【Geography Inquiry】Welcome to the World of Cities and Villages!
Hello! Let’s dive into the "Cities and Villages" chapter together.
You might think, "Geography is just endless memorization," but don't worry! This chapter is actually about something very relatable: discovering "the origins of the places" where we live every day.
Why are the houses in this village lined up along the road? Why are there only high-rise buildings in the city center? Once you understand the "why," you’ll start seeing your everyday scenery in a whole new way.
1. Villages: Places Where People Support Each Other
A village is a settlement based on primary industries like agriculture and fishing. People in the past gathered in places where it was easy to secure "water" and "food" for survival and where it was easier to protect themselves from external threats.
(1) Village Shapes: Clustered and Dispersed Settlements
Village shapes generally fall into two main types.
- Clustered Settlement (Shuson): A village where houses are packed closely together in one area.
- Nucleated Village (Kaison): Houses that formed naturally in a cluster. Often centered around a water source or a temple.
- Linear Village (Roson): Houses lined up in a narrow row along roads or canals. Characterized by narrow, long farmlands stretching out behind the houses (e.g., forest villages in Germany or Japanese Shinden settlements).
- Street Village (Gaison): Houses and shops lined up along a main street. Post-towns are a classic example of this.
- Round Village (Enson): Houses arranged in a circle around a central plaza. This shape is easy to defend.
- Dispersed Settlement (Sonson): A village where houses are scattered apart.
- The Tonami Plain in Toyama Prefecture is super famous for this! Since your own rice paddies surround your house, work is highly efficient. It also has the added benefit of preventing the spread of fire.
(2) Planned Villages
The new rice field developments (Shinden Kaihatsu) of the Edo period and the Tondenhei (soldier-settler) villages in Hokkaido from the Meiji era were planned from the start, so if you look at a map, the roads are laid out in an orderly grid pattern.
【Pro Tip】
If you can look at map symbols or contour lines and deduce, "Ah, they're lined up along a road, so it must be a linear village," you’ve got it perfect!
💡 Trivia: Why is the Tonami Plain so spread out?
It is said that because water was originally abundant and wells could be dug anywhere, there was no need for people to go through the trouble of gathering in one spot.
Summary of Villages:
Village shapes are determined by "terrain," "history," and "work efficiency"!
2. Cities: Convenient Places Where Functions Converge
Next up is the "City." Cities are centered around secondary and tertiary industries (manufacturing and service industries) and are places where many people congregate.
(1) Internal Structure of a City: Where is everything?
If you look at a large city from above, its roles are divided from the center toward the outskirts.
- Central Business District (CBD): The very center of the city. Tall buildings stand in rows, and it hosts bank headquarters and major corporations. The land value is insanely high!
- Secondary City Center (Fukutoshin): Areas created to prevent the central part from becoming too congested (e.g., Shinjuku, Shibuya).
- Residential Area: Quiet areas slightly removed from the city center.
- Suburbs (Kogai): Further out. This is where shopping malls and "new towns" spread out.
(2) Changes and Phenomena in Cities
As cities grow or decline, the following phenomena occur:
- Doughnut Phenomenon: Land prices in the center become too high, causing everyone to move to the suburbs. The nighttime population in the center drops, making it look like a hole in the middle.
- Return to the City Center (Toshin Kaiki): A recent phenomenon where high-rise apartments are built in the center, and more people are choosing to live there again.
- Gentrification: The redevelopment of run-down, old neighborhoods into trendy, upscale areas.
⚠️ Common Misconception:
The "Doughnut Phenomenon" doesn't mean the total population is decreasing; it just means that "where people live has moved from the center to the outskirts." During work hours, everyone still comes into the city center, so the daytime population remains high!
Summary of Cities:
There is a division of labor: the center is for "work," and the outskirts are for "living"!
3. World Urban Problems: Challenges Vary by Country
Developed countries and developing countries face different challenges. This is a frequent test topic!
(1) Challenges in Developed Countries (Japan, Western nations, etc.)
- Inner-City Problem: Young people leave older city centers, leaving buildings to decay, causing a rise in crime or leaving only the elderly behind.
- Urban Sprawl: Residential areas spreading out into the suburbs in an unplanned, scattered manner. Often described as "moth-eaten" development.
(2) Challenges in Developing Countries (Asia, Africa, South America, etc.)
- Primate City: When a country’s largest city (e.g., Bangkok in Thailand) is vastly larger than the second city, with population and functions becoming overly concentrated in just that one place.
- Formation of Slums: People coming from the countryside to the city in search of work build homes in unsanitary areas because they have nowhere else to live. This is often caused by "Pseudourbanization" (when the population grows without the necessary urban infrastructure).
✨ Study Tip:
Remember them as a pair: "Developed countries = hollowing out of old cities (Inner-city problems)," and "Developing countries = rapid population growth (Slums)!"
Summary of Urban Problems:
A city's challenges change depending on its stage of prosperity!
Final Thoughts: Toward Future Studies
You might feel like, "There are too many terms, this is hard!" at first, but don't worry. Start by thinking about whether the town you live in is a "clustered" or "dispersed" settlement, or if you live in the "suburbs." Applying these concepts to your own surroundings makes geography much more interesting.
Asking, "Why are there houses here?" is the first step toward geographical inquiry!
Key Takeaways for this Chapter:
1. Be able to visualize village shapes (nucleated, linear, dispersed, etc.) on a map.
2. Understand urban structures (CBD, suburbs) and population migration (Doughnut Phenomenon).
3. Grasp the problems of "Primate Cities" and "Slums" in developing countries.