to compare the regional urban networks of several different
cities in the world. In Chapter 14, the geographers interested in urban networks studied the
interplay between goods/services and distance/location in regional networks. In this
interactive program, you will be able to compare and contrast different city examples from
varied global contexts. You will observe some of the complexities of the urban experience that
belie the rational geometries that some Geographers studying cities have employed. When you
click on the interactive link make sure to review the initial instructions pop-up box. Play
around with the interactive program by changing “Themes” and “Cities”; toggle both to display
and be visible. Notice at the bottom of each city map, there is a description of the data, how it
is displayed and where it comes from. When you click on an area on any map, the description
box will update to the specific data attributes that characterize that area. Finally, in each city
map you will also see zoom controls; notice when you zoom one map, all maps follow.
Click on the map theme, “Commercial” and then select the following three cities:
Johannesburg, Medellin and Prague. Zoom in and out while you visually compare the three
cities.

1. What urban system present in each map roughly corresponds with the patterns of commercial
land use in each of the city maps?
a. Communications
b. Electricity
 c. *Transportation
d. Sanitation

2. Which of the following is not a likely explanation for the corresponding development of urban
transportation systems and commercial land use?
a. Commercial enterprises require transportation connections for their necessary
functions.
b. *Many commercial enterprises are required to build their own transportation network.
c. Commercial enterprises and transportation systems occur jointly in economic
development.
d. Many commercial enterprises are required to contribute to transportation through
taxes.

Change the map theme to “Industrial.” Click back-and-forth between the “Commercial” and
“Industrial” themes.

3. Overall, how do the patterns of Industrial land use vary compared with Commercial land use?
a. Commercial land use is found both in the city center and dispersed throughout the
metro area
b. Industrial land use is found typically found in more particular areas of each city
c. Commercial land use is found along transportation arteries throughout the metro area.
d. *Industrial land use is exclusively clustered and found on the outskirts of the city.

4. What city has a distinctively different pattern in both its Commercial and Industrial land use?
a. Prague
b. *Medellin
c. Johannesburg
d. None of these

5. What is the mostly likely explanation for the differences in each city’s urban system patterns,
namely of roads and land use?
a. Municipal ordinances
b. *Topography
c. Cultural preferences
d. Climate

Click on the map theme, “Predominant Occupations” and then select the following three cities:
Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Zoom-in-and-out while you visually compare the three
cities.

6. Which of the following terms describes a worker that primarily earns a living from their
thinking and problem-solving skills?
a. *Creative class
b. Fish, Farm and Forestry class
c. Service class
d. Working class
7. Which of the following occupational classes has the highest average wage?
a. *Creative class
b. Fish, Farm and Forestry class
c. Service class
d. Working class

8. What occupational class has the largest area footprint across all three city maps?
a. *Creative
b. Working
c. Service
d. Low

9. Which city defies the main pattern evident in the overall geography of occupational class?
a. *Boston
b. Chicago
c. Los Angeles
d. None of these

Click on the map theme, “Housing Density” and then select the following three cities: Rio de
Janeiro, Rotterdam, and Tokyo. Zoom-in-and-out while you visually compare the three cities.

10. What statement(s) is/are correct about housing density?

a. indicates the location of residential land use
b. expressed in three categories: low, medium and high
c. it is calculated according to each city’s data and context
d. *all of the above

11. Which city reveals a pattern of housing density that could indicate that is has squatter
settlements?
a. Tokyo
b. Rotterdam
c. *Rio de Janeiro
d. None of these

12. Which city has more high density housing, especially over a wide area?
a. *Tokyo
b. Rotterdam
c. Rio de Janeiro
d. None of these

Click on the map theme, “Open Space” and then select the following three cities: Abu Dhabi,
Mumbai, and Perth. Zoom-in-and-out while you visually compare the three cities.

13. Which city reveals a pattern of open space that could indicate a high degree of planning,
namely in the metro area?
 a. *Abu Dhabi
b. Mumbai
c. Perth
d. None of these

14. Which city has the most open space, especially over a wide area?
a. Abu Dhabi
b. Mumbai
c. *Perth
d. None of these

Change the map theme from “Commercial” to “Industrial” to “Housing Density” and back to
“Open Space” again.

15. Which of the following pairs of land use has a pattern of overlapping, or occupying the same
space?
a. Commercial and Open Space
b. Industrial and Housing Density
c. Commercial and Industrial
d. *Open Space and Housing Density