Urban Theory

1
Urban Theory

• Yeah, TheoryDeal With It

2
Old School

• German School
• Ultimately Marxistrelations of capital and
  power, primary focus
• Chicago School
• More Functionalistnaturalistic, the city as a
  living organism

3
The German School

• Max Weber
• City creates conditions for social change
• That change, however, is not good
• Increasing importance of national government
  loss of local autonomy
• Tendency a threat to the very existence of
  Western cities

4
The German School

• Tonnies
• GemeinschaftCommunity
• GesellschaftSociety
• Simmel
• Urbanism Bad!
• Urban Personality Type

5
The Chicago School

• Wirth
• Urbanism as a Way of Life
• Urbanism also bad!
• Individuals in cities tend to become increasingly
  disconnected from each other
• The poor are stuck in ghettos, different culture
  than rural communities

6
The Ecological Complex

• Roughly referred to as Urban Ecology
• Macro Variables of Urban Change POET
• Population
• Organization
• Environment
• Technology

7
The Socio-Spatial Order

• Also part of urban ecology
• Three basic schema of urban development
• Concentric Zones
• Sector Theory
• Multiple Nuclei

8
Modern Political Economy

• Development oppressive to lower classes
• Adds a cultural and spatial component to Marxist
  view

9
The Social Change Perspective

• Urbanism is far-reaching and therefore
  revolutionary
• Cities are central to a societys culture
• Migrants (international or domestic) change
  behavior so that it reflects city
• In a society where urbanization takes place,
  urbanism is everywhere

10
The Culture Perspective

• Focuses upon components of culture norms,
  values, sanctions and symbols
• Heavy emphasis on subculture

11
The Social Structure Perspective

• Looking at networks of structure, which include
• The Individual
• Primary groups
• Neighborhoods and social networks
• Collective behavior
• Voluntary associations
• Bureaucracy
• Social institutions
• Social stratification

12
The Social Problem Perspective

• All modern social problems can be blamed on the
  city
• Crime
• Poverty
• Broken Families
• Unemployment
• Racial Conflict

13
The Social Policy Perspective

• How to solve urban problems
• Focus on politics, working with politicians
• Guiding change through planned intervention