The study of an African city in a desert region, whose immediate site is determined by water supply and transportation routes. The directions and the limitation of the social activities of the community are dictated by the environment. (III, 1, 6; IV, 1, 6; V, 1; VI; VII, 2; IX, 1.)
Ratzel, Friedrich. “Die geographische Lage der grossen Städte,” in volume “Die Grossstadt,” edited by Th. Petermann, Dresden, 1903.
A thoroughgoing consideration of the location types of cities by one of the earliest and most competent students of the subject. Offers the theory, also held by Cooley (C. H. Cooley, The Theory of Transportation) that cities arise at the end of a route of transportation, or at a juncture of several such routes, or at the point where one route of transportation joins another; where, for instance, a land transportation route ends and a waterway begins. Ratzel also gives one of the earliest and soundest geographical definitions of the city: “A permanent condensation (or dense settlement) of human beings and human habitations covering a considerable area and situated in the midst (or at the juncture) of several routes of transportation.” (I; II; III, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6; IV, 1; V, 5; VII, 2.)
Ridgley, Douglas C. “Geographic Principles in the Study of Cities,” Jour. of Geog., XXIV (February, 1925), 66–78.
A reiteration of Cooley’s theory: “Population and wealth tend to collect wherever there is a break in transportation.” (I, 1; VII, 1, 2.)
Wright, Henry C. The American City: An Outline of Its Development and Functions (Chicago, 1916).
Chapter i outlines the location of cities and classifies them according to their purpose. The rest of the book is taken up with government, finance, administrative problems, such as health, police, education, housing, zoning, and the effect of the city on the citizens. (III, 3, 4; V, 4, 5; VI; VII, 2; IX.)
3. A classification in use especially among the geographers is that arising from differences in site. It is important to distinguish between the general situation of a city, i.e., its location with reference to the surrounding territory and the means of communication with other centers of population and resources, and its immediate local setting which influences its structure and growth and brings with it certain other more deep-seated consequences.
Biermann, Charles. “Situation et Site de Lausanne,” Bull. Soc. Neuchateloise de Geog., XXV (1916), 122–49. Reviewed in Geog. Rev., VI (1918), 285.
Distinguishes between general location and immediate site as factors determining the character of the city. Emphasizes the limitations imposed on the modern city by its medieval defensive system. (III, 1, 2; VI, 3.)