Different approaches in Urban Geography

Introduction:

Urban geography as a discipline evolved in the twentieth century. Over the time it has
developed into a well-established discipline which deals with the study of urban settlements
within the framework of their geographical setting.

Dickinson (1901) defines urban geography as the study of a city directing the neighbouring
region. He describes that the city behaves like a king in its hinterland.

Different approaches in Urban Geography

Changing approaches in urban geography

Early approaches in Urban Geography

Site and situation

Studies from the early twentieth century were concerned primarily with the physical
characteristics as the determining factor in the location and development of settlements. This
concern has been long superseded in all but historical and some rural studies as cities have
grown in both size and complexity. Original location factors have tended to be overridden by
the scale of subsequent urbanisation or have greatly declined in importance as the form and
function of urban areas have changed.

Urban morphology

This was an important root of urban geography. It developed particularly strongly in German
universities in the early twentieth century. It was primarily a descriptive approach that sought
to understand urban development through examination of the phases of growth of urban areas.
Using evidence from buildings and the size of building plots, it aimed to classify urban areas
according to their phases of growth. While this approach came in for some heavy criticism in
the 1950s and 1960s as more scientific approaches came to dominate the subject and the social
sciences generally, it made something of a limited comeback in the 1980s. Recent work has
concentrated on the roles of architects, planners and other urban managers in the production of
the form and design of urban areas (see for example Whitehand and Larkham 1992).

Modern approaches
Modern approaches in Urban Geography

The two approaches outlined above were associated primarily with the infancy of urban
geography. A greater diversity and maturity were evident in the approaches that came to
dominate in the post-1950 period. Choice and constraint are a dominant theme of urban
geography in the post-1950 period.

Positivist approaches

Although the positive philosophy dates back to the 1820s it significantly influenced urban
geography only from the 1950s. This reflected the impact of scientific approaches upon the
social sciences generally and the increasing capacities of computers allowing the manipulation
of ever more complex statistical data-sets.

The positive philosophy is based upon the belief that human behaviour is determined by
universal laws and displays fundamental regularities. The aim of positive approaches was to
uncover these universal laws and the ways in which they produce observable geographical
patterns. Positive approaches can be subdivided into two types – ecological approaches and
neo-classical approaches.

A. Ecological approaches were based upon the belief that human behaviour is
determined by ecological principles, namely that the most powerful groups,
however this was defined (usually in terms of their income), would obtain the most
advantageous position in a given space, the best residential location for example.
B. Neo-classical approaches were also based on the belief that human behaviour was
motivated primarily by one thing and was, therefore, predictable. However, they
believed that this driving force was rationality. By rationality they argued that each
decision was taken with the aim of minimising the costs involved (usually in terms
of time and money) and maximising the benefits (again time and money). This type
of behaviour was referred to as utility maximisation.

The cities produced by positive models, of both types, were of neat, regular, homogeneous
zones. Their very poor approximation to reality was the source of much of the criticism directed
at these models and reflected the overly simplistic assumptions upon which they were based
and the important factors and motivations they ignored. Their failure to recognise and account
for the idiosyncratic and subjective values that motivated much human behaviour was critiqued
by behavioural and humanistic approaches that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. These
approaches placed the question of the complexity of human motivation at the centre of their
inquiry. Positivist theories were also criticised for their failure to consider adequately the
constraints within which human decision-making took place. A body of theories and
approaches (given the umbrella title structuralist) which again emerged in the early 1970s
sought to redress this imbalance.

Behavioural and humanistic approaches

Both of these approaches developed as criticisms of the failings of the positivist approaches.
They were united in their belief that people, and the ways in which they made sense of their
environment, should be central to their approach. However, they differed considerably in the
ways in which they went about this.

Behaviouralist approaches can be regarded as an extension of positivist approaches. They

sought to expand positivism’s narrow conception of human behaviour and to articulate more
richly the values, goals and motivations underpinning human behaviour. However, despite this
they were still concerned with uncovering law-like generalisations in human behaviour.
Behavioural approaches sought to examine the ways in which behaviour was influenced by
subjective knowledge of the environment.

Humanistic approaches stemmed from a very different philosophical background. They

sought to understand the deep, subjective and very complex relationships between individuals,
groups, places and landscapes. In a radical departure from the scientific approaches of the
1950s and 1960s, the humanistic approaches brought techniques more associated with the
humanities to understand people–environment relationships. This was reflected in the sources
they utilised. These included paintings, photographs, films, poems, novels, diaries and
biographies. The influence of humanism in urban geography was limited. Most humanistic
work was conducted on rural or pre-industrial societies.

Structuralist approaches

Structuralist approaches in the social sciences generally, and in urban geography specifically,
can be recognised through their conviction that social relations and spatial relations are either
determined, or are in some way influenced, by the imperatives of capitalism as the dominant
mode of production. This has led to criticisms that such analysis has failed to adequately
account for the role of human action within these relations. Structuralist approaches have been
accused of treating humans as mere passive dupes of economic structures. Much development
in structuralist urban geography has involved the attempt to try and incorporate the ‘structural’
and the ‘human’ dimensions and thus overcome criticisms of ‘reductionism’. Structural
analysis in urban geography has largely derived from interpretations of the work of Karl Marx.

Urban sociology

The relationship between urban geography and urban sociology has traditionally been close.
The interchange of ideas dates back to the 1920s with the production of Burgess’s model of
concentric zones (Figure 1.1). This was the product of the work of the Chicago School of Urban
Sociology that later formed a bedrock of research and teaching in urban geography. Urban
sociology, like urban geography, has been far from static and has passed through a number of
theoretical developments and debates. Urban sociology has been particularly influential on the
practice of urban social geography. Some of the most influential work in urban sociology has
stemmed from a body of work referred to as neo-Weberian, reflecting the influence of the
sociologist Max Weber. This has offered a perspective on the city as a site of the regulation
and allocation of scarce resources.