Urban Midterm

Front 1

 Urbanization:

Back 1

expansion of a city or metropolitan area

Front 2

 Urban growth:

Back 2

rate that an urban population increases over a given time relative to its initial size at the start of the period

Front 3

 Urban transition:

Back 3

redistribution of population from a predominantly rural, agricultural world to a predominantly urban, industrial world.

Front 4

 Urbanism:

Back 4

social and psychological consequences that urbanization, urban growth, and the urban transition have on an urban population

Front 5

 First Urban Revolution:

Back 5

10,000 years ago

Front 6

 Second Urban Revolution:

Back 6

1800 AD (industrial revolution)

Front 7

 Third Urban Revolution:

Back 7

ongoing- now more than half the world’s population lives in cities

Front 8

 Megacities:

Back 8

cities of 10 million people or more; 1950- Tokyo and NY, 1974: NY, Tokyo, Shanghi, Mexico City, 2003- 20 megacities
 UN estimates there will be 22 megacities by 2015
 20% of the world’s population is in China

Front 9

 Hutter:

Back 9

50% mark of urban dwellers will likely be reached by 2007

Front 10

 UN

Back 10

reports that by 2008 3.3 billion people will live in towns and cities

Front 11

 Microlevel perspective:

Back 11

how people perceive and interact in the built environment of the city socially and culturally;
Symbolic interactionism: (Mead and Blumer) how people use shared symbols to define and give meaning to their environment and make sense of their world. Leaves out key variables but focuses on 3 basic premises:
Contructions of identity: human beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them
Socialization: the meanings of things arise out of the interactions one has with his or her fellows
Interactional patterns: these meanings are handled or modified through and interpretive process used by persons in dealing with the objects or situations that they encounter
Emphasizes emergent creative aspects of individuals and the nondetermined emergent quality of social interaction

Front 12

Symbolic interactionism:

Back 12

(Mead and Blumer) how people use shared symbols to define and give meaning to their environment and make sense of their world. Leaves out key variables but focuses on 3 basic premises:
Contructions of identity: human beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them
Socialization: the meanings of things arise out of the interactions one has with his or her fellows
Interactional patterns: these meanings are handled or modified through an interpretive process used by persons in dealing with the objects or situations that they encounter
Experiencing Cities through Symbolic Interactionism:
1. Place approach: “behaviors and relations in urban places”
 “community lost” theme
 Public sphere and interaction
2. People approach: “role identities of special categories of urbanites”
 Search for “meaningful” identity in urban context and notion of “incompleteness”
3. Urban imagery approach
 Imagery as an “independent variable in shaping urban life itself” (20).
 Mental maps- how different individuals construct different meanings of the city for themselves through pictures and places that are in their heads
Criticisms is it ignored social psychological factors

Front 13

Experiencing Cities through Symbolic Interactionism:

Back 13

1. Place approach: “behaviors and relations in urban places”
 “community lost” theme
 Public sphere and interaction
2. People approach: “role identities of special categories of urbanites”
 Search for “meaningful” identity in urban context and notion of “incompleteness”
3. Urban imagery approach
 Imagery as the cause of shaping urban life itself
 Mental maps- how different individuals construct different meanings of the city for themselves through pictures and places that are in their heads
Criticisms is it ignored social psychological factors

Front 14

Macrolevel Perspective:

Back 14

focuses on the economic and political institutions and how they impact on and are reflected in land-use patterns of the built environment of the city economically and politically
Urban political economy: examines historical changes brought about by political and economic institutions on large-scale structures and features of the city- social class, division of labor, specialization of functions, power and authority- and how they impact on land-use patterns and the built environment
Emphasizes large-scale structural features of society

Front 15

Urban political economy:

Back 15

examines historical changes brought about by political and economic institutions on large-scale structures and features of the city- social class, division of labor, specialization of functions, power and authority- and how they impact on land-use patterns and the built environment

Front 16

Social Network Analysis (SNA)-

Back 16

pattern of ties, social links, connections, or relationships among some set of social units

Front 17

Key Figures of the Chicago School

Back 17

W.I. Thomas, Robert Park, Anselm Strauss, Lyn Lofland, Jane Jacobs

Front 18

W.I. Thomas:

Back 18

“Definition of the Situation”- means that before a person acts, they ascertain, examine and deliberate in their social interactions. “Polish Peasant in Europe and America” examined Polish rural immigrants and their adjustments to urban life in Chicago.

Front 19

Robert E Park:

Back 19

“City as a State of Mind”- Not just a collection of people but a product of the participation and communication of its inhabitants ( if used in a short answer question, say I feel like this could be attached to the individualism and lack of kinship in a city)

Front 20

Anselm L Strauss:

Back 20

Urban Imagery- referring to the symbolization of the city through historical and selected landscapes. Ex. Golden gate bridge of San Francisco and NY skyline

Front 21

Lyn Lofland:

Back 21

World of Strangers and the Public Realm- space often associated with cities (coffee shops, train stations, etc) filled with people who don’t know each other and don’t interact with each other on a closer level
Privatism: personal and individualism- moving things they do in the public to the private

Front 22

Privatism:

Back 22

Lyn Lofland: personal and individualism- moving things they do in the public to the private
city as impersonal and secondary which leads to social disorganization, and then city as mosaic of social worlds (Wirth) in which people are segregated in smaller communities within a city from each other but includes patterns of social order that exhibits a spirit of tolerance which has an underlying pattern of social organization

Front 23

2 contradictory points of view of Privatism:

Back 23

city as impersonal and secondary which leads to social disorganization, and then city as mosaic of social worlds in which people are segregated from each other but includes patterns of social order that exhibits a spirit of tolerance which has an underlying pattern of social organization

Front 24

Jane Jacobs:

Back 24

“Death and Life of Great American Cities” and “eyes on the street” focused on urban renewal and key to urban life was not big bridges and highways but needs to instead benefit the people- focused on diversity

Front 25

Deindustrialization

Back 25

(1950-2000) major decrease in manufacturing production for workers in 4 major cities of Detroit, NYC, Chicago, and Philadelphia

Front 26

Modern Humans and Behavior debate:

Back 26

sudden creative emergence started 45,000 years BP vs. gradual emergence of modern behavior evolved with modernity through symbolic thinking (jewelry) 75,000 years BP- no archaeological evidence

Front 27

Agricultural Revolution:

Back 27

roughly 10,000 years ago people began cultivating crops other than just hunting and gathering- stopped people from being so nomadic and stay in one place

Front 28

Origin of Cities:

Back 28

Mesopotamia- Egypt- Indus River Valley (Pakistan)- Yellow River basin (China)- Valley of Mexico- Jungles of Guatemala and Honduras- Coastlands of Peru
Requirements for birth of urban settlements: food surplus (domestication of plants and animals) and form of social organization (between family and kin)

Front 29

Requirements for birth of urban settlements:

Back 29

food surplus (domestication of plants and animals) and form of social organization (between family and kin)

Front 30

Urban Revolution:

Back 30

development off a series of new institutions that could secure, store and distribute the accumulated food surplus. 10 traits: population, specialists, taxation and capital accumulation, public buildings, ruling class, recording and sciences, written language, artistic specialists, long-distance trade, and social organization: residence
Four broad categories: POET. Population- totality of people, Organization- social structure, Environment- ecological landscape, Technology- tools, materials and techniques for food storage production and distribution
Ecological complex: what urban ecologists who study growth patterns like to describe POET

Front 31

Four broad categories: POET.

Back 31

Population- totality of people, Organization- social structure, Environment- ecological landscape, Technology- tools, materials and techniques for food storage production and distribution
Ecological complex: what urban ecologists who study growth patterns like to describe POET

Front 32

Ecological complex:

Back 32

what urban ecologists who study growth patterns like to describe POET. Population- totality of people, Organization- social structure, Environment- ecological landscape, Technology- tools, materials and techniques for food storage production and distribution

Front 33

Social and Cultural Factors of the Emergence and Decline of Early Cities:

Back 33

role of religion- cohesive element for collective sense of community
Mumford: importance of social and cultural factors
Need for type of social structure and organization: social classes, interactive effects of agricultural and technological advances with changes in social and organizational structures, power (concentration of power and wealth is key which leads to more inequality) and role of war (due to inequality created by concentration of power)

Front 34

Factors limiting Urban Growth:

Back 34

warfare and political instability, social and cultural limitations (sanitation and lack of scientific medicine, absence of manufacturing, traditionalism and religiosity and bureaucratic control), natural disasters (famines, floods, diseases such as the plague)

Front 35

Industrial Revolution

Back 35

Industrial Revolution caused significant changes in size, density, structure and composition of cities. The rapid urbanization of the 19th century European and American cities was consequent of both technological and social innovations stemming from the IR that effected the individual, family, and community

Front 36

Asa Briggs: “Shock City”-

Back 36

a city in a given historical period that had symbolic significance reflecting both awe at spectacular growth and technical progress and also deep concerns about emerging economic, political, and social problems (Manchester, England was the shock city of the IR, then in the beginning of the 20th century Chicago was the shock city)
Chicago: phenomenal population growth from 1860 was 112,000 then 3.5 million in 1930, and huge growth in industry

Front 37

 Tocqueville:

Back 37

“’From the filthy sewer pure gold flows’” (50). Horrible working conditions and poor workers = high profits

Front 38

 Engels: macro-structure of city (1845)


Back 38

“presentation of the spatial distribution of factories, businesses and residential areas, and the spatial segregation of the class anticipated the focus on urban spatial distribution of the Chicago School’s urban ecology perspective” (50-51).
 “According to Engel’s communist perspective, the street patterns, the geographic centrality of the business district, the class-segregated spatial distribution of residences, and the layout of transit thoroughfares were reflections of the capitalistic economic consequences of the Industrial Revolution” (51).

Front 39

 Ethnography:

Back 39

systematic observation and field work in the community to describe social life in the community. A methodology is based on assumptions, interests and purposes

Front 40

Shock City

Back 40

 City became identified with “social disorganization, alienation, and the loss of community and meaningful relationships” (54). .
 Chicago as shock city: “cauldron of social change” (67)
 Focused on social disorganization and consequences- alienation, anomie, social isolation, divorce, child abuse, mental illness, etc. (seen as inherent characteristics of urban life)

Front 41

 Beginning of 20th century is the 2nd American Migration

Back 41

from eastern and southern Europe (Greek and Italians, etc.) from mainly rural areas into American cities (social disorganization, alienation and isolation, etc.) which led us to shutting off immigration from everywhere from 1920-1965 due to perception of social disorganization

Front 42

 Gentrification (Park):

Back 42

the move of higher income people to lower income neighborhoods which upscales them (building up an area)
 Embedded gentrification: gentrification embedded within an existing built environment
 2 Theoretical components:
 1. Urban ecology- “develop a scientific description of urban forms & processes” (67)
 Adapted ecology: “scientific study of the relationships between organisms and their environment” (67).
 Park- Biotic level: “biological and environmental factors and forces, including competition, invasion, and succession, which determine land use” (69).
 2. Urbanism- Social psychology of city life
 Park- Cultural level: “symbolic and psychological adjustments and to the social organization of urban life influenced by shared sentiments and values” (69).
 Associated with:-Symbolic interactionism , Sociocultural perspective, Eventually subsumed by ecological model

Front 43

Urban ecology-

Back 43

“develop a scientific description of urban forms & processes” (67)
 Adapted ecology: “scientific study of the relationships between organisms and their environment” (67).
 Park- Biotic level: “biological and environmental factors and forces, including competition, invasion, and succession, which determine land use”

Front 44

Urbanism-

Back 44

Social psychology of city life
 Park- Cultural level: “symbolic and psychological adjustments and to the social organization of urban life influenced by shared sentiments and values” (69).
 Associated with:-Symbolic interactionism , Sociocultural perspective, Eventually subsumed by ecological model

Front 45

 Determinist Theory (Wirth)-

Back 45

ecological factors of size, density and heterogeneity determine community and psychological outcomes. leads to social disorganization in community and depersonalization by disrupting kinship, neighborhood and friends

Front 46

 Compositional Theory (Gans)-

Back 46

composition of the population; urban enclaves that have developed shield the residents from the impact of the alienating city and that urbanism has no direct effect on groups of individuals

Front 47

 Subcultural Theory (Fischer)-

Back 47

elements of both determinist and compositional theory; ecological variables of size, density and heterogeneity do have an effect on social life however these effects can create, intensify and strengthen social groups and that they do not necessarily break them down but instead community size and density help create diverse subcultures based on shared interests whether it be in a stage of life cycle or ethnicity

Front 48

 Firey-

Back 48

when testing Burgess's concentric zone hypothesis he found that the symbolization of space is much more powerful than just a physical space, the importance of social psychological factors, and the emotional attachments and enduring connections between social groups and specific communities

Front 49

 The City Beautiful (Burnham)-

Back 49

by making the city beautiful by creating monumental buildings, boulevards and civic centers to improve city life by enhancing urban design by increasing civic responsibility

Front 50

 Garden City Movement (Howard):

Back 50

proposed the establishment of autonomous garden cities in rural areas to enhance civic pride and make a center of a town (etc. central park)

Front 51

 Broadacre City (Wright)-

Back 51

sought to integrate city into countryside, and centralize the city with agrarian living anchored in family life which rejects the ideal traditional urban community

Front 52

 Lecorbusier:

Back 52

City without Streets- make skyscrapers larger to decongest the centers of the cities and increase their density. Kill the street by replacing streets with grass and concrete slabs

Front 53

 Robert Moses-

Back 53

NYC and Portland- argued he wasn’t destroying neighborhoods by knocking them down and rebuilding them but was just doing what the city told him to do over NYC controversy and created a lot of freeways in Portland. split up communities with highways

Front 54

 Edmund Bacon:

Back 54

Philadelphia- unlike Moses and Jacobs he pulled back from LeCorbusier’s model of knocking down and rebuilding and got feedback from the people in the communities on what to do and worked on what was already existing to improve the city which called urban rehabilitation

Front 55

 Urban Ecology (Park):

Back 55

Influenced and shaped the the direction of American Urban sociology. Focuses on ecological processes as they effect urban settlements.

Front 56

 Urban Political Economy:

Back 56

growth and development and the decline and fall of cities do not occur simply by happenstance. Social, economic, and political factors are key factors, and the city must be understood within the context of social structures and processes of change that benefit some at the expense of others” (122). Social conflict and capital accumulation

Front 57

 The Global City-

Back 57

in all countries are characterized by social and special polarization (stark contrast between rich and poor), gentrification, downgrading or filtering of housing, gated communities, and cultural enclaves (ghettos)

Front 58

 Urban Growth Machine (Logan and Molotch)-

Back 58

The idea of making a city into a growth machine by not only trying to grow the city but to also distribute the growth widely through investment, economic development and growth. however they did not take into account conflict orientation.

Front 59

 Sociospacial Perspective (SSP) Gottdiener-

Back 59

said to also take into account social and cultural factors to spread growth and wealth

Front 60

 Zulkin:

Back 60

talks about symbolic economy which is anchored off of the economic importance of tourism, media and entertainment of cities to bring in money. Invest in culture

Front 61

 City as a Work of Art:

Back 61

an individual confronts one environment through social constructions based on mental pictures of that environment. We use symbols or imaged when we think and talk about certain cities (ex. Boston common in Boston, Disney world for Orlando). The image of the city is not based solely off of the ease of perceptual readings of the city but influenced by underlying political, economic and social factors

Front 62

 Paris and the Impressionists:

Back 62

city was reconstructed by radicals driven by the revolutions of 1848 and 1870. Other European cities have also been changed when they were trying to change the governments but hadn’t been able too

Front 63

 Haussmanizaton:

Back 63

created broad tree lined boulevards with adjacent areas of parks and squares. Goal was to impress through the transformation of the city which generated artistic and public interest in the street imagery and photos, prints and literary expressions

Front 64

 Flaneurs:

Back 64

depicted with top hats in pics which is a man who is rich but observes life with cool detachment

Front 65

 Broken Windows Theory (Wilson and Kelling):

Back 65

when trying to find out about crime came up with this theory that areas with physical disorder create even more disorder (if a car has a broken window, people will destroy it even more) and this is also an example of graffiti

Front 66

 Skyscraper as an Icon: WTC 9/11-

Back 66

places represent cultural values more than what they actually are

Front 67

 Tonnies:

Back 67

Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft (urban society)move from rural to urban areas. Saw gesellschaft as rational and necessary for guiding a more specialized and diverse society

Front 68

 Durkheim: Mechanical to Organic Solidarity when people move from rural area to city they have less kinship and bonds and now association with law and occupation which starts to deteriorate moral values

Back 68

Mechanical to Organic Solidarity when people move from rural area to city they have less kinship and bonds and now association with law and occupation which starts to deteriorate moral values

Front 69

 Simmel:

Back 69

recognized the negative effects of urban intensification on psychic and social life in the city which led to growing impersonality and anonymity saying urban life is materialistic and cosmopolitan which has positives that include more social tolerances and less prejudices but suppressed our spirituality and social life.