There have been substantial changes in the way that people, goods, and information move around in cities. In our older metropolitan areas four stages are often represented. There, it is possible to see buildings, property layouts, transportation routes, and other features that were characteristic of the earlier stages when, typically, the friction of distance was greater.

During the era of the pedestrian city most movement was on foot, although there were horse-drawn vehicles as well. The wealthy tended to live close to the center of the city. Densities were high, lots and streets were narrow, and land uses were mixed together. Cities rarely had a radius of more than a few miles.

During the era of the streetcar a variety of public trtansportration was sometimes available, including cable cars, elevated railways, commuter railroads, and subways. This was the golden age of the central business district, whose accessibility was assured by the convergence on the center of most of the transportation routes. Most employment was inside the city limits. Residential areas spread out often beyond the city limits of the old central city into the countryside. Its overall outline appeared star-shaped, with residential extensions running out along radial streetcar lines. Bedroom suburbs appeared, and a particular "sector" or geographical direction became associated with affluence and prestige.

The next period was really one of transition. Automobile ownership became more common, but cars were still largely used for recreational purposes. Suburban areas filled in the areas between the star-shaped extensions that had followed streetcar lines.

The freeway city is the product of many forces, including the construction of limited access freeways that allowed people to commute considerable distances to work. Urban renewal bulldozed whole inner-city neighborhoods and redeveloped some. Suburbanization washed across the landscape. Soon retailing began to leave the central city for outlying areas that had good accessibility to customers, lower taxes, and less expensive and spacious sites. Manufacturing employment also expanded in the outer city, where land could be assembled cheaply and access was by truck. Offices began to depart from the central city and to relocate in office parks. "Edge cities" appeared which sometimes offered residents most of the amenities and opportunities that once were only to be found in the central city. Metropolitan areas spread across vast regions.

We may be on the verge of a new era, one in which the communication revolution has again drastically changed the friction of distance in America's metropolitan areas. New patterns will undoubtedly result. What spatial patterns are likely to develop in the virtual city of the future? 

Go to SRU Main Page 

Send Comments