Gentrification and Filtering

Gentrification is the rehabilitation of deteriorated and often abandoned housing of low-income inner-city residents. It occurs when middle-class people move into deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods. They fix up the houses which causes families of higher class to want to move into the area.


Filtering, on the other hand, leads to the abandonment of housing. Large houses built by the wealthy in the 1800s are divided by landlords into smaller dwellings for low-income families. This results in abandoned dwellings. Families with lower incomes tend to live here, and families with higher incomes try to avoid these areas caused by filtering.

Sector Model

-Developed in 1939 by land economist Homer Hoyt.
-City develops in a series of sectors, not rings with certain areas more attractive for different activities
-Center is the Central Business District and as the city grows, activities expand in a wedge, or sector, from the center
-Once district with "high-class" housing is established, the most expensive houses is built on the outer edge of that district further from the center
-Industrial and retailing activities develop in other sectors, as well as low-class and middle-class residential sectors
-Example of Chicago, Hoyt argued that the best housing is developed north from the CBD along Lake Michigan, while industry was located along the major rail lines and roads to the northwest, south, and southwest

Concentric Zone Model

-Created in 1923 by sociologist, E. W. Burgess
-City grows outward beginning with the Central Business District in the middle
-Second ring is the zone in transition where industry and poorer-quality housing is, Usually with new immigrants and small quarters and also rooming houses for single individuals
-Third ring is the zone of independent workers' homes with modest older houses occupied by the working class
-Fourth ring is the zone of better residences with more spacious houses for middle-class families
-Fifth and last zone is the commuter's zone with people who work in the center that chose to live in the suburbs

Multiple Nuclei Model

-Created by Chuancy Harris and Edward Ullman in 1945
-Recognizes that CBD is losing dominant position as single nucleus
-Several regions in city have their own nuclei
-Examples of the nuclei includes a port, university, or park
-Most realistic city model