Introduction
Today, we’ll cover the Concentric Zone Model. When we talk about different groups of people and different parts of town as being business districts, residential districts or even working class districts, most people don’t think of them as concentric zones. Concentric zones are a model of the way that different social groups are arranged within a city, and a general representation is found in nearly all cities. There are reasons for this of course, and we’ll talk about the reasons that certain parts of a community are located within specific zones and how these zones tend to be created throughout the course of this AP® Human geography study guide.
What is the Concentric Zone Model?
Have you ever really looked around your neighborhood and thought about it? Most people don’t think about it a lot, but they do have different terms for different parts of the neighborhood. For example, downtown is the business area or on the ‘outskirts of town’ might be the ‘suburbs.’ These terms that we use are just the more common method of using a concentric zone model. But of course, for the purposes of the AP® exam, you will likely need a more direct understanding.
According to the concentric zone model, there are five different ‘zones’ in any given city. The first zone, the one at the very center of everything, is the central business district. Next, would be the zone of transition, then the working class residential district, the upper-class residential district and the commuter zone. The entire theory was created by a sociologist named Ernest Burgess in 1923, as a method of describing the way that different people come to exist within specific regions.
The Concentric Zones
Burgess started his research with the city of Chicago, a large city that fit very well with his view of how cities are developed. As the first sociologist to consider why specific social groups locate themselves within certain regions, he developed this theory as a way to explain it. His theory considers a bulls-eye pattern that each city is made from and which represents different groups of people (as we mentioned) who reside in each of those locations. It also considers somewhat why these individuals are located there and what each region is representative of.
The Zone of Transition
This is the first zone that appears once we leave the central business district, this zone was considered one with a mixture of residential buildings and commercial businesses. As a result, it’s somewhat of a transition area where you never really know what to expect. It’s also the region where the most people live and, as a result, it tends to have more rental properties, more poverty and higher crime rates. Not only that but it also tends to have higher rates of immigrant groups.
The Working Class Residential District
The Working Class Residential District is the one that the majority of people live in because it’s a blue-collar, working class neighborhood. These are the people you normally think of because they have single family homes and a large group of people as well. It’s smaller than the last zone we talked about, but it’s the one that most of us are part of, at least in the beginning of our careers. This is where most of the people don’t have a lot of education, but they could be working on getting additional education. Their jobs just tend to not use higher level education or degrees.
The Educated Residential District
As you start moving up the ladder, you may find more people from the Educated Residential District. These are the people who have more education and tend to have higher level degrees. Because of that they also have a little better living standard. These are the people who live in a larger house and have bigger yards at the same time. Because they’ve got a little more money, their standard of living is higher, and they’re definitely going to have more ability to do the things they want. Here we’re in the fourth ring of the model itself, and as you get higher education and jobs, this could be where you live too.
The Commuter Zone
Here you’re going to have the rich people in town. These are the people you see mostly with big beautiful homes. The ones that you probably wish you could afford and the giant yards with every luxury. These are people who live on the outskirts of basically everything. They’re far away from the city center but usually they have jobs that are close to the city. Because they have more money though they are able to commute to those areas when they need to. It’s all because they have more money that they choose to commute more. There are few people in this region because most people aren’t able to afford the lifestyle.
The Problems with the Concentric Zone Model
Most of the larger cities do have this type of setup, but it really doesn’t apply to smaller cities. The truth is even with some larger cities this isn’t even true anymore (even though it may have been in the 1920’s when it started). That’s because if we look at larger cities, we see that this is the way they were originally created, but over time there are a whole lot of things that change about how cities are represented. The modern method of establishing or even changing cities around is really changing a whole lot for most people, especially when it comes to population density.
One of the reasons that affect concentric zone model is that landscapes tend to change now where they didn’t a long time ago. Because of this, people move around, and they tend to locate in different regions. Moreover, they tend to relocate into a different area as the landscape changes. Another reason is that most businesses are moving around, and many of them are located in other parts of the city rather than just the center. We don’t have to go to just one specific area of a city to find what we want now. What’s even more important is that business districts are starting to branch out and spread out roots, even if they do still have a stronger basis at the town centers.
Things like gentrification, regeneration and development also change the way that richer people live too. A lot of people with more money aren’t staying in the outer regions of the city either. A lot of bigger buildings and homes are now being built in areas that are actually closer to the city center, which means different zones are changing a lot. People who we would consider ‘commuters’ because of their abilities and money are actually moving into the cities, and that changes the way the zones really work.
Concentric Zones and Population Density
Of course, concentric zones have a lot to do with the density of population in specific areas. Different zones have different population densities. As you move away from the center zones the population gets smaller. Commuter zones are a lot smaller than Working Class Residential zones because there are a lot more people who tend to have lower level degrees and education than people who are higher level. This happens with all the zones that are smaller in shape because the closer to the city center the more it’s assumed people will live there, and of course, fewer people have a lot of wealth to spend on their housing.
The Concentric Zone Model on the AP® Human Geography Exam
When taking the AP® Human Geography exam, you may be required to look at maps of the Concentric Zone Model to identify different layers or rings of the model with their corresponding titles. You will have to consider the layout of the rings and remember that the model is designed as a bulls-eye where the smaller rings are in the center, but the smaller rings also represent the highest level of population density.
Some questions related to the Concentric Zone Model may also relate to understanding of who would live in most areas or what examples may be of certain density areas. For example, looking at a series of definitions related to different types of people you should be able to understand which zone they would represent or live in.
Given an American suburb with beautiful open spaces and large land, a metropolitan area with apartments located above the shops or a group of people who live in nice homes outside the city proper but still within the main area, which zone would the people live in
The right answer for the above would be: Commuter Zone.
Conclusion
Overall, you have to understand different people that make up each of the zones within the model. You should also ensure that you understand the order of the zones and how their layout relates to population density. In general, the larger the circle, the fewer the people live there and the better the living standard. Hopefully, this AP® Human Geography study guide has helped you understand this model more clearly, including when and by whom it was invented and exactly what the zones really mean.
Looking for AP® Human Geography practice?
Check out our other articles on APHuman Geography.
You can also find thousands of practice questions on Albert.io. Albert.io lets you customize your learning experience to target practice where you need the most help. We’ll give you challenging practice questions to help you achieve mastery in AP® Human Geography.
Start practicing here.
Are you a teacher or administrator interested in boosting AP® Human Geography student outcomes?
Learn more about our school licenses here.
