Urban form and land-use models; new urban landscapes and the postmodern western city; social and economic inequality in urban areas; and cultural diversity and the issues of multicultural urban societies.

What this dot point is asking

AQA section 3.2.3 wants you to explain urban form and the classic land-use models, the rise of new urban landscapes and the postmodern western city, the social and economic inequalities of urban areas, and cultural diversity and multiculturalism. It is the "shape and society" half of the urban topic.

Urban form and land-use models

The classic land-use models describe how land use is organised around a dominant centre:

• Burgess (concentric ring) model: zones in rings outward from the CBD, from inner-city to suburbs.
• Hoyt (sector) model: land use in wedges following transport routes out from the centre.
• Harris and Ullman (multiple nuclei) model: several centres of activity, not one.

These models, based on early- and mid-twentieth-century Western cities, are useful starting points but increasingly outdated.

New urban landscapes and the postmodern city

These changes show that urban form is dynamic, reshaped by economic restructuring and lifestyle change.

Social and economic inequality

Cities concentrate both wealth and deprivation, often side by side. Causes include deindustrialisation and the shift to a service/knowledge economy (leaving low-skilled workers behind), housing markets and gentrification (pricing out poorer residents), uneven investment, and discrimination. The consequences are the spatial concentration of deprivation (poor housing, health, education and employment in some districts) alongside affluence, producing residential segregation, social tension and self-reinforcing cycles of decline. The Index of Multiple Deprivation maps these contrasts.

Cultural diversity and multiculturalism

Cities, especially world cities, are culturally diverse through migration. Multiculturalism brings economic dynamism, cultural vibrancy, varied food, festivals and global connections. But it also raises issues: residential segregation into ethnic enclaves (through choice and constraint), tension over resources and identity, and challenges of integration and cohesion. The geographer's task is to analyse the patterns and processes of diversity and the issues they create, fairly and with evidence.

Try this

Q1. Name the three classic urban land-use models. [3 marks]

• Cue. Burgess (concentric rings), Hoyt (sectors) and Harris and Ullman (multiple nuclei).

Q2. Explain what is meant by a fortress landscape. [2 marks]

• Cue. A gated, securitised urban development designed to exclude and control access, a feature of new urban landscapes.

Q3. Explain one cause of social and economic inequality in cities. [3 marks]

• Cue. Deindustrialisation and the shift to a service economy leave low-skilled workers behind, concentrating unemployment and deprivation in some districts.