African City Model in AP Human Geography

The African city model (de Blij model) describes sub-Saharan African cities as having three separate central business districts (a colonial CBD, a traditional CBD, and an open-air market zone), ethnic neighborhoods around the core, and informal squatter settlements on the urban periphery.

What is the African City Model?

The African city model, developed by geographer Harm de Blij, explains the internal structure of many sub-Saharan African cities shaped by European colonialism. Its signature feature is that there isn't one downtown but three. A vertical, Western-style colonial CBD sits next to a traditional CBD of single-story shops and a periodic or open-air market zone where informal commerce happens. Around this triple core you find ethnic and mixed neighborhoods, and on the outer edge, informal settlements (squatter communities) where the poorest residents live with limited services.

That last part is the pattern to lock in. Unlike the Burgess model, where poverty concentrates near the center and wealth moves outward, the African city model flips the gradient. Wealth and formal infrastructure cluster near the core (often on elevated or secure sites, like in Nairobi), while low-income residents push to the periphery near informal jobs and transit. The model is one of the regional urban models listed in the CED alongside the Latin American and Southeast Asian models, all of which show how colonial history rewires city structure.

Why the African City Model matters in AP® Human Geography

This term lives in Topic 6.5, The Internal Structure of Cities (Unit 6), under learning objective 6.5.A, which asks you to explain city structure using various models and theories. EK PSO-6.D.1 explicitly names urban models drawn from Africa as required content, right alongside Burgess, Hoyt, Harris and Ullman, the galactic city model, and bid-rent theory. The exam loves regional models because they test whether you can match a real-world spatial pattern (a map, satellite image, or description of a city like Nairobi or Lagos) to the right theoretical framework. The African city model also carries a bigger conceptual payload, showing how colonialism leaves a permanent imprint on urban form, which connects urban geography back to political and economic development themes.

How the African City Model connects across the course

Burgess Concentric Zone Model (Unit 6)

Burgess is the baseline every regional model gets compared against. In Burgess's Chicago-based rings, the poorest housing sits near the CBD and quality improves outward. The African city model reverses that, putting informal settlements on the far edge of the city. If an exam question shows poverty on the periphery, you're not in Burgess territory.

Central Business District (CBD) (Unit 6)

Most models assume one CBD. The African city model's defining twist is three of them, a colonial CBD, a traditional CBD, and a market zone, sitting side by side. That tripled core is the fastest way to identify the model on a multiple-choice question.

Developing Countries (Unit 7)

Informal settlements and informal-sector jobs are hallmarks of cities in the periphery and semi-periphery of the world economy. The African city model is basically Unit 7's development concepts drawn as a city map, with the formal economy at the center and the informal economy on the edges.

Ethnic clustering (Unit 6)

The model includes distinct ethnic neighborhoods ringing the core, often a legacy of colonial policies that segregated groups by origin. This links directly to questions about residential segregation and how social divisions show up spatially inside cities.

Is the African City Model on the AP® Human Geography exam?

This shows up most often in multiple-choice questions that describe or map a real sub-Saharan city and ask which model fits. Nairobi is a favorite example. Stems describe things like a colonial-era commercial core, wealthy residents on elevated secure sites, middle-income planned suburbs, and informal settlements clustered on the periphery near informal jobs and transit. Your job is to recognize that combination and pick the African city model over Burgess, Hoyt, or the Latin American model. No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but Topic 6.5 models are standard FRQ material, and you could be asked to describe a feature of the model, explain how colonialism shaped it, or compare it to another regional model. Memorize the three CBDs and the peripheral informal settlements, and be ready to explain why the wealth gradient runs opposite to Burgess.

The African City Model vs Latin American City Model

Both are regional models for cities in developing regions, and both put squatter settlements on the periphery, so they get mixed up constantly. The key differences are in the core. The Latin American model (Griffin-Ford) has one CBD with a commercial spine extending outward to an elite sector, plus disamenity zones cutting toward the center. The African city model has three distinct CBDs (colonial, traditional, and market) and no spine. If the question mentions a spine or a mall at the end of an elite corridor, think Latin America. If it mentions multiple downtowns or an open-air market zone next to a colonial core, think Africa.

Key things to remember about the African City Model

• The African city model, created by Harm de Blij, describes sub-Saharan African cities with three separate CBDs, one colonial, one traditional, and one open-air market zone.

• Informal squatter settlements sit on the urban periphery, which is the opposite of the Burgess model, where the poorest zones surround the center.

• The model reflects colonialism's lasting imprint, since the vertical colonial CBD and segregated ethnic neighborhoods come straight from European colonial planning.

• It is required content under EK PSO-6.D.1 in Topic 6.5, alongside Burgess, Hoyt, multiple-nuclei, galactic city, bid-rent, and the Latin American and Southeast Asian models.

• On the exam, descriptions of cities like Nairobi with wealthy secure cores, middle-income suburbs, and peripheral informal settlements point to this model.

• Don't confuse it with the Latin American model, which has a single CBD with an elite spine instead of three downtowns.

Frequently asked questions about the African City Model

What is the African city model in AP Human Geography?

It's de Blij's model of sub-Saharan African urban structure, featuring three CBDs (colonial, traditional, and open-air market), ethnic neighborhoods around the core, and informal squatter settlements on the periphery. It's one of the regional models required by Topic 6.5.

How is the African city model different from the Latin American city model?

The African model has three distinct CBDs and no spine, while the Latin American (Griffin-Ford) model has a single CBD with an elite commercial spine extending outward. Both place squatter settlements on the periphery, so the core structure is what tells them apart.

Does the African city model put poor residents in the city center like the Burgess model?

No, it's the reverse. In the African city model, formal wealth and infrastructure cluster near the core (Nairobi's wealthy areas occupy elevated secure sites), while low-income informal settlements spread along the periphery near informal jobs and transit.

Why does the African city model have three CBDs?

Colonialism layered a European-built, vertical commercial district on top of existing African urban life, so the colonial CBD, the traditional single-story CBD, and the periodic market zone all developed side by side instead of merging into one downtown.

Is the African city model on the AP Human Geography exam?

Yes. EK PSO-6.D.1 explicitly lists urban models drawn from Africa as required knowledge for learning objective 6.5.A, and multiple-choice questions frequently use cities like Nairobi to test whether you can identify the model from a description or map.