Download Urbanization - Sociology of the City - Lecture Slides and more Slides Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Sociology of the City Urbanis(z)ation docsity.com Urbanis(z)ation • Louis Wirth: ‘For sociological purposes a city may be defined as a relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals’ • Castells: • 1. ‘The spatial concentration of a population on the basis of certain limits of dimension and density’ • 2. ‘The diffusion of the system of values, attitudes and behaviour called “urban culture”’. (See Castells, 2002 p. 21) docsity.com ‘The Urban Revolution’ V.Gordon.Childe • Evolutionary Model (Hunter/Gatherer – Pastoral – Urban Economy – Modernity) • Early Urbanisation: Key stage in human civilisation and ‘social basis of modern life’. • Demographic Shifts – population growth • Technology, Metallurgy, Tools and Irrigation (Ecology) • Agriculture (surplus), Trade, Specialisation • Social Stratification, Religion, Warfare – leaders (lugals), palaces, fortresses – symbiotic relationship between military expansion and trade • Writing, numbers, arts. • See Childe ‘The Urban Revolution (1950) docsity.com Early Western ‘Citizens’ • Knossos (pre-Hellenic Minoan Civilisation) - from around 2000BC - achieved writing, craftmanship and architecture comparable to Mesopotamia. • Athens – settlement since cc5000bc- from cc750BC Central Hellenic city state – Greek city states formed the cradle of subsequent Western Civilization • Notions of Citizenship conflate with religion and cosmology in the construction of Hellenic cities. • Foundations of Western Art, Architecture, Philosophy, Astronomy, Politics (Democracy) docsity.com The Imperial City • Rome – cc800BC to cc 500AD • First Urban Civilisation • cc270 BC Rome gains control of Italy and begins to build the ‘global’ Empire which spanned Europe, the Mediterranean, the Aegean and North Africa • Population of the city of Rome peaked at around 1 million • Decline of Rome – self-indulgence, fragmentation & economic failure? • Roman capitol moves to Constantinople cc 300AD docsity.com Towards the Industrial City • Agricultural Change & Increased Production • Technology • Economic Developments • Legal & Political Changes • Secular Outlook • Nation State & Imperialism • Market Development , Uneven Development, Managed Cities & ‘Collective Consumption’ (see Castells,1977) docsity.com Industrial/Capitalist Urbanisation The Expansion of Cities in the 19th Century 1800 1850 1900 London 1,000,000 2,685,000 6,500,000 Paris 500,000 1,000,000 2,700,000 Vienna 247,000 444,000 1,675,000 Berlin 172,000 419,000 1,889,000 New York 60,515 515,000 3,437,000 Chicago <1000 29,000 1,689,000 docsity.com The Modern Industrial City • Mixed Economy • Mass Consumerism • Suburbia & Urban Sprawl • Social Diversity • Uneven Development • Social Problems • Public Welfare docsity.com
