GEOG 340: Day 4Chapter 3 (cont’d)

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Housekeeping Items Social Sciences will host a pizza social next Tuesday in

Building 356, 2nd floor atrium, from noon to 2:00.

Also: if you have any questions about the major assignment, which we discussed in class and which is up on the web site, let me know.

READINGS FROM HILLER BOOK (not a perfect match for the text; will have to exercise discretion)

Week Chapter in text Chapter & topic in Hiller Name

2 3 2; phases of Canadian urbanization Don3 4 Parts of 5 &12; social ties & community;

urban political economy 

4 8 12; urban political economy Amanda & Don

5 9 miscellaneous Don

6 10 15; policy in Quebec  7 11 17; planning for sustainability  8 12 Parts of 6 & 8; urban social interactions  9 13 Parts of 13 & 16; consumer culture and

brandscapesZane or ?

10 14 Parts of 7, 10, & 11  11 15 14; homelessness Chrissy12 Time permitting, 5-7 N/A  

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The Evolution of the North American Urban System

The emergence of industrial city led to the emergence of new classes – industrialists, white collar managers, office workers, and blue collar workers. All vied for housing and those with the most disposable income won out.

Initially, the wealthiest were downtown and the least advantaged on the periphery. However, as conditions got nastier downtown, the well-to-do and middle classes migrated out to the suburbs.

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The Evolution of the North American Urban System

A crucial factor in determining urban development was the sanctity of private property, especially in the U.S., as sanctioned by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.

In Canada, private property is also taken for granted, but the Crown retains more residual rights than in the U.S. Moreover, the right to own property is not one that is listed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In Mexico, in the countryside the peasants and indigenous people retained the ejido system (individual land ownership for farming within an overall communal system), but it has been under assault for decades.

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The Evolution of the North American Urban System

As someone with a background in planning, my perspective is that – from an urban development point of view – this has its downside. In places like Hong Kong, governments owns the land and leases it out, and all increases in property value go back into the public purse.

In North America, individual or corporate property owners are enriched – often by infrastructure improvements to which they made no contribution. It also turns every property owner into a potential speculator.

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The Evolution of the North American Urban System

Many people in BC, including government officials and CP Rail, bought up land in advance of development and then ‘made a killing’ when people started moving in en masse.

Because people were doing with their land what they wanted, without thought to ecological and social consequences, eventually zoning laws were brought in to try to regulate the chaos.

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Changes in Transportation A huge factor in changing the layout

of North American cities were the changes in mode of transportation.

Initially, North American cities were walking and horse and buggy cities.

Then, in 1829, the first horse car service started in New York City and expanded from there. However, the cost

was beyond the reach of many wage earners.

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Changes in Transportation

The expansion of the railway system (see p. 56) had a huge impact on the structure of cities in the U.S. and Canada, particularly downtown.

Railways needed flat land, often by waterways, with room for stations, warehouses, locomotive shed, and shunting yards. And they had the clout to get what they wanted (and still have influence today – CP!).

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Changes in Transportation

Land adjacent to the train stations became desirable locations for hotels, shops, and restaurants. This is still the case in Europe today where train stations occupy central locations.

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Changes in Transportation

The location of railway facilities in cities and towns helped create Central Business Districts (CBDs).

In North America, the CBD became the centre of urban political, economic, social and cultural life – the nuclei of cities, established by location of train stations and consolidated by the confluence of transit line (initially in the form of trams).

CBDs consisted of specialized, high order retailers (department stores and haberdasheries) that could outbid others for the parcels. Nonetheless, much of their business remained pedestrian-oriented.

A positive feature of railways is that they brought in fresh produce and other foodstuffs from further afield, this raising the health status of urbanites.

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Hastings and Granville, Vancouver, 1921

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Changes in Transportation In some ways, railways fragmented and divided cities,

creating barriers to movement, and oddly-shaped parcels of land.

There also came to be a “wrong side” and a “right side” of the tracks, with all its socio-economic implications.

Trains also began to be used for commuting purposes, thus enabling the middle and upper classes to live near exurban stations and to commute into work and for shopping. Only the well-off could afford the fare.

Train overpass created as a result ofprotests by the ‘militant mothersof Raymur.’

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Changes in Transportation Lots in the suburbs had to be relatively small because

people walked to the stations.

Similarly, in the case of “streetcar suburbs,” people usually lived within a 5-minute walk of a major through street with a streetcar, later bus. On the weekends, people were encouraged to take ‘outings.’

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Changes in Transportation In some cases, the streetcar line was developed first and

the neighbourhood developed afterwards, as was the case with Kitsilano in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, CBDs retained their role as the magnet for shopping and commuting to work. They typically featured major department stores, now largely a thing of the past with the development of big box stores and malls.

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The Organization of Industry (1875-1920)

This period saw a huge expansion of the rail network (and a standardized gauge) with major impacts on the hierarchical relationship of cities.

With the development of new resources and resource regions, and new industries, the number of urban places in the U.S. more than doubled between 1887 and 1920.

Also, the U.S. in this time period saw the arrival of 12 million immigrants until a quota system was put in place in 1921.

A distinct manufacturing belt emerged in the U.S. and in Canada (see p. 63). What is this area largely called today?

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The Organization of Industry (1875-1920)

Over time, cities began to grow into each other (“megalopolis”).

Housing remained desperate for the working classes as poor and working people congregated in the centre of cities and more affluent people migrated out.

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The Organization of Industry (1875-1920)

At the same time, technological innovation made possible skyscrapers with steel girders and curtain walls and elevators; water and sewer mains, gas lighting (and later electricity), phone and telegraph, and the aforementioned electric streetcars also emerged.

Big-picture thinkers (Baron Haussmann) were engaged, at least in Europe, to rethink the layout of cities like Paris, with the creation of new boulevards, new monuments, and the destruction of much of the old workers’ quarters (see p. 66).

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The Influence of Haussmannon Paris

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The Organization of Industry (1875-1920)

Zoning emerged – initially in the 1880s – as a way of restricting and discriminating against Chinese laundries.

Nuisance statutes also arose to limit brothels, pool halls, dance halls, stables, slaughterhouses – especially near ‘fine’ establishments and in ‘better’ neighbourhoods.

This led to restrictions on private property rights when these were perceived to be in the public interest and such interventions by municipalities were validated in a Supreme Court decision in 1926. Similar decisions followed in Canada.

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The Organization of Industry (1875-1920)

In addition to zoning, one saw the emergence of compact shopping districts with like businesses tending to cluster together, something one still sees today.

There were also warehouse districts, like Yaletown, now re-colonized by yuppies working in the knowledge sectors of the economy.

City halls and other symbols of civic pride emerged.

In general, one can say that urban land, increasingly valuable, has seen an ongoing process of what the book describes as zones of assimilation and zones of discard.

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The Organization of Industry (1875-1920)

A sorting process occurred with businesses (and residential areas) locating according to what rent could afford to be paid, with the most desirable sites occupied by the wealthier businesses (see pp. 73-74).

We will do the restof Chapter 3, andstart in on Chapter4 next time.

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The Evolution of the Canadian Urban System

Will cover some of this next week.