who was Louis Wirth?
what did he think a City was?
Wirth was an urban sociologist at the University of Chicago in the first half of the 20th century
The city is: “A relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals.”
- Permanent settlement
- Some minimum size and density
- Transformation of social life – relationships based on utility rather than kinship
CONCENTRIC ZONE MODEL history
Emerges from the Chicago School of Sociology.
Hugely influential on 20th century urban planning.
Critiqued by many, for example Marxist scholars, who argue it ignores relationship between land and capital.
Also feminist geographers who argue it privileges a male-centric view on wagelabour and the separation of public and private space
CONCENTRIC ZONE MODEL described
circle with outer layers circling the main circle
- Loop (downtown)
- factory zone
- zone of transition
- working lass zone
- residential zone
6.commuter zone
what is urbanism often associated with
often associated with modernism and progress
“One of the most impressive facts of modern times” - Louis Wirth
opportunities of urbanization?
Rising standards of living
Higher productivity Urban sprawl
Accessibility of social services
challenges of urbanization?
Land & housing affordability
Urban sprawl
Environmental pressures (e.g. water and air quality)
who proposed the theory of urban revolution? what was his reasoning?
who was he?
Gordon Childe
He was an archaeologist who studied
European prehistory.
Childe proposed that technological innovation in agriculture enabled the emergence of cities
10 criteria of an urban revolution:
Size and population density
* Social organization based on residence rather than kin networks
- Specialization of trades
- Trade over significant distances
- The emergence of a ruling class
- System of tithes to religious and political powers
- Large-scale public works
- Writing
- Science
- Aesthetic development
definition of urbanization according to Elliot Sclar
“The transportation of social life from rural to urban settings.”
ongoing process of urbanization
- Density and number of permanent settlements increases and spreads
- Settlements become socially and ethnically differentiated
- Exchange of manufactured and cultural goods
DRIVERS OF URBAN POPULATION GROWTH AND DECLINE
Demographic change
Rural – urban migration
Economic trends
effect of democratic change on urban population growth and decline
Youth bulge: large population cohorts during periods of transition of lower mortality rates and higher birth rates
Natural population change: where births </> deaths
effect of Rural – urban migration on urban population growth and decline
Movement of (young) people from rural areas to cities, often informal settlements (“slums”)
effect of economic trends on urban population growth and decline
Advantages of agglomeration economies in cities
Concentration of human capital
Concentration of critical infrastructure
DRIVERS OF THE URBANIZATION PROCESS
- Industrialization
- Colonization
- Globalization
- Spectacular urbanism & urbanization
- Formality and informality
CONSEQUENCES OF URBANIZATION
- Urbanization in the context of sustainable development
- Cities in the Anthropocene
- Building resilient infrastructure
- Urban spaces and public health
- Identity and inclusion
- Smart cities of the future?
