Inverse Concentric Zone

Theory
 Inverse Concentric Zone Theory

 Center more desirable than suburbs

Transportation, administrative and religious functions dominated by elite, colonization v.
industrialization
 It was first conceptualized by Friedrich Engels in the mid- 19th century.
 Engels observed that the population of Manchester, England, in 1844 was residentially
segregated on the basis of class. He noted that the commercial district (offices plus retail and
wholesale trade) was located in the center of Manchester and extended about half a mile in all
directions. Besides the commercial district, Manchester consisted of unmixed working
people’s quarters, which extended a mile and a half (2.3 km) around the commercial district.
Next extending outward from the city, were the comfortable country homes of the upper
bourgeoisie. Engels believed this general plan or pattern to be more or less common to all
industrial cities.
 The preceding three theories of urban spatial structure apply primarily to cities of the MDCs
and to American cities in particular. Many cities in the LDCs follow somewhat different
patterns. A frequent one is the inverse concentric zone pattern, which is a reversal of the
concentric zone model. Cities where this pattern exists have been called preindustrial; that is,
they are primarily administrative and/or religious centers (or were at the time of their
founding). In such cities, the central area is the place of residence of the elite class. The poor
live on the periphery. Unlike most cities in the MDCs, social class in these places is inversely
related to distance from the center of the city.
 The reason for this pattern are
 The lack of an adequate and dependable transportation system, which thus
restricts the elites to the center of the city so they can be close to their
places of work
 The functions of the city , which are primarily administrative and
religious/cultural , functions controlled by the elite and concentrated in the
center of the city (with its government buildings, cultural institutions ,
places of worship, etc.)
 As many of the LDCs have begun to industrialize, especially in the past 30
yrs, growth industries have been primarily urban oriented, just as they were
in the MDCs many decades ago. However, the newer and larger industrial
establishments tend to locate not in city centers but on the periphery, often
in industrial parks or enterprise zones established by the government for
the purpose of attracting both domestic and foreign investors. The city
centers tend to be far too congested for industrial plants of any
considerable size. Moreover , the elites in the city centers often do not want
large industrial plants near their place of work and residence. Hence ,
emerging gradually in many of the larger cities of the LDCs, is the pattern
of the multiple nuclei model. In other words , the inverse concentric zone
pattern, while still valid in many LDCs, is merging with the multiple nuclei
pattern.
 As useful as these four theories of the internal spatial structure of cities are,
they must be viewed with caution as generalizations of the extremely
complex mix of factors that influence and determine the use of land within
cities in any region or country. One can commonly find elements of more
than one model present in a given city. Moreover, each of the models and
the land uses associated with them must be viewed as dynamic. There are
changes going on all the time in economic functions, social and
administrative services, transportation, and population groups that will
alter the size and shape of specific sectors or zones. Furthermore, the
complexities of applying these theories multiply several fold when
working with non-Western cultures and economic systems. Nowhere is this
more apparent than in China and the former Communist countries, where
various forms of the so-called socialist city were being created and where
internal spatial structures were quite unlike those described by any of the
four theories mentioned. The legacy of those socialist patterns lingers on,
as free-market forces transform those cities
 Illustrations:
CONCENTRIC ZONE