Which urban model describes a city with concentric rings of land use?

Which urban model describes a city with concentric rings of land use?

• A. Inner City
• B. Functional zone
• C. Burgess concentric model
• D. CBD

Answer: (C)

This question tests how a city’s land use can be organized in rings radiating out from the center, a monocentric growth pattern. The Burgess concentric model envisions the city expanding outward in circular zones around a central business district. Each ring has distinct characteristics: the core is the CBD, then a transition zone with industry and poorer housing, followed by working-class housing, then middle-income housing, and finally outer suburbs or the commuter belt. The idea is that distance from the center influences land value, density, and social characteristics, producing these concentric circles. Other terms don’t describe this ringed arrangement. The inner city refers to the central urban area itself, not a series of rings. The functional zone (or Harris–Ullman) model describes multiple centers and sectors rather than neat circles. The central business district is only the core area at the center, not the surrounding rings. So the model describing concentric rings is the Burgess concentric model.

This question tests how a city’s land use can be organized in rings radiating out from the center, a monocentric growth pattern. The Burgess concentric model envisions the city expanding outward in circular zones around a central business district. Each ring has distinct characteristics: the core is the CBD, then a transition zone with industry and poorer housing, followed by working-class housing, then middle-income housing, and finally outer suburbs or the commuter belt. The idea is that distance from the center influences land value, density, and social characteristics, producing these concentric circles.

Other terms don’t describe this ringed arrangement. The inner city refers to the central urban area itself, not a series of rings. The functional zone (or Harris–Ullman) model describes multiple centers and sectors rather than neat circles. The central business district is only the core area at the center, not the surrounding rings. So the model describing concentric rings is the Burgess concentric model.