Ch. 12 Services

Where are they located and why?

Every settlement in a MDC provides consumer services to people in the surrounding market area/hinterland. However, settlements of different sizes have varied types and numbers of services.

Where are the Services?

Early History of Services

• Early settlements were rural because economies were based on agriculture.

• Within these rural communities, only a small group of personal, producer and public services were needed.

Ancient World Cities• Urban settlements date

back to Ancient Mesopotamia as an origin point and diffused to Egypt, China, and the Indus Valley.

• Oldest urban settlement is Ur in Mesopotamia with remains dating back 3000B.C.

• Included a protective wall, a ziggurat temple, well planned walls and streets, public buildings in the center, housing and cemeteries outside the walls.

Ancient World Cities• City-states of ancient Greece

were established in the eastern Mediterranean around 2500B.C.

• Settlements were established to fill in gaps in trading routes and to open new markets for goods.

• Athens was the largest city-state in ancient Greece and was the first city to attain a population of 100,000.

• Urban settlements were distinguished from rural settlements due to public and personal services offered (such as cultural activities).

Ancient World Cities

• The Roman Empire encouraged urban settlements.

• Settlements were centers of administrative and military centers as well as trade routes.

• Roman settlements were know for their public utilities and roadways.

• With the Fall of the Roman Empire, urban settlements were abandoned.

Medieval World Cities

• Urban life was revived in Europe in the 11th century under the feudal system.

• Urban residents provided military service in exchange independent cities.

• Trade encouraged the growth of cities (via new roads and rivers).

• Tallest and most elaborate structures were usually churches.

• Medieval cities were dense and compact.

Where were the largest early cities?

• From the collapse of the Roman Empire until the diffusion of the Industrial Revolution across Europe, the worlds largest cities were in Asia – not Europe.

• Some of these major Asian cities were Baghdad, Constantinople, Kyoto, Beijing, Agra and Cairo.

Modern World Cities

• World cities have emerged where a high percentage of the world’s business is transacted and political power is concentrated.

• With inventions in transportation and communications, world cities have had even more impact on the global economy.

Business Services in World Cities What caused the clustering of

business services in the modern world city?

The Industrial Revolution

Corporate headquarters, financial services, banks, insurance, law firms, advertising and transportation are some of the types of business services found in world cities.

These services are large in scale and serve both national and global markets.

Consumer Services in World Cities

What drives the market for consumer services in world cities?

Large size and high incomes

What type of consumer services are found in a world city versus a rural community?

Public Services in World Cities

What public service is found in most world cities?

National capitals

What type of international public service is found in the world city of New York and Brussels?

The Untied Nations and the European Union

Hierarchy of Business Services/Cities

World Cities

Command & Control Centers

Specialized Producer-Service Centers

Dependent Centers

World Cities• Part of the global

economic system because they are centers for the flow of information and capital.

• Most important are London, New York and Tokyo.

• Each is the largest city in its respective regions and operates the world’s most important stock exchanges.

• There are lesser world cities and examples include Los Angeles, Paris, Singapore, Mexcio City and Houston.

Command and Control Centers

• Contain the headquarters of many large corporations, well-developed banking facilities, other business services.

• Can be categorized as regional and subregional.

Specialized Producer-Service Centers

• Specialize in offering a more narrow and highly specialized variety of services.

• Examples include research and development for motor vehicles in Detroit or major university cities.

Dependent Centers

• Provide relatively unskilled jobs and depend for their economic health on decision made in the other types of cities.

• Examples include resort centers such as Las Vegas, Manufacturing centers, Military centers such as San Diego, and Mining centers.

Economic Base of Settlements

• Basic Industries – export primarily to consumers outside the settlement.

• Nonbasic Industries – enterprises whose customers live in the same community.

• Economic Base – a community’s unique collection of basic industries.

• To determine a community’s basic industry, the percentage of workers employed in a particular industry is compared to the percentage of all workers in the country employed in that industry.

Specialization of Cities in Different Services

• Why do cities specialize in different services?

• What has happened to northern and eastern cities in the United States?

• What patterns are present on the Business Service cites map on page 403?