Describe the concentric zone model of urban development, one of the models within the functionalist perspective

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Functionalists, in studying the growth of cities, emphasize the life cycle of urban

growth. Burgess developed the concentric zone model—a description of the process of

urban growth that views the city as a series of circular areas or zones, each

characterized by a different type of land use that developed from a central core. Two

important ecological processes are involved: (1) Invasion—the process by which a new

category of people or type of land use arrives in an area previously occupied by

another group or type of land use. (2) Succession—the process by which a new

category of people or type of land use gradually predominates in an area formerly

dominated by another group or activity. Invasion and succession theoretically operate in

an outward movement, except when gentrification occurs. Gentrification is the process

by which members of the middle and upper-middle classes, especially whites, move

into the central-city area and renovate existing properties. The concentric zone model

demonstrates how economic and political forces play an important part in the location

of groups and activities, and it shows how a large urban area can have internal

differentiation.