ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a walk through standard models of city form. It explains the progression of thought about the urban landscape from the simplistic monocentric urban form to the extended metropolis to megaregions. The chapter progresses to alternative forms that consider how multiple cities create a special region, one that might be called a metropolitan area. Historically, cities arose because their location gave them least-cost access to farming, or they were at the crossroads of trading routes, or they were least-cost locations from which to ship goods, often by water. To further understanding of city form, Homer Hoyt conceptualized the sector theory. As urban areas grow and transportation costs decline, new, satellite suburban centers rise up, leading to multiple centers, or what some call a polycentric city form. The chapter concludes with characterizations of how the United States is composed of very large, national-scale regions.
