Urban land-use models – bid rent, Burgess rings, Hoyt sectors, multiple nuclei and regional city models
GeographyPopulation & SettlementAges 15–16
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Sign in to playBid-rent curves for commercial, industrial and residential users fall with distance from the CBD; the highest bidder gets the land, which produces Burgess's concentric rings. Add radial transport routes to get Hoyt sectors and secondary nuclei to get the multiple nuclei model, and read land value and population density at any point. Explore the galactic, Latin American, African and Southeast Asian city models and compare them with two fictional cities.
Lesson: Urban land-use structure: bid-rent theory, concentric zone, sector and multiple nuclei models, the galactic city and models of cities in developing countries
What it shows
Bid-rent theory explains why land near the central business district (CBD) is the most expensive: it is the most accessible place. Each user – shops and offices, industry, and housing of different densities – will pay less the farther it is from the centre, and the highest bidder wins each location, giving Burgess's concentric rings. Transport routes stretch zones into Hoyt's sectors, and extra nuclei create the multiple nuclei city. Classic North American models and the Latin American, African and Southeast Asian models can then be compared with two fictional cities.
How to use
On the Bid-rent curves screen, change Transport cost, Commerce, Industry and Population, and drag across the graph or move Survey point. On the 2D city screen, add Transport routes and Secondary nuclei, switch the Layer and tap the map. Pick a Model on the Models screen and tap a zone. On Compare, choose the City, Rotate the model or press Find best angle.
Parameters you can change
- Screen Bid-rent curves, 2D city, Models, Compare with a fictional city
- Transport cost (relative to the start) 0.7–2 ×
- Demand for commercial land 50–150 %
- Demand for industrial land 50–150 %
- Demand for housing land (population) 50–200 %
- Distance of the survey point from the CBD 0–20 km
- Number of radial transport routes 0–4
- Number of secondary nuclei 0–3
- Layer shown on the city Land use, Land value, Population density
- Model Concentric zones (Burgess), Sectors (Hoyt), Multiple nuclei (Harris and Ullman), Galactic city (Lewis), Latin American city (Griffin and Ford), African city (de Blij), Southeast Asian port city (McGee)
- Fictional city City A (high-income country), City B (fast-growing, low-income country)
- Rotate the model 0–345 °
Questions to explore
- Why does commerce outbid every other user at the CBD but lose to housing only a few kilometres away?
- What happens to the urban edge and the city's area when transport becomes cheaper?
- Which model fits fictional city B best, and which features of the city explain the fit?
