The Harris and Ullman theory of city city is also a good idea of how a typical British city is formed. This shows the CBD right in the middle of all of the industries. This shows a split between the different types of class housing from one side of the city with the low-class housing to the other outskirt of the city to the high-class housing. In this there are business districts and indurtial zone within these housing industries.
My example of a typical British city is Newcastle. Newcastle exemplifies the Hoyt model. We can see this because of the middle-class residential area in Gateshead which is split from the industrial sector which runs all the way along the River Tyne from one outskirt, to the other. This is then followed by thr low-class residetial areas built up of council estates and attached houses. These houses are usually lived in by those working in the industry by the river. The CBD is in the middle of this low-class residential area to be close to the industrial area and also all three of the different types of housing. The CBD is now the core of the city and most businesses revolve around the CBD. The other side of the CBD there is the high-class housing area near to Exibition Park. This area has fairly spread out housing and is built up crisply. There are many business parks and retailing complexes emerging in this sector. This is then flanked by the middle-class residential areas near to Chinatown and St James’s Park. These areas are expanfing rapidly and the characteristics of this areas housing changes dramatically from the year that the house was built, so there is a large change in the suburban ring of the city. This is the perfect example of the Hoyt model.
To begin with, the main British cities are structured due to the different transport links and routes. This is because more people live near towards the main transports in the main cities such as Newcastle. This is because it makes travelling more efficient and easier. We can see this from the diagram below. The most people live nearer to the transport routes, however the houses closer to the main transport routes are less developed and are usually lived in by the lower classes. 57,200 people commute into work in Newcastle which means that their house is near the outskirts and mean that they must live near to good transport routes to allow this to happen. This figure was attained this information from the 2001 census. Also, there has been a congestion charge brought into the city centre. This will encourage people to drive into work as much, but get public transport, such as trains and buses, into work everyday.
The people’s jobs in the city have a huge affect on where somebody lives. They will want to get to their job quickly and easily. This will mean that the higher-class jobs will be near the high-class housing in cities. This has meant that many industrial estates have been built around the edge of the city to make it easy for their employees to get to work. But for Newcastle these jobs that employ the higher-classes might have a problem as their employees come in from a large area and they will not be able to do this.
The regeneration of many houses in the last 20 years have meant to a change in the areas lived in by each class to be changed significantly. This has disrupted many industries as well, that have moved away from the CBD to get closer to its employees and now their employees are moving towards the CBD. This is also having a large effect on the structure of the city. In Newcastle there was a large boost in finance put towards the regeneration of housing in the city. But in Newcastle that the structure of the city has been disrupted by the regeneration of housing, and instead of the plan preventing the council having to build less houses, they are having to build more for the lower-class that are moving out of the city centre and need housing further away from the city. Most of the houses in the Twilight Zone that are waiting to be regenerated are suburbanised and are not lived in at the moment.
Social factors also help shape the typical British city. There are large immigrant communities in every city and small communities in the cities help form the city. There are many social groups in each city and they split off from the original city structure to form their own structure with their own businesses and jobs in these sectors. We can see this in Newcastle in Chinatown, which is close to the city centre. This sector of the city has its own shops, jobs and houses in which the Chinese residents live in. Chinatown also has its own entertainment centre and industrial park very nearby. This is known as agglomeration as this is an informal sector inside Newcastle. In Newcastle, there are large divides between the different ethnic groups and strong segregation on the basis of socio-economic class.
Physical factors play an extremely large part in shaping the British city. The British city is always expanding with their housing, industry and boundaries. This is expansion is unlimited without government legislation until there is a physical factor that prevents the expansion from moving anymore in one direction. This occurs in Newcastle due to the Tyne River running to the south of the city has prevented the growth of the city to this direction. Also, growth has also been prevented upstream because of the coast, so they have to develop northwards and westwards. This means that the city is beginning to expand to the north. But the main difference in the River Tyne is this river has meant a shift in the industry sector towards the river. This is because they can use the river for trade and tourism to bring extra money into the city. This has meant that the majority of the industry and entertainment have moved towards the river.
Historical factors are the last type of factor that influences the shape of a typical British city. This is because of many historical factors that have meant that sectors of the city to shift to these parts of the cities where the historical factors are based. We can see this from the castle. This brings a large amount of tourism and therefore trade to the community. This has meant that many businesses and entertainment parks have moved close to these historical factors to exploit them and increase their business with the tourists visiting their shops and cinemas.
In conclusion, Newcastle is a brilliant example of the Hoyt urban structure model. This means that the sectors have a clear divide between them, but there is often more than one of the same sector (for example, there are three middle-class sectors in Newcastle). There are also many different theories that influence the shape of Newcastle. There are the physical factors, historical factors, social factors, regeneration, jobs and transport. These are all factors that make Newcastle the shape that it is today and these have meant for a good quality and well developing city.
