Which urban model describes a city as a series of circular zones emanating from a central business district?

Which urban model describes a city as a series of circular zones emanating from a central business district?

• A. Burgess Concentric Zone Model
• B. Sector Model
• C. Peripheral Model
• D. Multiple Nuclei Model

Answer: (A)

A city organized in circular rings around the central business district is described by the Burgess Concentric Zone Model. This idea, developed by Ernest Burgess after studying Chicago, places the CBD at the center and imagines successive circular zones outward: a transition zone, a working-class zone, a higher-income residential zone, and finally commuter or suburban rings. The pattern highlights how land use and social groups are arranged with distance from the core increasing. Other models describe different layouts: the Sector Model envisions growth in wedges or sectors radiating from the center; the Peripheral Model emphasizes suburbs and a surrounding belt of development around a metropolitan core; the Multiple Nuclei Model argues for several separate centers or nodes of activity. The circular, layered structure is the hallmark of the Burgess Concentric Zone Model.

A city organized in circular rings around the central business district is described by the Burgess Concentric Zone Model. This idea, developed by Ernest Burgess after studying Chicago, places the CBD at the center and imagines successive circular zones outward: a transition zone, a working-class zone, a higher-income residential zone, and finally commuter or suburban rings. The pattern highlights how land use and social groups are arranged with distance from the core increasing.

Other models describe different layouts: the Sector Model envisions growth in wedges or sectors radiating from the center; the Peripheral Model emphasizes suburbs and a surrounding belt of development around a metropolitan core; the Multiple Nuclei Model argues for several separate centers or nodes of activity. The circular, layered structure is the hallmark of the Burgess Concentric Zone Model.