Urban processes refer to the development of cities and their suburbs. Some of the main processes operating in cities are urban:

• growth;
• decline (decay);
• renewal;
• consolidation; and,
• gentrification.

These processes are the result of

• social;
• cultural;
• economic;
• technological;
• historical;
• political; and,
• geographical changes.

Geographers have tried to explain the patterns that these processes produce in cities.  They have used different models to show how cities develop.

One of the most basic models is the concentric model.  This was developed in Chicago, USA.

It suggests that cities have a concentric pattern and these patterns show different types of land use, or spatial inequality, within cities.