The document elaborates on the definition and characteristics of cities, describing essential elements such as urbanization, metropolitan areas, and the challenges faced by cities today, including environmental issues and socio-economic disparities. It discusses the historical development of cities, the impact of gentrification, and the importance of urban planning for sustainable growth. Additionally, it highlights the significance of urban diversity and the varying models of urban configuration, emphasizing the need for inclusive planning in rapidly urbanizing regions, particularly in Africa.

1. Cities
Dr. Munene Mugambi

2. What does the term “city” mean to
you?
• What city are you from?
• How can you characterize your city? Is it complex?
• What is unique about your city?
• How does your city speak about your migration history?

3. Introduction to Cities
• A city is a human settlement of a notable size and it can be defined as a
permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined
boundaries whose residents main work primarily on non-agricultural
tasks.
• In general Cities have extensive systems for housing, transportation,
sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication.
• The density of cities enables interaction between people, government
organizations, and businesses.
• These interactions between people, government and businesses at times
can be beneficial in the process of improving improving the efficiency of
goods and service distribution (e.g. water, licenses/permits, electricity,
roads, public transport).

4. Early Cities
• The earliest cities formed thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia, Egypt,
India, and China.
• Think about the “Old Medinas” in Morocco.
• Medina- comes from Arabic word meaning city or town. Medinas are
historical districts in mostly North African cities that often corresponding
to an old walled city.
• Do our “old medinas” such as in Rabat, Casablanca, Fez qualify as cities?
• Early cities and even medinas allowed for division of labor (farmers,
soldiers, leaders), specialization (artisans such as craftsmen), and trade
(money changes, food traders, finished goods).
• Today over half the world's population lives in cities and urbanization
continues to increase.

5. Introduction to cities
• Historically, city dwellers have been a small percentage of the overall
human population.
• However, unprecedented and rapid urbanization over the past two
centuries has resulted in more that half of the global population moving
to cities
• As we see today the growth of cities and their population has had
profound consequences for global sustainability.
• Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and
urban areas—
• This creates a large population of commuters traveling toward city
centers for employment, entertainment, government services, and
education.

6. Characteristics of
cities today
• Major characteristics of cities include:
• having downtown areas,
• Buildings (commercial and
residential areas)
• highways, and other transportation
networks.
• The identifiers of a city are businesses, a
large population, and a unique cultural
landscape.

7. Metropolitan
• A metropolitan area consists of a large urban
cluster and surrounding territories that are
closely interconnected.
• The urban center and surrounding regions share
industries, commercial developments,
transportation networks, infrastructure systems,
and housing developments.
• Metropolitan areas contain dense populations
living within urban agglomerations and
neighboring territories that are economically
and physically integrated through shared
transportation, employment centers, utilities
and residential communities.

8. Suburbs
• A suburb is a region located within a larger
metropolitan area that frequently contains
much of the economic activity for that region,
such as commercial and mixed-use
developments.
• A suburb can exist either as a part of a larger
city or urban center, or it can function as its
own separate political jurisdiction.
• Many suburbs house economic hubs containing
offices, retail, and other commercial activities
that service both the suburb and the larger
surrounding metropolitan region

9. Low income areas and Informal Settlements
• In the case of our continent our major cities such as Casablanca, Nairobi,
Johannesburg are characterized by formal and informal sectors along low
and densely populated residential areas (suburbs and slum areas)
• A low-income area refers to a neighborhood, region or community where
residents generally have lower socioeconomic status and incomes that are
below the average or median income levels for the wider region or country.
• A slum refers to an urban residential area characterized by extreme
poverty and inadequate, informal housing for a largely impoverished
population. It describes neighborhoods with overcrowded and often unsafe
living conditions. (townships, favelas, slums)

10. Slums/Low
Income Areas in
Cities
Do we have low income or ”informal settlements” in
Morocco?

11. “How Urban Design Keeps South Africa
Segregated”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5O3yjC1BqA

12. Spatial Inequality in South Africa. Townships and Suburbs

13. Challenges of Cities
• Today’s rapidly globalized world, most cities have connections that extend
beyond their local regions to some degree.
• This increased global influence means that cities also have significant
impacts on international issues like sustainable development, climate
change, and worldwide health concerns.
• Due to the large effects cities can have on global challenges, the
international community has prioritized investing in sustainable urban
development through the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11.
• Population growth leads to the growth of cities. How do we plan to ensure
sustainable (long-term infrastructure growth) growth of cities?
• The mission on UN-SDG 11 is “Make cities and human settlements
inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”.

14. Challenges of Cities
• It is very noticeable that high concentrations of people such as in
major cities has resulted in major environmental consequences such
as:
• increasing pollution levels (from mass transportation).
• high waste generation from households and industries.
• waste management crisis due to public sector incompetence.
• strain on water supplies, sewerage systems, energy and other publicly used
resources.
• Lack of properly planned public healthcare
• The experience of these environmental challenges and the increasing
calls for sustainable development, is pushing for new ideas or utopian
ideas such as “Smart Cities”

15. Discussion Question
• In today's world, the prevailing global challenge in many
cities is climate change and urban planning, exacerbating
issues such as water and energy shortages, air pollution,
industrial pollution, poor waste management, and
sanitation. These challenges greatly impact livelihoods and
service delivery.
• How can innovation for sustainability contribute to ensuring
the efficient functioning of cities?"

16. Cities and importance of Planning
• Planning of cities is critical to managing change in a structured manner
which enhances sustainability, economic opportunity and livability within
the city in the long term.
• Planning cities manages growth and development in an orderly, sustainable
way.
• Planning helps guide where and how the city expands to accommodate
population increases.
• Planning Improves infrastructure and transportation systems through long-
term plans which provide a framework for efficiently investing in roads,
utilities, public transit to support the city structure.
• Planning addresses issues like affordable housing, healthcare, education,
and economic/employment zones of a city. This ensures equitable growth.

17. Cities and Importance of Planning
• Planning protects the environment and improves efficiency in land use.
• Planning encourages economic development which attracts business
investments through clearly outlined vision, priorities and investment
zones of the city.
• Planning reduces impacts from disaster risks and hazards by assessing
environmental vulnerabilities (e.g., floods, earthquakes) and integrating
prevention/mitigation plans.
• Planning guides public/private partnerships by bringing stakeholders
together through a shared vision towards completing transformational
development projects.
• Planning enables transparency by establishing clear, consistent rules and
processes for residents and developers through comprehensive plans.

18. Urbanization
• Urbanization refers to the migration of people from rural countryside
areas into cities and urban centers.
• It involves a shrinking percentage of the total population living in rural
communities as more individuals move to urban areas.
• Urbanization is relevant to several academic disciplines due to its
wide-ranging impacts. It relates to fields like urban planning,
geography, sociology, architecture, economics, education, statistics
and public health.

19. Urbanization
• Urbanization is relevant due to its wide-ranging impacts and it relates
to fields like urban planning, geography, sociology, architecture,
economics, education, statistics and public health.
• Urbanization has close ties to processes of globalization,
modernization, industrialization, commercialization/marketization
and the development of institutional and administrative systems.

20. Urbanisation
• Rapid urbanization presents enormous social, environmental and
economic challenges for societies to address.
• However, it also provides an opportunity to develop more sustainable
patterns of resource use, land management and biodiversity
protection in urban centers.
• Unfortunately, recent urbanization trends have often led to
unsustainable methods of living.
• Creating resilient and sustainable cities in response to urbanization is
a key priority within the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 11 on
cities and communities

21. Estimation of Global Urbanisation by the UN

22. Urbanisation In Africa
• Urbanization is one of the most significant transformations that the
African continent will experience in the 21st century.
• Since 1990, the number of cities in Africa has doubled from 3,300 to
7,600 and their combined population has increased by 500 million
people.
• Africa's cities are growing faster than any other region in the world;
they are very young in population age and changing rapidly.
• The impact of urbanization on Africa's economic, social and political
landscape over the coming decades will likely be profound.

23. Urbanisation in Africa
• Urbanization therefore presents immense potential to accelerate
progress towards Africa's development goals for 2030 and 2063, as
well as promote greater continental integration under the African
Continental Free Trade Area.
• For African policymakers, it also brings major challenges in terms of
planning, managing and financing urban growth at both the local and
national levels.
• In 2021, an estimated 64.07 percent of Morocco's total population
lived in urban areas and cities. Why is this so???

24. Urbanization
• Urbanization is mostly caused by
• Industrialization (growth of economic investments)
• employment opportunities (in both formal and informal sectors)
• rural to urban migration (in most cases due to economic needs)
• natural population growth/expansion.
• Some of the effects of urbanization include:
• Growth and development of infrastructure,
• economies of scale (increased levels of production that is cost effective)
• increased economic output,
• environmental crisis that result from growth (e.g. pollution, water shortages,
sewerage, ecological fragmentation to accommodate cities)

25. Urbanization in
Casablanca
• Casablanca’s spatial data can also indicate
population growth which has lead to
increased urbanisation overtime.
• Population growth has contributed to
changes in land use and land cover.
• Spatial analysis of the physical
environment is critical for urban planning.

26. Urban Land Use
• Urban land use can be identified as land for the use of commercial
retailing, environmental management/conservation areas,
recreational, manufacturing, residential/housing, transportation or
industrial activities.
• These activities are for the benefit of society and the economy and
ultimately aim to increase the development of a location.
• Zoning laws regulate land use in most cities, dividing land into zones
for different purposes.
• Major land uses in most urban areas includes: residential (housing),
commercial (business), industrial (manufacturing), public
(govt/institutions).

27. Land use of Casablanca region and City

28. Urban Land
Use Beijing
China

29. Midtown
• Midtown refers to urban areas located roughly halfway between a
city's downtown core and its outer edges or suburbs.
• Many midtown areas developed around major transportation nodes
like train/subway stations located further from downtown than inner
suburbs.
• This made midtowns attractive for residential and commercial
development as they were more accessible than distant suburbs.
• Help decentralize growth from downtowns while maintaining urban
amenities

30. Midtown
• Common characteristics of midtowns include high-rise residential and
office developments, major cultural institutions (museums,
performing arts centers), hospitals and medical campuses.
• Examples include Midtown Manhattan, Midtown Atlanta.
• Midtowns help decentralize traditional downtown cores and absorb
overflow growth, relieving congestion downtown while providing
urban amenities closer to suburbs.
• However, they can exacerbate urban sprawl (unrestricted growth) if
not well-connected to public transit.

31. Guéliz,
Marrakech
• Located about halfway
between the old walled city
center and newer suburban
areas, Guéliz developed in the
early 20th century around the
train station.
• It is now a vibrant midtown
area with hotels, restaurants,
shopping and offices.

32. Westlands,
Nairobi
• Westlands as a mid-
town in Nairobi, Kenya
is home to several
international
organizations,
multinational
corporations, and
financial institutions,
making it a significant
business district in
Nairobi.

33. Edge Cities
• Midtowns are located within cities while edge cities are commercial
centers outside city boundaries that exhibit some characteristics of urban
areas
• Edge cities refer to business districts that emerge on the outer suburbs or
exurbs of metropolitan areas, beyond the traditional downtown core and
inner-ring suburbs.
• Often develop around major highway interchanges, allowing accessibility
by private vehicle from surrounding lower-density suburban areas.
• Dominated by office parks, shopping malls, hotels, multiplex cinemas and
other commercial activities catering to surrounding car-dependent
populations.

34. Edge Cities
• Examples include Tysons Corner outside Washington D.C., Alpharetta-
North Point outside Atlanta, Burbank in Los Angeles area,
Schaumburg in Chicago area.
• Edge cities helped accommodate decentralizing populations and
businesses, but also encouraged further sprawl and car dependence
with their design and isolation from traditional urban centers.
• Pose challenges to planning and provision of infrastructure as they fall
outside the jurisdiction of central cities. Often lack cohesive
community identities of traditional downtowns and neighborhoods.

35. Sidi Maarouf
• Sidi Maarouf, Casablanca -
Located on the city's northern
outskirts,
• Sidi Maarouf has grown
dramatically since the 1990s
around office towers, malls and
franchise stores concentrated at
the A1/A3 interchange very
accessible by car.

36. Gentrification:
There goes the old
neighborhood.
• Gentrification is the influx of
investment and higher income
residents to economically
distressed urban neighborhoods.
• It often displaces lower income
residents as rents and property
values rise (price of land and
housing increases).
• Concerns include effects on
social diversity.
• Poor marginalized communities
are edged of urban spaces.

37. Gentrification
• Reinvestment and renewal of deteriorated urban
neighborhoods in the form of various businesses
(cafes, nightlife, luxury consumers shopping, art
galleries) catering to new residents with higher
incomes and high-income luxury housing (e.g.
condominiums, lofts, apartments)
• Often displaces low-income residents due to
increased property values. Urban displacements
• Triggers by return of young professionals (bankers,
I.T., engineers) and artists for urban lifestyles and
pop culture
• At times developments can restore historic
architecture but at the same time they reduce
affordable housing
• Benefits and drawbacks are heavily debated in
various narratives about planning and development.

38. Impacts of Gentrification
• Gentrification results in various impacts:
• The reversing of suburban flight (the returning of suburban residents into the
cities).
• Businesses that only cater to high income residents.
• Lowers diversity and marginalizes poorer communities
• loss of longtime cultural anchors and institutions over time (historical districts
e.g. Bo-Kaap, South Africa).
• rising land values and rental prices near urban cores.
• Increased amenities that cannot be afforded by everyone.
• Increased homelessness and social inequality, affordable housing crisis.
• policy promoting revitalization.

39. Central Business Districts
• The central business district (CBD) is the commercial and often geographic
heart of a city. Historic core commercial areas of many large cities. The core
centre of commercial and administrative activities of a city.
• The CBD has high land values, dense infrastructure, commercial and
administrative functions. It is often the center of transportation networks.
• Concentrated area of skyscrapers containing offices, retail, services.
• Favored as a location due to central access, mass transit links and
amenities.
• In recent decades, some economic activity has decentralized, but CBDs
remain vitally important. Due to pressure, congestions, socio-economic
challenges like crime that drive away businesses.

40. Central Business districts
• Concentrated area of skyscrapers containing offices, retail, services
• Favored locations due to central access, mass transit links and
amenities
• CBDs face competitive pressures from decentralization trends
• Many adopt mixed uses and encourage residential to retain
prominence

41. Johannesburg and Casablanca CBD’s

42. The Capitalist City
• The capitalist city is organized and structured to facilitate capital
accumulation by elites.
• Zoning, infrastructure, transport networks, land use, and policies
favor the interests of capitalist growth over social equity.
• Inequalities can be observed in disparities of housing, health,
education, employment across urban socioeconomic divides.

43. Urban Diversity
• Cities are centers of diversity in cultures, nationalities, languages, and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Urban diversity provides economic and cultural vibrancy but also
poses challenges for equitable access to services and opportunities.
• Planning and governance must balance growth and investment with
inclusion and affordability.

44. Models of Urban Configuration
• Concentric zone model: City divided into central business district
surrounded by industrial, working class, residential, commuter zones
radiating out. Proposed by Burgess.
• Sector model: City divided into pie-shaped wedges oriented along
transportation corridors. Proposed by Hoyt.
• Multiple nuclei model: City has no single center but multiple sub-centers
interconnected by transportation. Proposed by Harris and Ullman.
• Urban Configuration varies across the world and cities have grown uniquely
to fit their social, cultural and economic demands and changes overtime.
Casablanca’s urban configuration is different to Johannesburg.
• There are many other urban configuration models (e.g. galactic city, spine
model) but no single model can fully captures complexity of cities urban
configurations.

45. Concentric zone model (Urban Configuration)

47. Sector Zone Model (Urban Configuration)

48. Multiple Nuclei Model (Urban Configuration)

49. The Chicago School of Urban Sociology
• The Chicago School at University of Chicago was pivotal in establishing
urban sociology as a defined subfield of sociology.
• Researchers conducted important early qualitative studies examining urban
life in Chicago as it expanded rapidly in the late 19th century.
• The Chicago School sought to understand how the increase in urbanization
contributed to emerging social problems of the time, like poverty and poor
living conditions.
• They noted how Chicago did not sprawl outward uniformly, but rather
developed distinct social classes divided by neighborhood.
• Scholars also studied the effects of immigration on cultural norms and
community organizations.

50. The Chicago School of Urban Sociology
• Emerged in 1920s at University of Chicago led by many sociologists like
Robert Park and Ernest Burgess.
• Conducted fieldwork to understand social dynamics of cities empirically.
• Studied immigrant communities and spatial patterns of land use within
cities.
• Proposed the concepts of human ecology - how people and the
natural/built environment interact.
• Developed the concentric zone model of urban spatial layout.
• Argued that cities are natural "laboratories" for understanding social
processes like competition, invasion/succession, and segregation. Had
significant influence on urban studies.

51. The Right to the City Concept
• ”The right to the city” concept first articulated by French sociologist Henri
Lefebvre inhis 1968 book “Le Droit a la Ville”. Idea that everyone has a right to
participation in urban life and decision-making over the cities they inhabit.
• He argues that urban space should not be solely controlled by market forces, such
as commodification and capitalism, but should be shaped and governed by the
citizens who inhabit it.
• Refers not just to physical accessibility but to shape urban processes. Has been
invoked by social movements advocating for marginalized groups.
• Youth and urban cultural movements have claimed the right to the city by
occupying and reimagining public spaces. Through street art, music, parades they
manifest their identities and reshape urban environments.
• Asserting the right to the city questions who has power over urban change and
who has been excluded from shaping cities and communities. Remains relevant in
an era of rapid urbanization and gentrification.