Abstract
Differences in the distribution of population within and across metropolitan areas are seen as a product of the development of the metropolis during different transportation epochs. Age cohorts of census tracts in Cleveland, Ohio, may be split into three groups of development patterns based on the time of their early development: (1) before the development of the automobile, (2) during the early period of the auto’s diffusion to the population, and (3) during the period of the mass diffusion of the auto. Patterns of population concentration and congestion across metropolitan areas are heavily selective of places with large population growth before the development of the streetcar and the automobile. More recent population growth has had little effect on population congestion but has led to a deconcentrated metropolis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berry, Brian J. L., James W. Simmons, and Robert J. Tennant. 1963. Urban Population Densities: Structure and Change. Geographical Review 53:389–405.
Bogue, Donald J., and Dorothy L. Harris. 1954. Comparative Population and Urban Research Via Multiple Regression and Covariance Analysis. Oxford, Ohio: Scripps Foundation.
Chapman, Edmund H. 1964. Cleveland: Village to Metropolis; a Case Study of Problems of Urban Development in Nineteenth-Century America. Cleveland: The Western Reserve Historical Society.
Duncan, Beverly, George Sabagh, and Maurice Van Arsdol, Jr. 1962. Patterns of City Growth. American Journal of Sociology 67: 418–429.
Duncan, Otis Dudley. 1966. Path Analysis: Sociological Examples. American Journal of Sociology 72:1–16.
Green, Howard W. 1931a. Population by Census Tracts, Cleveland and Vicinity; With Street Index. Cleveland: Cleveland Health Council.
—. 1931b. Population Characteristics by Census Tracts; Cleveland, Ohio, 1930. Cleveland: The Plain Dealer Publishing. Co.
Harris, Chauncy D., and Edward L. Ullman. 1945. The Nature of Cities. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 242:7–17.
Hawley, Amos H. 1950. Human Ecology: A Theory of Community Structure. New York: Ronald Press.
—. 1956. The Changing Shape of Metropolitan America: Deconcentration Since 1920. Glencoe: The Free Press.
Hoover, Edgar M., and Raymond Vernon. 1962. Anatomy of a Metropolis; the Changing Distribution of People and Jobs Within the New York Metropolitan Region. Garden City, N. J.: Doubleday and Co.
Muth, Richard F. 1969. Cities and Housing; the Spatial Pattern of Urban Residential Land Use. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. 1971a. U. S. Bureau of Census—1st Count Summary Statistics, Showing Total Persons by Race for Census Tract Block Groups or Enumeration Districts. Report P-6. Cleveland.
Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. 1971b. U. S. Bureau of Census—1st Count Summary Statistics, Showing Total Housing Units by Occupancy!Vacancy Status and Race of Head for Census Tract Block Groups or Enumeration Districts. Real Property Inventory of Metropolitan Cleveland. 1935. Standards of Living in the Cleveland Metropolitan District as Depicted by the Federal Real Property Inventory Cleveland.
Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. 1941. Standard of Living in Cuyahoga County, as Depicted by the Real Property Survey. Cleveland.
Rees, Philip H. 1970. The Urban Envelope: Patterns and Dynamics of Population Density. In Brian J. L. Berry and Frank E. Horton (eds.), Geographic Perspectives on the Urban Systems: With Integrated Readings. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Schnore, Leo F. 1958a. Metropolitan Growth and Decentralization. Pp. 3–20 in William M. Dobriner (ed.), The Suburban Community. New York: Putnam.
—. 1958b. The Growth of Metropolitan Suburbs. Pp. 26–44 in William M. Dobriner (ed.), The Suburban Community. New York: Putnam.
—. 1965. The Urban Scene: Human Ecology and Demography. New York: The Free Press.
Treadway, Roy C. 1969. Social Components of Metropolitan Population Densities. Demography 6:55–74.
U. S. Bureau of the Census. 1970. Census of Business: 1967. Retail Trade: Major Retail Centers. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
—. 1964. U. S. Census of Population: 1960. Vol. I, Characteristics of the Population. Part I, United States Summary. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
—. 1962. U. S. Censuses of Population and Housing: 1960. Census Tracts. Final Report PHC(1)–28. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
—. 1952. U. S. Census of Population: 1950. Vol. III, Census Tract Statistics. Chapter 12. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
—. 1942. U. S. Census of Population: 1940. Census Tract Statistics. Number 14. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
—. 1931. U. S. Census of Population: 1930. Vol. I, Population, the Number and Distribution of Inhabitants. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
U. S. Census Office. 1883. U. S. Census of Population: 1880. Vol. I, Statistics of the Population of the United States. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
U. S. Commission on Population Growth and the American Future. 1972. The Report of the Commission. New York: Signet.
Van Arsdol, Jr., Maurice D., and Leo A. Schuerman. 1971. Redistribution and Assimilation of Ethnic Populations: The Los Angeles Case. Demography 8:459–480.
Winsborough, Hal H. 1962. City Growth and City Structure. Journal of Regional Science 4:35–49.
—. 1963. An Ecological Approach to the Theory of Suburbanization. American Journal of Sociology 68:565–570.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guest, A.M. Urban growth and population densities. Demography 10, 53–69 (1973). https://doi.org/10.2307/2060750
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2060750