The structure of a typical city

Geography · Urbanisation

What is this land used for?

Commercial, industrial or residential? Decide first, then read why.

7 of 7 still to sort.

Pick a description, then pick the land use you think it shows. You'll see the reason straight away.

Predict, then check

Think about what a factory needs: space, a way to move goods, and a place planners will allow.

A company wants to build a brand new factory. Where is it most likely to be built?

What you need to know

• The CBD (central business district) is the commercial centre of a city, and land use changes as you move out from it.
• Commercial land is used to trade goods and services: shops, cafes, restaurants, bank branches and offices. It tends to be found in the CBD.
• Industrial land is where goods are made and stored. It used to be in the inner city, but industrial estates are now more likely on the rural–urban fringe.
• Have a goA classmate says: 'The new industrial estate will be in the inner city, obviously. That's where factories always were.' Are they right about today?

  Not really. Industrial estates are now more likely to be on the rural–urban fringe.

  Industrial land used to be found in the inner city, just outside the CBD, but today the fringe is more likely.

• Homes tend to change zone by zone: high-rise in the CBD, terraced in the inner city, detached and semi-detached in the suburbs.
• Accessibility: shops need to be at transport intersections and stations for footfall; industry needs road junctions and main routes for lorries.
• Availability: demand for land is highest in the CBD, giving very tall buildings with small footprints. New buildings are likely on the fringe, where there is most space.
• Cost: land in highest demand is the most expensive, so only commercial uses that make money through sales can afford the CBD. Further out, land tends to get cheaper.
• Have a goA shop and a factory both want a plot in the CBD. One earns its money from sales; the other needs a huge area of space. Which is more likely to win it?

  The shop, because it is a commercial use that makes money through sales.

  CBD land is the most expensive, so commercial uses that make money through sales can afford it, while space-hungry industry tends to go where land is cheaper.

• Price per square metre may fall as you move out, but homes get larger, so you cannot say they get cheaper overall.
• Have a goFinish the sentence: 'The price per square metre is lower on the outskirts, but that doesn't mean homes are cheaper there because ...'

  ... homes get larger as you move out.

  The total price depends on size as well as price per square metre, so a lower rate for each square metre does not guarantee a lower total.

• Planning: planners control what is built where. Industry tends not to be built in the inner city now, because pollutants and noise can harm people living close by.
• A brownfield site is land that was used for something and is now abandoned or derelict. Planners view it favourably. The greenbelt restricts building on the fringe.

The big picture

A city is sorted by the price and demand for land. Commercial land use clusters in the CBD, where demand is highest and land is the most expensive. Industrial land use needs space and good transport, so today it is more likely on the rural–urban fringe. Homes change zone by zone, from high-rise in the CBD to terraced in the inner city to detached and semi-detached in the suburbs. Accessibility, availability, cost and planning all shape the pattern.

⚠ Watch out

Saying homes simply get cheaper the further you go from the CBD. The price per square metre may fall, but homes get larger as well, so you cannot say they get cheaper overall.

Memory hook

Tallest buildings, smallest plots, highest prices. Then remember the four factors as A-A-C-P: Accessibility, Availability, Cost, Planning.

Check yourself

Explain in your own words why a city's tallest buildings tend to be in the CBD, using the words demand, cost and commercial in your answer.