The Cyclical Urbanization Model

ABSTRACT

The cyclical urbanization model is a theoretical approach that has been used to describe previous and future stages of development in European urban areas. In this article the structural approach of the model is analysed. There are several reasons why the model could not be applied to the general urban development in Europe 1980–90. One point made is that the shift between urban stages is not as inevitable as the model suggests. The delimitation of functional urban regions also makes it impossible to see what is happening in middle-sized or small towns. The concepts of the model may be used in partial descriptions of urban processes, but not as a consistent whole.

Population trends in the 1980's in some city regions in Scandinavia and England have been analysed with reference to the assumptions made in the model that there will be a shift in population back to the urban core. The city regions studied do not, however, show a uniform population development during the 1980's. Even though it has been possible to detect reurbanization in some cities, this is by no means a new general stage of development that has come to light. It is true that in Sweden we can see how the population is undergoing a concentration in large city areas, but at the same time considerable dispersion within the environs of these cities is taking place.