Geography · 9th Grade · Urbanization and Industrialization · Weeks 28-36

Global Urban Models

Comparing urban models from Latin America, Asia, and Africa to North American models.

• Common Core State Standards
• C3: D2.Geo.5.9-12
• C3: D2.Geo.2.9-12

About This Topic

North American urban models, developed from US and European contexts, do not translate cleanly to cities in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, or South and Southeast Asia. The Latin American City Model (Griffin and Ford, 1980) places a modernized CBD surrounded by a commercial spine, with concentric zones of housing quality declining toward the periphery, where squatter settlements ring the outer edges. This inverts the Burgess model, where wealthy residents occupy outer zones. Southeast Asian and African city models carry the imprint of colonial planning overlaid on indigenous settlement patterns, producing distinctly different spatial arrangements.

These global models matter in the US curriculum because they challenge students to examine how historical forces, particularly colonialism, migration patterns, and informal land tenure, produce urban forms that North American models cannot explain. A student in Lagos or Mumbai would be just as confused by the Burgess model as a Chicago student would be by Griffin-Ford. The comparison forces geographic thinking about causation, not just description.

Active learning is especially productive here because comparing models across cultural contexts builds genuine analytical flexibility. When students map real cities from multiple world regions and interrogate their spatial structure, they move beyond ethnocentric assumptions about how cities are supposed to look.

Key Questions

1. Analyze how Latin American or Asian city models differ from North American ones.
2. Explain the unique geographic and historical factors that shape urban structures in the Global South.
3. Predict how rapid urbanization in Africa might lead to new urban models.

Learning Objectives

• Compare the spatial organization of Latin American, Asian, or African cities to North American urban models, identifying key differences in land use and residential patterns.
• Explain how historical factors, such as colonialism and migration, have shaped distinct urban structures in the Global South.
• Analyze the potential impact of rapid urbanization on the development of new urban models in African cities.
• Critique the applicability of the Burgess model to cities outside of North America and Europe.

Before You Start

North American Urban Models (Burgess, Hoyt)

Why: Students need a foundational understanding of common North American urban models to effectively compare and contrast them with global models.

Introduction to Globalization and Development

Why: Understanding concepts like core-periphery relationships and the impact of global economic forces is essential for grasping the factors shaping urban development in the Global South.

Key Vocabulary

Central Business District (CBD)	The commercial and often geographic heart of a city, characterized by high land values and a concentration of businesses and services.
Commercial Spine	A wide avenue or corridor with high-end retail and offices, extending from the CBD into residential areas, as seen in the Latin American City Model.
Informal Settlements	Areas of housing that have been built without official permission, often on the periphery of cities, characterized by makeshift structures and limited access to services.
Colonial Imprint	The lasting influence of colonial powers on the physical layout, administrative structures, and social organization of cities in formerly colonized regions.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

The Burgess Concentric Zone Model applies to cities worldwide.

What to Teach Instead

Burgess built his model from Chicago's specific industrialization and immigration patterns. Cities in the Global South often have squatter settlements at the periphery rather than wealthy outer rings, reflecting very different development histories. Comparing cities across regions demonstrates why no single model travels well across contexts.

Common Misconception

Cities in developing countries are just 'behind' cities in developed countries on the same development path.

What to Teach Instead

Urban structures in Latin America, Africa, and Asia reflect distinct colonial histories, land tenure systems, and economic integration patterns. They are not earlier stages of North American development but products of entirely different forces. Active comparison of model features makes this distinction tangible for students.

Common Misconception

Informal settlements at city edges are temporary until cities develop further.

What to Teach Instead

Informal settlements in many megacities have housed millions of permanent residents for generations, with robust communities, local economies, and established social networks. Framing them as temporary misrepresents their structural role in global urban systems and the lives of the people within them.

Active Learning Ideas

Compare-Contrast: Latin American vs. North American City Structures

Provide paired simplified maps: one US city (Chicago or Detroit) and one Latin American city (São Paulo or Mexico City). Groups annotate both with the corresponding model overlay and identify three major structural differences. Each group presents one key finding and explains the historical or geographic factor behind it.

30 min·Small Groups

Socratic Seminar: Does Urban Theory Have a Home Country?

Students read a brief excerpt comparing how Griffin-Ford and Burgess were each developed, then discuss: 'To what extent do urban models reflect the place and time of their creation?' Students must cite specific model features as evidence and respond to classmates' claims before the facilitator draws the discussion to synthesis.

25 min·Whole Class

Jigsaw: One City, Multiple Lenses

Assign each group a different global megacity (Lagos, Jakarta, Cairo, São Paulo, Mumbai). Groups identify what urban model best explains their city's structure and why. Students then regroup across cities, compare findings, and produce a class synthesis about which factors most strongly shape urban structure globally.

40 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• Urban planners in Mexico City use modified versions of the Latin American City Model to address issues of informal housing and transportation infrastructure, aiming to integrate peripheral communities into the urban economy.
• Researchers at the LSE's Cities program study the rapid growth of cities like Nairobi, Kenya, to understand how informal economies and traditional social networks influence the emergence of unique urban development patterns not captured by Western models.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Provide students with a map of a city from Latin America or Asia (e.g., São Paulo, Mumbai). Ask them to identify and label at least two features that align with the described global urban models and one feature that seems to deviate, explaining their reasoning.

Discussion Prompt

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'If a student from Lagos were to visit Chicago, what aspects of Chicago's urban layout might seem unfamiliar or confusing compared to their own city? Conversely, what aspects of Lagos might a Chicago student struggle to understand using only North American urban models?'

Exit Ticket

On an exit ticket, have students write one sentence explaining why a single urban model cannot accurately describe cities worldwide. Then, ask them to list one specific historical or geographic factor that contributes to urban diversity.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Latin American City Model and how does it differ from North American models?

The Griffin-Ford Latin American City Model places a modernized CBD surrounded by a commercial spine, with concentric zones of housing quality declining toward the periphery, where squatter settlements ring the outer edges. This inverts Burgess's model, where wealthy residents live in outer zones. The Latin American model reflects colonial urban cores, rapid rural-to-urban migration, and land ownership patterns North American models were never designed to capture.

Why do cities in Sub-Saharan Africa have different urban structures than US cities?

African cities often carry the spatial imprint of colonial planning: a European-designed central district, zones for colonial intermediaries, and indigenous settlement areas pushed to the periphery. Post-independence rapid urbanization added informal settlements without formal infrastructure. These layered histories produce spatial structures that neither Burgess nor Griffin-Ford fully captures.

What factors shape urban structure in rapidly growing Asian cities?

Asian megacities like Bangkok, Jakarta, and Mumbai reflect mixtures of colonial planning, rapid rural-to-urban migration, religious and cultural zoning patterns, and compressed industrialization timelines. Many have dense historical cores surrounded by newer commercial zones with informal settlements interspersed throughout, producing a fragmented, polycentric structure that no single model fully explains.

What active learning strategies help students compare urban models across world regions?

Jigsaw activities where different groups analyze one megacity each, then share findings, build both specific and comparative understanding. Working with simplified land-use maps or satellite images forces students to apply models as analytical tools rather than memorize them. When groups from different city assignments compare notes, structural differences become concrete and causal explanations emerge from discussion rather than lecture.