Social Sciences and History / Unit 12 SSH 1120 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Concentric Zone, Sector, Multiple Nuclei: Naming the Model
The idea
The exam describes a city's internal structure and asks which model fits, and the anchor names three. The concentric zone model arranges social groups in a series of rings around the central business district, the CBD, the central nucleus of commercial land use, with a zone in transition of mixed commercial and residential use surrounding it. The sector model arranges groups in sectors radiating out from the CBD. The multiple-nuclei model arranges groups around a collection of separate nodes of activity rather than one center. Each is a model of the internal structure of cities, the anchor's phrase, and the chapter's outcome compares urban patterns across regions.
In practice
Given "the poor near the center, the rich at the edge, each group in a ring", concentric zone. Given "a wedge of high-income housing running from downtown outward", sector. Given "an industrial district, a university district and an old downtown, each with its own neighborhoods", multiple nuclei. Given "the mixed warehouse-and-tenement belt right outside downtown", the zone in transition, from the first model. Ask whether the pattern is rings, wedges, or several centers.
Where people slip
The trap is expecting one model to fit every city; the anchor presents them as models compared across regions. The second trap is the zone in transition, which belongs to the concentric model and names a land-use mix, not a social class.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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