What is Concentric zone theory?
Park and Burgess developed their theory of urban ecology in 1925.Their model was known as The concentric zone theory. The theory proposed that cities are environments like those found in nature, governed by many of the same forces as Darwinian evolution. Park argued that cities were characterised by a ‘botanic balance’ in which existing communities were distributed by news waves of imaginations, creating conflict out of which a new form of community emerged to replace the original one.The struggle for space was linked to this process, with individuals competing for the best habitats. Park and Burgess predicted that, once fully grown, cities would take the form of five concentric rings with areas of social and physical deterioration concentrated near the city centre and the more prosperous areas located near the city’s edge.
