Urban LandUse Models

Landuse models present the different parts of a town or city such as the CBD, industrial areas, or residential areas in an easy to understand diagram. They show the distinct areas and allow you to predict what an area of the city is like and what you would expect to find there. It also shows where the town has grown from and what parts of the city are the oldest.

They can help us to tell easily identify what different areas of the town or city are like without requiring us to visit the town. As they show the type of housing and its distribution through the town, this can also tell us which parts are the wealthiest and most expensive to live in. It is even possible to estimate which areas have the highest crime rates, best schools or public services.

There are two main landuse models for cities in MEDC’s, the Burgess model and the Hoyts model. Both models show areas of the town represented by different coloured areas, the most commonly used areas are:

·         CBD – or the ’Central Business District’, this is often the oldest part of the city and is usually in the centre.  Its high land cost means that there are high-rise buildings, offices and shopping areas.

·         Industrial – This area contains 19^th century factories, in the Burgess model it is still fairly central and therefore still has fairly high land costs.

·         Low or working class housing – This contains 19^th century terraced housing built to house the workers of the factories in the industrial are. It is usually located next to the industrial areas.

·         Medium class housing – This housing is fairly far from the CBD and as a result has lower land costs which mean the houses are often bigger and detached. They were mostly built in the inter-war period.

·         High class housing – This housing is the furthest from the CBD and contains suburbs of more expensive housing, which are often detached and have large gardens due to low land costs.

The Burgess model shows a city where the town has grown out from the central settlement point which is the oldest part of the city.

In the Hoyts model areas of the town grow out from the CBD in narrow strips along roads or rivers. Industry, for example, may grow up on the banks of the river running through the city in order to have access to water and an easy transport route. Housing will then grow up between these ‘branches’ to form the city.