Concentric Zone Theory
Abstract
In the first decades of the twentieth century, the Chicago School of urban sociology theorized the growth of the city by a set of concentric zones that depicted the city's land-use dynamics in a natural manner, by analogy with plant ecology. Subsequent modifications and refinements of urban theory in the twenty-first century have concentric zone theory and the Chicago School as a fundamental origin. The concentric zone theory, however, remains akin to contemporary theories that explain the physical pattern of urban growth as a response to “natural” forms of sociospatial change in an essentially unfettered market economy.
Publication Title
Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies
Recommended Citation
Banai, R. (2019). Concentric Zone Theory. Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118568446.eurs0512
