Lesson 2: Urban Land Use Models: Burgess, Hoyt & Harris-Ullman
Applying a classical land-use model to a real city — and showing where the model breaks.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
Classical urban models (Burgess Concentric Zone, Hoyt Sector, Harris & Ullman Multiple Nuclei) and their applicability to 21st-century cities.
Compare and contrast theoretical urban models with real-world spatial layouts, evaluate Model fit vs anomalies in Auckland, and construct model synthesis diagrams.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Classical Urban Spatial Models Explained
Video Clip: Urban land use zones and city structure breakdown (watch 0:00–11:45 of an 80m 31s video).
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
Can simple 2D concentric or sector models accurately predict how modern cities grow and segregate land uses?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Heads up — this clip defines the zone types by name (CBD, industrial, residential, transition, rural-urban fringe, commercial); it does not name Burgess, Hoyt or Harris & Ullman. Watch the whole 11:45 segment for how each zone is defined and where it sits relative to the CBD — the model-matching is your own work in the activity below.
- Watch for: which of your three model diagrams — Concentric Zone, Sector, or Multiple Nuclei — the pattern in the clip looks most like, and where it breaks down.
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako Move: Guide students to identify Auckland anomalies (e.g., suburban employment hubs in Albany and Manukau) that challenge single-CBD models.
Immediate Task: Complete Section 2 of your Geography Portfolio: Theoretical Urban Model Comparison & Auckland Fit Evaluation.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Three Models, One City, None of Them Fit
Burgess, Hoyt and Harris-Ullman each drew their model from a different city in a different decade. None of them drew Auckland.
Two minutes: write down one thing about Auckland — anything — that a set of neat rings around a single centre could never explain. Keep it. You will test it against all three models today.
📖 Activity 1: Overlay the Models, Then Hunt the Anomaly
Overlay at the same scale (13 min). Sketch each of the three models over your Auckland base map at matching scale. Scale matters: a model that only works when you shrink the city is not working.
Find where reality wins (12 min). Mark every place the real city contradicts the model. Albany and Manukau as employment hubs are the obvious ones — find two more of your own. An anomaly you can explain is worth more marks than a fit you cannot.
📝 Activity 2: Level 2 Geography Portfolio Task & Merit/Excellence Scaffolding (20 mins)
Portfolio Section 2. Submit: (1) your three overlays; (2) a table with one row per model — what it predicts, what Auckland actually does, and how large the gap is; (3) one sentence naming the model you would use to explain Auckland to someone who has never been here, and stating precisely where the other two fail.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
NCEA Level 2 Alignment: Direct preparation for Level 2 Geography (Demonstrate geographic understanding of an urban pattern). Emphasise integrating specific case study evidence and annotated map sketches for Merit/Excellence grades.