CARTER Harold, An Introduction to Urban Historical Geography – cap 8 The Internal Structure of the City: the central area. Londres: Edward Arnold (Publishers), 1983, pp. 150-170.
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Many urban geographers would probably consider that the emergence of a distinctive and specialized shopping center is the key process in the patterning of the central area of the city. This is so because the development of the wide range of other specialized areas was functionally related to it, for it was the prime generating influence monopolizing the most valued land at least insofar as its core coincided with peak land values. The priority of the shopping centre is derived from the presumed ability of retailers to pay the highest prices for city-centre locations. Historically, however, that priority lacks conviction for, to use Sjoberg’s categories, it is a feature of the industrial rather than of the pre-industrial city (Sjoberg, 1960). In the latter political and religious elements were predominant in shaping the centre, arrogating the most prestigious locations. It follows that it is impossible historically to retain a constant significance for the role of the retail area and the shopping function. To a degree this echoes Vance’s argument for a pre-capitalist rather than a pre-industrial city (Vance, 1971). Vance contends that before the growth of modern capitalism land was not owned and regarded as a property investment, but rather it was held and evaluated in terms which were primarily social. In the town in particular it gave access to the guilds which initially had mainly a social and convivial basis and only later became trade associations. In this way participation in city life was a consequence of land-holding. Moreover, given their origins, the location of the guilds within the city was fortuitous and specialized trade areas developed bearing no relationship to any economic order based on a central point or peak land-value intersection which are products of the later capitalist order. If pre-industrial or pre-capitalist cities present a different suite of forces controlling their central area land-uses from those of later cities then it is sensible to divide examination of those uses into two sections. The break point is a matter of some debate for pre-industrial and pre-capitalist refer to different points of inflexion, but in most general terms it is possible to contrast the evolution of retailing with the later evolution of shopping and use it as a preliminary basis. (Continua)
