Question

1. Why don’t we have “monocentric cities” anymore? What are some of the positive and negative aspects of this change?

Answer 1

Monocentric city & The Change
The idea of monocentric model of urban spatial structure was proposed by William Alonso, Richard Muth and Edwin Mills in the 1960’s. The concept comes under urban economics which focuses on the spatial relationships to understand the economic motivations underlying the formation, functioning and development of the cities.
Monocentric city model refers how the price and demand for the real estate changes according to the distance of the property from the central business district. Central business district consist of the only area that is meant to be urbanized for production and business. Land users compete to buy land near the CBD. The idea was just that will increase the profit since it is near to the business circle and people will be willing to pay more for the land near to that. Concentration of the customers, less transportation cost would all were the supporting thoughts for the idea.
The form of cities changed from monocentric through expanding the scope of the business circle and improved technology. Cities were moved to a polycentric form which was more business and infrastructural friendly. Multiple cities organized and make a rural area. Economic efficiency, increased scope of business, diversion in the kind and area of business, less production cost and etc. are the basic positive sides of the change. The negative side is the increase in pollution, density of population, environmental imbalances and etc.