Concentric zone model

[1][2] Based on human ecology theory done by Burgess and applied on Chicago, it was the first to give the explanation of distribution of social groups within urban areas.

It is effectively an urban version of Von Thünen's regional land use model developed a century earlier.

The zones identified are: The model is more detailed than the traditional down-mid-uptown divide by which downtown is the CBD, uptown the affluent residential outer ring, and midtown in between.

This theory states that the concentric circles are based on the amount that people will pay for the land.

Even in the United States, because of changes such as advancement in transportation and information technology and transformation in global economy, cities are no longer organized with clear "zones" (see: Los Angeles School of Urban Analysis).