1Urbanism and UrbanizationSociology 1001: IntroductionGeography as Context• Continuing the theme of human action within social and structural context leads us to the idea that ‘geography’ is an important aspect of context• Where did you grow up?– What was it like growing up there?– What types of experiences did you have that were unique (or somewhat unique) to that locale?– How did it influence what you did and what happened to you?– Does your future involve living in a city?Urbanization• The social forces of industrialization, capitalism, and rationalization either caused or coincided (depending on what theory you accept) with urbanization– This refers to the increased organization of social life in cities– Very much an on-going process– Consider the issue of city size in the US and across the globe (see worksheet)2Urbanization and Industrialization• To a degree, urbanization coincided with industrialization– Many great cities (London, New York, Chicago) grew up along with the modern factory• Factories pulled hundreds of millions of people out of the countryside• Makes sense that as the nature of work shifted from agriculture to industry, the locales where people lived would follow the path of work• But the relationship is weak– Cities first emerged in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt 5-6 thousand years ago• Indigenous persons in Central and South America had immense cities– Early cities served as centers of religious worship and political administration (eg., Rome)– Their development was fueled by international trade in spices, precious metals, and cloth (and people), rather than industrialization– Still, industrial cities were different in size and natureThe Industrial City• Much of the work on the Industrial City comes from the “Chicago School” (and is referenced in some detail in the Wirth reading)– Researchers provided vivid descriptions of urban life based on in-depth interviews, surveys, and mapping• Park, Burgess and McKenzie offered a theory of human ecology to illuminate the processes of urbanization3Human Ecology• Theory highlights the links between the physical and social dimensions of cities and identifies the dynamics and patters of growth– Cities grow in a pattern of ever-expanding concentric circles– Three processes animate this growth• Differentiation – populations and their activities become more complex and heterogeneous• Competition – on-going struggle by different groups to inhabit optimal locations• Ecological succession – one group replaces another IThe LoopFigure 1. Concentric Zone Model of Chicago, 1920Single-Family DwellingsResidential HotelsIITransitional ZoneIIIZone of Working Class HomesIV Residential ZoneVCommuter ZoneBright Light AreaSecond Immigrant SettlementApartment Houses Little SicilySlumDeutschlandGhettoTwo-flat areaRestricted Residential DistrictBungalow SectionChinatownViceUnderworld RoomersBright Light AreaBlack Belt– Zone 1: Central business district (‘the Loop’)• Retail shopping, office buildings, entertainment centers– Land is most valuable– Zone 2: Zone of transition• Intense competition between residential and commercial interests– Businesses drive up prices and re-zone, property value declines, (cheap) rentals emerge, the ‘slum’ attracts new immigrants, the poor, the mentally disordered, the unemployed, and criminals– Zone 3: Working class homes• When members of ethnic groups in zone 2 could afford better housing, they moved to mostly inexpensive, semi-detached homes– Zone 4: Residential zone• Upwardly mobile residents from zone 2 buy small, detached homes– Zone 5: Commuter zone• Middle and Upper class families live in more expensive, detachedhomes4From Urbanization to Urbanism• The Chicago School researchers felt that the city was more than just a physical location– It also involved a way of life• Urbanism is ‘a state of mind, a body of customs, traditions, attitudes and sentiments, specifically linked to city dwelling’– How did Wirth conceive of urbanism?• Absence of community and close personal relationships, greater tolerance, emotional withdrawal, and interactions that lacked intensity, were more superficial, more impersonal, and goal directed; people become more individualistic Critiquing the Ecological Tradition• How well does the model stand up to your experience?Critiquing the Ecological Tradition–Urbanism• Social isolation, stress and emotional withdrawal are common in rural settings– Urban life is less impersonal and anomic than described– Urban residents create dense networks of friends and family (Wellman Reading)– The Zone Model– Ignores the importance of residential segregation– Newer cities often have expensive inner cores (gentrification) and slums found on the outskirts– The automobile has changed expansion to follow travel routes (creating wedge shaped expansion)– Cities may grow in a ‘multi-nucleic’ manner– Presents the process as almost ‘natural’5A New ‘Urban Sociology’• Urban space is a set of commodified social relations– Urban space can be bought and sold for profit– Political interests shape the growth patterns of cities• Growth coalitions of investors, politicians, businesses, property owners, developers, urban planners, media, sports teams, cultural institutions, labor unions, and universities all try to get government subsidies and tax breaks to attract investment dollars– Present re-development of inner cities as a ‘public good’ and tend to silence critics or questions of who benefits and who loses» Often produces community organization in protest– May produce pockets of revitalization surrounded by extreme povertyThe Corporate City• The CC refers to cities of the late 20thcentury in which the city is ‘a vehicle for capital accumulation, a money making machine’ (Hannigan)– In suburbs, developers build millions of single family dwellings for the corporate middle class– Have backyards and two car garages• Has led to suburbanism as a way of life– What is suburbanism? (Life organized around the needs of children; high levels of conformity and sociability; the ‘shopping mall becomes a locus of activity)– Has led to increased focus on the metropolitan area and stratification in the distributions of people, businesses, and servicesThe Postmodern City• Since the 1970s, some have argued for the emergence of a new city