What city is the sector model based on?

Cracking the Code of City Shapes: What Chicago Tells Us

Ever looked at a city and wondered why things are where they are? There’s a whole field of study dedicated to that, and one of its most famous ideas is the “sector model.” This wasn’t just some theory cooked up in a lab, though. It came from looking closely at real cities, and one city in particular: Chicago.

Back in 1939, a smart guy named Homer Hoyt, who hung out with the “Chicago school” of urban thinkers, was trying to figure out how cities grow. He studied rent patterns in a bunch of places, but Chicago? Chicago was the key. It basically whispered the secrets of urban development into his ear.

Why Chicago? Think Train Tracks and Lakefront Views

So, what made Chicago so special? Well, Hoyt noticed that things tended to spread out from the city center along certain paths. Think of it like wedges of a pie. And Chicago had these wedges in spades.

• Transportation was King: Chicago was, and still is, a transportation hub. All those railway lines radiating outwards? Hoyt saw how industry followed those lines, creating industrial corridors. It makes perfect sense when you think about it – factories need to ship their stuff!
• Location, Location, Location: Even back then, everyone wanted a nice view. In Chicago, the fancy houses stretched north along Lake Michigan. Prime real estate, naturally.
• Industry by the Rails: You’d find factories and industry along the railway lines and the Illinois-Michigan industrial canal.

The Sector Model in a Nutshell

Okay, so what exactly is the sector model? Imagine the city center – the downtown, the CBD, whatever you want to call it. Now picture wedges spreading out from that center. One wedge might be factories, another might be low-income housing (often near those factories, unfortunately), another might be where the middle-class folks live, and yet another is where you’ll find the mega-mansions. That’s the basic idea.

• CBD: The heart of the city, where all the business happens.
• Industry: Chugging along transportation routes.
• Low-Class Residential: Close to the factories, often not the prettiest part of town.
• Middle-Class Residential: A step up, a bit further from the noise and grime.
• High-Class Residential: The best of the best, with the best views and the least amount of, well, everything unpleasant.

A Few Grains of Salt

Now, no model is perfect, and the sector model definitely has its limits. It was created way before everyone had a car, let alone the rise of those mini-cities out in the suburbs.

Even with those limitations, Hoyt’s sector model still gives us a cool way to think about how cities grow and change. It reminds us that transportation, money, and where people want to live all play a big role in shaping the urban landscape. So next time you’re wandering around a city, take a look around. You might just see Hoyt’s model playing out in real-time. And remember, it all started with Chicago!