Ch. 13: Urbanization

Increasing Urbanization

• 1800- 3% worlds population lives in urban areas

• 2000- 47%• 2030- 60%?

• Greater urban population in MDCS

• Greater urban growth in LDCS

• 6 out of 10 of the worlds largest cities are in LDCs. Why does that not indicate improvement?

20th century: urbanization process• 1900: – only 13 cities

worldwide > 1,000,000• 2000: – 411 metropolitan areas

> 1,000,000– 19 megacities >

10,000,000• 2015 projection: – 564 “million cities”

Social Definition of a City

According to Louis Worth:• SIZE & SOCIAL

RELATIONSHIPS: Cities are bigger than nonurban places – which means that in cities, you spend much of your time with strangers. Your relations with people you work with are often legal or contractual, not personal.

• DENSITY & SPECIALIZATION: Cities don’t just have more people than non-urban places – they have a greater density of population. Interactions with other people are constant and inescapable. And people in cities tend to specialize in their work – otherwise competition for jobs and money becomes overwhelming.

• HETEROGENEITY & FREEDOM: People in cities are far more diverse than in non-urban places – behaviors or customs, as well as members of ethnic and religious groups, that would be socially undesirable in a rural area are tolerated in cities.

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City

Legal Definition of Urban Settlement

• “an urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit.”

• Legal definitions vary from country to country – for example:– US – 2,500 persons (this goes back to the first census in

1790)– South Africa – 500 persons– India – 5,000 persons with an adult male population

predominantly in non-agricultural work.

Physical Definition

URBANIZED AREA:“The central city and the surrounding built-up suburbs … where population density exceeds 1,000 persons per square mile.”

The physical city – the visible city.

METROPOLITAN AREA:The “zone of influence” of a city; the

functional city.

Defining urbanization• MSA – metropolitan

statistical area– 50,000> major population

center/city– 100,000 if no major city

• Two types of counties in the U.S.– metropolitan, non-

metropolitan– Over 3,000 counties in the

U.S.– 350 + are MSAs

• Since 2000 the Census Bureau has used the “Core Based Statistical Area”

• A CBSA consists of one or more counties with a central city with a population of at least 10,000:– If the population is more than 50,000, it’s metropolitan.– If it’s between 10,000 and 50,000 it’s micropolitan.

There are at least 362 metropolitan, and 560 micropolitan areas in the US today.

KEY ISSUE #2

Concentric Model of Urban Development

• Oldest (1923)• Postulates a series of concentric rings of decreasing land value

surrounding the Central Business District (CBD)

CBD

Sector Model

• Pre World War II (1939)• Incorporates linear and transport corridors• Growth on periphery (“pie slices”)• Continued emphasis on CBD

Multiple Nuclei Model

• Post World War II (1945)• Multiple “centers of attraction” • Less emphasis on a single CBD

Social Area Analysis

• None of the three models is perfect – they are simplified, not “real.”

• However, the test of a model is whether or not it’s useful – can we use the three models – individually or in combination – to make predictions about cities?

• The answer is a firm “maybe” – some patterns (family size, income, ethnicity, etc.) can sometimes be predicted using the models.

Models Outside North America

• None of the three models developed for North America are very useful in other parts of the world.

• Europe– In Europe the wealthy

tend to live in or near the center of town.

– The poor tend to be concentrated in suburbs (“slum suburbs”).

US versus European cities

What is attractive about inner city living in European cities?

• People like to live near the– Shopping– Dining– Entertaining– And they like renovating

really old buildings

LDC Cities

The Precolonial City• The core was a religious

center• Government buildings and

homes of the wealthy surrounded

• Poor lived on the edge• Businesses would locate in

each of the rings depending on how high status they were

The Colonial City• Precolonial cities were

either demolished or had colonial cities built next to them.

• Features of colonial cities– Wider streets– Grid street patterns– Larger residences– More open spaces

Squatter Settlements

• Most cities in LDCs have extensive squatter settlements in and around them where recently arrived people improvise housing.

• Given enough time (and the right to live on and own their own land), squatter settlements can evolve into decent neighborhoods

KEY ISSUE 3

Why do Inner Cities Have Distinctive Problems?

Physical ProblemsA city in transition. The following pictures will depict the change in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. This first map shows the quick building of single family dwellings

• At the turn of the century, the West End once again became home to the newest waves of immigrants, particularly Russian Jews and Italians. To accommodate for this population flux, the major new building type changes from three-story, single-family houses to three to five-story apartments.

• There are even fewer single-family residences as of 1938, and just over half of the neighborhood is listed as apartments. Some structures are even noted as “vacant and out of repair” on the map, which is unprecedented in the history of the neighborhood thus far. Combined with two new settlement houses and a Salvation Army outpost, it appears as if the West End demographic trend is reaching lower and lower income levels.

• A sign of things to come, some demolition work occurs in the West End between 1938 and 1951 to make room for the huge influx of cars in the city, coinciding with the construction of the Central Artery. Large portions of West End blocks, many of which included tenements, are flattened and paved for parking lots. At this point, virtually all residences are multi-family apartments of first and second-generation Italian, Jewish, and Polish households (Gans, 9). There are only 27 single-family units still in existence, all of which are clustered near those same original 1776 blocks between Chambers and Staniford Street.

Processes of Inner City change

• Filtering – large, old single-family homes become multi-family apartments – without upgrading the facilities. Eventually, as the facilities become worse and worse, they are abandoned

Illegal processes designed to concentrate ethnicities in ghettos where services are few and it is impossible to get loans to

improve property.

“Redlining”: banks, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, insurance companies, etc. would get together and draw lines on the map that restricted where people could (and couldn’t) buy or rent.

“Blockbusting”1. Buy property in

white neighborhoods and move in other ethnicities

2. White house-owners would move out and sell homes below cost

3. Property would then be sold to blacks and other ethnicities looking to leave redlined areas

Urban Renewal

• Urban renewal involves replacing deteriorating housing with public housing.

• Public housing hasn’t worked when done in high concentrations (starting to see a move to dispersing public housing in various parts of a city).

• Gentrification – rather than tear down deteriorated housing, in some places it has been renovated – but the poor who once lived in the neighborhood can’t afford new renovated housing, and must move.

Public housing

• 1950s & 60s • Concentrated poverty• Apartments abandoned– Vandalism– High crime rates

2 miles long development28 identical 16-story buildings4321 apartmentsAll but 2 demolished in 2004

Chicago

Is Gentrification a dirty word?

Social Problems

• Underclass – Inner city residents are trapped in economic and social problems– Unemployment– Alcoholism– Drug addiction– Illiteracy– Juvenile delinquency– crime

• Poor schools• Poor housing• Lack adequate police,

fire protection• Some services are

leaving these areas for the suburbs

Lack of Job Skills

• Future is bleak – unable to compete for jobs

• Lack of education – high dropout rate, over half don’t finish high school

Homeless

• Some of the underclass are homeless• Possibly 3 million or more in the US• Why are people homeless?– Can’t afford housing or don’t have regular income

• Also, a huge problem in LDCs!

Culture of Poverty

• Unwed mothers give birth to 2/3 of babies in inner city neighborhoods….

• If your parents are poor, you are likely to be poor

• Being trapped, some turn to crime/drugs• Ethnic/racial segregation is prevalent

Economic Problems

• Lots of people (and lots of poor) = need for public services

• Can’t pay taxes to support the services

• City must choose: Raise taxes or cut services, which is better solution?

Annexation

• Process of legally adding land area to a city– Usually by vote from

majority of residents in the affected area

• Today, many oppose annexation because they don’t want to pay city taxes