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CONTENTS
Preface xi Urban Origins 23
About the Authors xiii Mesopotamia 23
Egypt 24
Part 1 Introduction 1 The Indus Valley 24
Chapter 1 URBANIZATION AND URBAN Northern China 24
GEOGRAPHY 3 The Andes and Mesoamerica 24
Learning Outcomes 3 Internal Structure of the Earliest Cities 25
Chapter Preview 3 ◼ Urban View 2.2: Internal Structure of the Earliest Cities 25
The Study of Urban Geography 4 Urban Expansion from the Regions of Urban Origin 27
◼ Urban View 1.1: The Art of Taking Back a Neighborhood: ◼ Urban View 2.3: The Silk Road: Long-Distance Trade
The Heidelberg Project 4 and Urban Expansion 28
Space, Territoriality, Distance, and Place 5 The Roots of European Urban Expansion 29
Approaches to Urban Geography 6 Greek Cities 29
◼ Urban View 1.2: Census Definitions 8 Roman Cities 30
Urbanization: Processes and Outcomes 9 Dark Ages 31
Economic Change 9 Urban Revival in Europe during
Demographic Change 11 the Medieval Period 33
◼ Urban View 1.3: Globalization and Cities 12 ◼ Urban View 2.4: Hanseatic League Cities 38
Political Change 12 Urban Expansion and Consolidation during the
Cultural Change 13 Renaissance and Baroque Periods 39
Technological Change 13 Urbanization and the Industrial Revolution 40
◼ Urban View 2.5: Manchester: Shock City of European
Environmental Change 14
Industrialization 41
Social Change 14
◼ Urban View 2.6: Residential Segregation in Mid-Nineteenth
The Plan of the Book 14 Century Glasgow, Scotland 44
FOLLOW UP: Key Terms 15 • Review Activities 15 FOLLOW UP: Key Terms 44 • Review Activities 44
v
vi Contents
The Impact of New Arrivals to the City 219 Fiscal Retrenchment and Neoliberalism 249
Intraurban Moves 219 The Privatized City 250
PRIVATOPIA 251
◼ Urban View 9.5: Neighborhood Stability in West European
Cities 219 NIMBYism, Smart Growth, and the Geopolitics of
Suburbia 251
Reasons for Moving 220
ZONING STRUGGLES 252
Understanding Household Behavior: The Decision “SMART” GROWTH 252
to Move 221
Civic Entrepreneurialism and the Politics of Image 253
Understanding Household Behavior: The Search for STRATEGIES FOR URBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 254
Alternative Places to Live 222 THE POLITICS OF PACKAGING 256
Housing Market Gatekeepers, Bias, and Perspectives on Governance, Politics, and Urban
Discrimination 223 Change 257
Real Estate Agents as Social Gatekeepers 223 The Structure of Local Power 257
Mortgage Finance Managers as Social The Role of the Local State 259
Gatekeepers 225
Patterns of Local Conflict 259
Insurance Agents as Social Gatekeepers 226
FOLLOW UP: Key Terms 260 • Review
◼ Urban View 9.6: Hoxton’s Serial Transformations 227 Activities 260
Putting it all Together: The Example of
Gentrification 228 Chapter 11 URBAN POLICY AND
FOLLOW UP: Key Terms 231 • Review Activities 231 PLANNING 263
Learning Outcomes 263
Chapter 10 THE POLITICS OF CHANGE: Chapter Preview 263
URBANIZATION AND URBAN The Roots of Urban Policy and Planning 264
GOVERNANCE 233
◼ Urban View 11.1: Competition at all Costs: Civic
Learning Outcomes 233 Entrepreneurialism Taken Too Far? 264
Chapter Preview 233 Themes and Perspectives 265
◼ Urban View 10.1: The Disneyfication of Times Square 234 The Beginning: Philanthropy and Reform 265
The History of Urban Governance 235 Early European Traditions 266
Laissez-faire and Economic Liberalism EBENEZER HOWARD AND GARDEN CITIES 266
(1790–1840) 235 PATRICK GEDDES AND SCIENTIFIC PLANNING 267
Contents ix
United States: Jacob Riis and the Tenement The Foundations of Residential Segregation 295
Commissions 269 Social Status 295
Progressive Era Reforms 269 Household Type 297
SETTLEMENT HOUSES 270
◼ Urban View 12.2: The Social Construction of Race 297
THE PARK MOVEMENT 271
THE CITY BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT 272 Ethnicity 298
The City Practical 273 Lifestyle 301
The New Deal 273 ◼ Urban View 12.3: Social Exclusion and Migrant Workers in
European Cities 303
Policy and Planning for Renewal and Growth
Interpretations of Residential Ecology 304
(1945–1973) 274
The Chicago School: Human Ecology 304
Europe: Planning For Renewal 274
CRITICISMS OF HUMAN ECOLOGY 306
◼ Urban View 11.2: The Visible Legacy of Urban Policy and FACTORIAL ECOLOGY 306
Planning in European Cities 276
◼ Urban View 12.4: Residential and Economic Structure in
The United States: Planning for Growth 277 European Cities 307
The Courts and Urban Policy in Recent Changes to the Foundations of Residential
the United States 277 Segregation 307
SCHOOL DESEGREGATION 277
New Divisions of Labor, New Household Types, and
RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS 277
New Lifestyles 309
CIVIL RIGHTS 278
NEW ROLES FOR WOMEN 310
Federal Policy Initiatives 278 ◼ Urban View 12.5: The Ethnoburb—A New Suburban Ethnic
Evangelical Bureaucrats 279 Settlement 311
Neoliberal Policy and Planning 280 NEW PATTERNS OF HOUSEHOLD FORMATION 312
THE PROPERTY RIGHTS MOVEMENT 280 INCREASED MATERIALISM AND NEW LIFESTYLES 313
◼ Urban View 11.3: Kelo v. City of New London Eminent Social Polarization and Spatial Segregation 316
Domain Lawsuit 281 The New Residential Mosaic: “Lifestyle”
◼ Urban View 11.4: Urban Regeneration in London’s Communities 318
Docklands 281 ◼ Urban View 12.7: GIS Marketing Applications Help
MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS AND CLUSTER ZONING 283 Starbucks to Brew up Better Locational
◼ Urban View 11.5: Competitive Regionalism 283 Analyses 319
Planning for Healthy and Livable Cities 284 FOLLOW UP: Key Terms 321 • Review Activities 321
Towns and cities are in constant flux. They are hives of human interplay of science and technology with economic and social
activity and crucibles of social, cultural, and political change, change, reveal important dimensions of race and gender, raise
where there is always something happening. At times, people important issues of social inequality, and point to important
and circumstances accelerate the restlessness of urban change, lessons for governance and policy. Most of all, of course, it can
with the result that the function, form, and appearance of cities help us to understand, analyze, and interpret the landscapes,
are transformed. Such was the case over a hundred years ago, economies, and communities of cities and metropolitan areas
when a combination of economic, social, and technological around the world.
changes were turning cities in Europe and the United States
inside out and upside down, forging, in the process, the physi-
NEW TO THE THIRD EDITION
cal, economic, and political framework for the evolution of the
“modern” city. The third edition of Urbanization: An Introduction to Urban
We are currently living through another phase of trans- Geography represents a thorough revision based on a number
formation, this time involving global processes of economic, of substantive changes.
cultural, and political change. Within the cities of countries like
• This edition has been shortened considerably, from 18 to
the United States, the classic mosaic of central city neighbor-
15 chapters. The organization of the book has been
hoods has become blurred as cleavages among people based on
fundamentally reworked to improve the structure and
income, race, and family status have been fragmented by new
flow of the material. The 15 chapters in this new edition are
lifestyle and cultural preferences. The long-standing distinction
arranged into different sections where they fit seamlessly
between central cities and suburbs has become less and less
together: Section I, Introduction; Section II, Foundations
straightforward as economic reorganization has brought about
and History of Urbanization; Section III, Urbanization in
a selective recentralization of some commercial and residential
the Less Developed Countries; Section IV, Processes of
land uses in tandem with a selective decentralization of much
Urban Change; and Section V, People and Places.
commerce and industry. Outlying centers big enough to be
• The content of some chapters has been substantially
called “edge cities” and “boomburbs” have appeared, as if from
reorganized. Chapters 3 and 5 from the previous edition
nowhere.
(The Foundations of the American Urban System; The
Meanwhile, cities in less developed countries have grown at
Foundations of Urban Form and Land Use) are now
unprecedented rates, with distinctive processes of urbanization
combined into one chapter on the processes and out-
creating new patterns of land use and posing new sets of prob-
comes in the evolution of the U.S. urban system up to
lems for urban residents. A pressing problem today for the
1945. Chapters 4 and 6 from the previous edition (Urban
people in many less developed countries is a process of over-
Systems in Transition; Changing Metropolitan Form) are
urbanization in which cities are growing more rapidly than
also now combined to cover the urban processes and out-
the jobs and housing that they can sustain. There has been a
comes since 1945 in the United States, Canada, Europe,
“quartering” of cities into spatially partitioned, compartmen-
Australia, and Japan. Chapter 18, “Urban Futures,” from
talized residential enclaves. Luxury homes and apartment
the previous edition has been removed and instead partly
complexes correspond with an often dynamic formal sector of
incorporated into other chapters.
the economy that offers well-paid jobs and opportunities for
• There is new material, with more non-U.S. examples,
some people; these contrast sharply with the slums and squatter
about important urban issues such as the global financial
settlements of people working in the informal sector—in jobs
meltdown and its impact on urban residents, including
not regulated by the state—who are disadvantaged by a lack of
discussion of foreclosures and homeless students, as well
formal education and training and the often rigid divisions of
as the aftermath for the people in cities hit by the massive
labor shaped by gender, race, and ethnicity.
earthquakes in Haiti and Japan.
• There are many new “Urban View” essays that capture
not only the vitality, experiences, and achievements of
URBAN GEOGRAPHY
ordinary people in cities, but also address the problems
Urban geography allows us to address these trends, to relate that they struggle to overcome every day. This edition
them to our own individual lives and concerns, and to spec- includes 29 new essays.
ulate on how they play a role in other fields of study such as • New or expanded chapter topics include globalization,
economics, history, sociology, and planning. The study of neoliberalism, overurbanization and megacities, “starchi-
urban geography can help us better understand the market- tecture” and world cities, the U.S. Hope VI and the Choice
place and appreciate the interdependencies involved in local, Neighborhood programs, gentrification, gender discrimi-
national, and international economic development. It can nation, environmental problems including brownfields
provide us with an appreciation of history and the relation- and greyfields, sustainable urban development, smart
ships among art, economics, and society. It can illuminate the growth, and green urbanism.
xi
xii Preface
• Also new to this edition are Learning Outcomes at the In this way, we can appreciate the logic of particular theories
beginning of each chapter, which list key knowledge that and their relevance to particular circumstances. In writing this
students should have acquired after reading the chapter. book, we have aimed at providing a coherent and comprehen-
• The content of end-of-chapter Follow Up Activities sive introduction to urban geography that offers a historical and
(with new subsections titled “Key Terms” and “Review process-oriented approach with a U.S. focus that also provides a
Activities”) has been completely revised for each chapter global context and comparative international perspectives.
to reflect the updated material in the book.
• The third edition of the book also incorporates a
comprehensive updating of all the data, as well as many ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
of the maps, photographs, and illustrations, in addition We are grateful to many individuals for their help in form-
to the glossary. ing and testing our ideas. Our gratitude is wide and deep, and
• A second color has been added throughout the text, we take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of
enhancing the readability and the pedagogical value of Brian Berry, University of Texas at Dallas; Martin Cadwallader,
the maps and other art. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Bill Clark, University of
• Finally, the new premium website for Urbanization: California, Los Angeles; Ron Johnston, University of Bristol;
An Introduction to Urban Geography, found at Peter Taylor, Loughborough University; Anne Bonds and
www.mygeoscienceplace.com, now includes self-study Judith Kenny at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and
quizzes, MapMaster layered thematic and place name at the University of Minnesota, Helga Leitner, and Roger Miller
interactive maps, Urban View Google Earth tours, ™ who is missed terribly.
key resources and suggested further readings, related We would like to acknowledge the content and accuracy
helpful websites, “In the News” RSS feeds, and addi- reviewers and the contributors of content to this edition: Kevin
tional references and resources. Archer, University of South Florida; Piper Gaubatz, University
of Massachusetts; Dennis Grammenos, Northeastern Illinois
University; Donald Lyons, University of North Texas; Nina
OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH
Martin, University of North Carolina; Sara Metcalf, State
In this book we attempt to capture the changes in the nature University of New York: Buffalo; Lawrence F. Mitchell,
and outcomes of urbanization processes for people, as well as Northern Kentucky University; Murray Rice, University of
the development of new ways of thinking about urban geogra- North Texas; Derek Shanahan, Millersville University.
phy. A dynamic approach to the study of urban geography is We have also been fortunate in being able to call on the
the most distinctive feature of the book: unraveling the inter- talents and energies of Jonathan Burkham in searching for
locking processes of urbanization to present a vivid and mean- material, and Jenna Gray at PreMediaGlobal and Ed Thomas
ingful explanation of constantly changing urban geographies at Pearson in preparing the book for publication. Caroline
and urban life. An important advantage of such an approach Commins has meticulously researched the photographs for the
is that it provides a framework capable of capturing recent book. Anton Yakovlev at Pearson provided a constant source of
changes while addressing much of the “traditional” subject advice, enthusiasm, encouragement, and support.
matter of urban geography. The dynamic approach also allows
Paul L. Knox
for the integration of theory with fact. In this book, key concepts
and theories are presented in relation to prior events and ideas. Linda McCarthy
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Paul Knox received his PhD in Linda McCarthy received her PhD
Geography from the University in Geography from the University
of Sheffield, England. After of Minnesota, USA, and her BA
teaching in the United Kingdom from University College, Dublin.
for several years, he moved to the She is an Associate Professor in
United States to take a position the Department of Geography
as professor of urban affairs and the Urban Studies Program
and planning at Virginia Tech. at the University of Wisconsin-
His teaching centers on urban Milwaukee. She is also a certified
and regional development, with planner. Her teaching centers
an emphasis on comparative on cities and globalization. Her
study. He serves on the editorial research focuses on urban and
board of several scientific journals regional economic development
and is the author or co-author of and planning in the United States,
numerous books, including Europe, and China. Her recent
Small Town Sustainability (Birkhauser), Metroburbia USA academic journal articles have been on regional cooperation
(Rutgers University Press), Cities and Design (Routledge), instead of wasteful competition for corporate investment;
and The Geography of the World Economy (Hodder) as well government subsidies for automobile plants; environmental
as Pearson’s Human Geography and World Regions in Global justice and brownfield redevelopment; and the globalization
Context: Places and Regions in Global Context. In 2008 he of the economy. Linda is the co-author of another book, The
received the Distinguished Scholarship Award from the Geography of the World Economy (Hodder), with Paul Knox
Association of American Geographers. He is currently a and John Agnew.
University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, where he
also serves as Senior Fellow for International Advancement.
xiii
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PART
1
Introduction
1
Chapter
1
Urbanization
and Urban Geography
T
his book introduces urban geography by focusing on the processes and outcomes of urbanization
that are so important for the people who live in cities. Cities are products of many forces. They are
engines of economic development and centers of cultural innovation, social transformation, and politi-
cal change. At the same time, urban areas vary in everything from employment opportunities for job seekers
to patterns of land use in neighborhoods, racial composition in metropolitan regions, and social behavior in
urban society. Given the considerable range of issues that urban geography encompasses, we need to try to
develop a consistency in our approach. Understanding theories about cities and the way they change—rather
than simply listing their various attributes—will help to ensure that we maintain a consistency and will give us
greater insight into the way cities work. Although we will sometimes need to look closely at specific people and
events, our goal is to focus on understanding how to read the economic, social, and political “blueprints” that
give shape and character to various kinds of cities and urban life. By “generalizing” in this way, we will have a
more immediate and richer understanding of each new aspect of urbanization that we encounter.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
CHAPTER PREVIEW
The fundamental task of the student of urban geography is to make sense of the ways that towns and cities have
changed and are changing, with particular reference to the differences both between urban places and within
them. As a student, you will understandably find yourself asking some fundamental questions. What exactly
is urban geography, and how does it relate to other aspects of geography and to other social science subjects?
What is involved in urbanization, and what outcomes of urbanization that affect people are important in
studying urban geography? This first chapter answers those questions and introduces some of the organizing
principles and concepts that recur throughout the book.
First, we address the question of urban geography as a subject for academic study, emphasizing the impor-
tance of concepts of space, territoriality, distance, and place that influence everyone in cities. We then review the
various approaches that have been taken to the study of cities from a geographical perspective. We will see that
Cities are hives of human activity and crucibles of social, cultural, and political change, where there is always something
happening. Urban geography can help us to understand, analyze, and interpret urban landscapes such as in this photo-
graph of Woodruff Park and the people enjoying a wonderful view of the downtown skyline of Atlanta, Georgia.
3
4 Urbanization: An Introduction to Urban Geography
they are all encompassed by the overall framework for study that THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY
is adopted in this book: a framework that allows us to deal with
Like other aspects of human geography, urban geography is
various aspects of urban geography in terms of their relationship
concerned with “local variability within a general context.”1
to urbanization as a process.
This means that it is concerned with understanding both
The second half of the chapter addresses this question of
the distinctiveness of individual places (at the scale of towns
urbanization as a process. Here we see how urban geographies
and cities or particular neighborhoods) and the regularities
and urban change associated with every aspect of people’s lives
within and between urban areas in terms of the spatial rela-
are the result (and sometimes the cause) of long-term changes
tionships between people and their environment (see Urban
in economic development and in the interrelated dynamics
View 1.1 entitled “The Art of Taking Back a Neighborhood:
of technological, demographic, political, social, cultural, and
The Heidelberg Project”). We should immediately note that
environmental change. Because these changes are being framed
environment here includes not only the natural physical
increasingly at the global scale, our framework for studying urban
environment but also the built environment (everything from
geography also views urbanization from a global perspective
homes, factories, offices, and schools to roads and bridges), the
involving people and cities from all over the world. Finally, we
economic environment (economic institutions, the structure
look ahead to the contents and organization of the rest of the book.
Multicolored polka dots decorating one house, a boat filled with an alternative vision to young children in one of America’s
stuffed toy animals nearby, and a vacant lot with rows of car most blighted urban areas; it broadens community aware-
hoods painted with faces (Figure 1.1). The Dotty Wotty House, ness of the power of art; and it brings a new sense of
Noah’s Ark, and Faces in the Hood are just some of the guerrilla important social realities to the consciousness of visitors.
art installations on Heidelberg Street in Detroit by Tyree Guyton,
a trained artist, whose philosophy is:
I believe that my job as an artist is to help people to see! I
wanted to use my talents to bring about positive change
in my community . . . I use art as a catalyst for social
change. I chose to start right here in my own neighbor-
hood and yet I realized that the first change had to start
with me. Changing my mind and seeing with my eye of
understanding helped to eradicate my fears and limita-
tions. Social change must start with self and then you can
change the entire world around you.
And you cannot help notice the change immediately as
you arrive at Heidelberg Street, having passed city block after
city block with as many vacant lots as houses, uncut grass and
invading weeds, and trash littering the crumbling sidewalks.
For the urban geographer, this is an unforgettable example of
“local variability within a general context.” The distinctiveness of
the Heidelberg Project reflects the kind of local variability that is
possible in a particular city despite the general context of urban
decline due to regularly repeated stories of deindustrialization,
suburbanization, and poverty in Rustbelt cities like Detroit.
What started with decorating Tyree Guyton’s grandfather’s
house with polka dots 25 years ago has become the nonprofit
Heidelberg Project, which attracts 275,000 visitors of all ages
each year. But it has not only changed former crack houses and
abandoned homes into art that explodes with bright paint and
discarded items, it has also helped keep the street free of trash
and crime, create a strong sense of community, and provide
educational opportunities for neighborhood children to experience
the transformative potential of art.
The Heidelberg Project’s social importance was recognized FIGURE 1.1 An abandoned house is covered with discarded toy
with a 2004 Places Award by the Environmental Design Research stuffed animals to become art as part of the Heidelberg Project in
Association (EDRA): Detroit that has also helped to keep this street free of trash and
crime, create a strong sense of community, and provide educational
Clearly this work is not only about what you see. It’s about opportunities for neighborhood children to experience the
the dialogue it engenders . . . The Heidelberg Project offers transformative potential of art.
Chapter 1 • Urbanization and Urban Geography 5
and organization of economic life, and so on), and the social a medium in which economic, social, political, and histori-
environment (including norms of behavior, social attitudes, and cal processes are expressed. It is also a factor that influences
cultural and political values that shape interpersonal relations patterns of urban development and the nature of the relation-
among people). ships between different social groups within cities. From this
For urban geographers some of the most important ques- perspective, cities are simultaneously the products and the
tions therefore include the following: What attributes make shapers of economic, social, and political change. Partitioning
cities and neighborhoods distinctive? How did these distinctive space through the establishment of legal boundaries is also
identities evolve? Are there significant regularities in the spatial important because it affects the dynamics of cities in several
arrangement of towns and cities across a country or region of the ways. For example, the establishment of municipal boundaries
world? Are there significant regularities in the spatial organiza- restricts a city’s capacity to raise revenue to its own territory,
tion of land use within cities and in the spatial patterns of people while electoral boundaries affect where people vote and the
in neighborhoods by social status, household type, or race? The outcome of local elections and politics.
urban geographer will also need to know about the causes of any Territoriality is the tendency for particular groups within
regularities that do exist. How, for example, do people choose society—ethnic groups, gangs, gated communities—to attempt
where to live and what are the constraints on their choices? to establish some form of control, dominance, or exclusivity
How do people’s areas of residence affect their behavior? What within a localized area. Group territoriality depends primar-
groups, if any, can manipulate the spatial organization of towns ily on the logic of using space as a focus and symbol of group
and cities? And who profits from such manipulation? membership and identity as a means of regulating social inter-
In posing these questions, urban geographers have learned action. It is important for the geographer because it is often the
that the answers are ultimately to be found in the wider context of basis for individual and group behavior that creates distinctive
economic, social, and political life. Cities must be viewed as part spatial settings within cities. These spatial settings in turn mold
of the economies and societies that maintain them. The study of the attitudes and behavior of the people living in cities.
cities cannot be undertaken in isolation from the study of history, Distance is important for several reasons. It affects the
economic development, sociocultural change, or the increasing behavior of both producers and consumers of all goods and
interdependence of places within the world economy. A proper services. It influences patterns of social interaction and the
understanding of cities requires an interdisciplinary approach. The shape and extent of social networks. Variations in people’s
traditional focus of geography—the interrelationships between physical accessibility to opportunities and to amenities such
people and their physical and social environments—requires as jobs, schools, stores, parks, and hospitals are important in
geographers to draw on the work of researchers in those related determining the local quality of life.
disciplines. Accordingly, the chapters you are about to read will be Finally, place is important because of the geographer’s
peppered with references to the work of economists, sociologists, traditional and fundamental concern with areal differen-
political scientists, historians, city planners, and even artists. tiation and the distinctiveness of regions and localities. The
distinctiveness of particular metropolitan regions, cities,
districts, and neighborhoods is central to the analytical heart
Space, Territoriality, Distance, and Place
of urban geography: mapping variability, identifying regu-
Urban geography is a coherent and distinctive framework larities in spatial patterns, and establishing the linkages that
of study through the central themes of space, territoriality, constitute functional regions and subareas. In addition, the
distance, and place. For the geographer, space is not simply sense of place (Figure 1.2) that people associate with certain
cities and localities is important, because it can influence their Finally, changes in cities themselves and in the nature
decisions: where to live, where to locate an office or a factory, of urbanization have also contributed to the evolution of
whether to hire someone from a particular place, or whether approaches to urban geography. As we have become aware
to walk alone through a certain part of town, for example. of changes in cities and have looked more closely at those
changes, new topics for study have emerged. A good example
is the increased interest that geographers have taken in com-
Approaches to Urban Geography
munity well-being after the cuts to many public services in
Urban geography has evolved to encompass a variety of approaches richer countries like the United States that have hit some
to its subject matter. This is the result of a more general intellectual poorer and older people very hard over the past couple of
evolution of ideas in the social sciences. For example, a widespread decades. An equally striking, more recent example is the interest
“quantitative revolution” has occurred both in urban geography by geographers in the link between local housing markets and
and in the social sciences as a whole. Two developments spurred international finance after the financial meltdown of 2008–09
this revolution. Large quantities of reliable socioeconomic data and the personal misfortunes of families losing their homes
about cities and city neighborhoods became available from sources due to foreclosure.
such as the censuses of population and housing in many countries. The details of the evolution of urban geography as an
At the same time, tools to analyze and shape this information were academic subject are beyond the scope of this book. It is
becoming widely available in the wake of new digital technolo- important, however, to establish a few central points about
gies and geographic information systems (GIS). Modern analyti- that evolution. Several decades ago, work in urban geography
cal and modeling techniques have made a decisive contribution to (or “settlement geography,” as it was more commonly known)
the social sciences. They have allowed the urban geographer to see saw towns and cities as adaptations to natural physical cir-
farther, with more clarity, and have provided the means by which cumstances. Attributes of urban settlements were interpreted
to judge theories about urbanization. as responses to local sites, regional resources, and the opportu-
Like other fields, urban geography has also been influenced by nities and constraints surrounding them. So, for example, the
changing social values. As each society’s comprehension of urban growth of Pittsburgh as a steel town can be interpreted spatially,
problems has grown, attitudes toward research in urban geogra- from this perspective, in terms of the availability of local sources
phy have become more flexible. Much of the research undertaken of coal, iron ore, limestone, and water, along with proximity to
today in urban geography has relevance far beyond the ivory large markets for iron and steel products that benefited local
towers of academia and involves a more active engagement with businesspeople and workers.
the needs and concerns of local communities, private companies, Another body of work within this spatial description
and government. Urban geographers are likely to be consulted on approach that dominated the early development of the subject
issues that range, for example, from optimal political redistricting was focused on the “morphology” of towns and cities—their
(redrawing the boundaries of local voting districts) to the evalu- physical form, their plan, and their various townscapes and
ation of government policies aimed at enhancing local economic “functional areas” (that is, districts with a distinctive mixture of
development in distressed central city neighborhoods. interrelated land uses). Keeping with the example of Pittsburgh,
these studies would likely have emphasized the influence of the people’s feelings about steelworkers’ neighborhoods affect their
city’s hilly topography on the layout of its streets and neigh- decisions about where to live in Pittsburgh? Like the behavioral
borhoods, and perhaps shown how urban growth and land approach, though, the humanistic approach has been criticized
use were “fixed” by the limited amounts of flat land (along the for not paying enough attention to the constraints on people’s
Monongahela River) that the captains of industry at the time decision making and behavior.
saw as suitable for large ironworks. As a result, another approach, generally referred to as
Gradually, scientific principles influenced attitudes toward the structuralist approach, gained momentum within urban
knowledge, and both settlement and morphology studies fell out geography. This approach is cast, in contrast to the behavioral
of favor. In their place there emerged a spatial analysis approach and humanistic approaches, at the scale of macroeconomic,
based on the philosophy and methodology of positivism that macrosocial, and macropolitical changes. It focuses on the
had been developed in the natural sciences. This philosophy was implications of such changes for urbanization and on the
founded on the principle of verification of facts and relation- opportunities and constraints they present for the behavior and
ships through accepted scientific methods. The rise of positivism decision making of different groups of people. At its broadest
affected all of geography and most of the social sciences, and the level, this approach draws on a combination of macroeconomic
“quantitative revolution” reinforced it. Its practitioners came to theory, social theory, and the theories and concepts of politi-
redefine urban geography as the science of urban spatial orga- cal science, and includes the political economy approach. For
nization and spatial relationships, and, as a science, it focused example, a political economy approach to Pittsburgh’s urban
on the construction of testable models and hypotheses. One geography would certainly want to relate the patterns of growth
example of the many possible positivistic approaches to aspects and decline of both steel mills and their associated blue-collar
of Pittsburgh’s urban geography would be an attempt to quantify neighborhoods to the broader structure of, among other things,
the relationship between neighborhood social status and prox- access to capital by businesses for investment in industry, the
imity to steel mills. The hypothesis might be that neighborhood availability of skilled labor, the framework of government
social status tends to increase steadily with distance from a steel policies affecting industrial and residential development, and
mill. If this were demonstrated with verifiable evidence, the next deindustrialization associated with corporate restructuring
step might be to begin to develop a theory by replicating the within the global economy.
study in other industrial cities. The structuralist analyses of the structure of social inequality
This more abstract approach has contributed a great deal to paved the way for explicitly incorporating the experience of
our understanding of cities, and it continues to be a mainstay of women into urban geography. The feminist approach deals
urban studies. But sometimes its abstractions and overdepen- with the inequalities between men and women, and the way
dence on statistical data can seem flat and lifeless in the face of in which unequal gender relations are reflected in the spatial
the urban realities of people’s lives to which they are applied. structure of cities. For Pittsburgh, the feminist approach might
The abstractions tend to leave unanswered many of the impor- be interested in examining changing gender roles as the urban
tant questions concerning underlying processes and meanings. labor force has restructured following the closing of the steel
So, although it might be useful to be able to use census tract mills, such as the trend for some women in two-earner house-
data to establish and quantify a tendency for neighborhood holds to be overrepresented in certain fast-growing part-time
social status to increase with distance from an industrial plant, occupations.
we are left without any sense of how the relationship came The structure-agency approach was an attempt to unite
about: Who made what decisions, and why, in the process of the structuralist approach’s concern with macrolevel social,
establishing the relationship? How might any exceptions to the economic, and political structures with the humanistic
overall relationship be explained? approach’s emphasis on human agency. Structuration theory
In response to such questions, a behavioral approach sees society’s social structures as created and recreated by the
emerged. This approach focuses on the study of individual social practices of human agents, whose actions are themselves
people’s activities and decision making in urban environments. constrained by these social structures. As a result, it is impossible
Although the behavioral approach continued to use a positivist to predict the exact outcome of the interactions between social
methodology, explanatory concepts and analytical techniques structure and human agency. Despite the elegance of this theo-
were also derived from social psychology and some key ideas rization, empirical investigation has proved difficult because it
came from social philosophy, with its insights into human is not easy to analyze the continuous and complex interrelation-
needs and impulses. ships between structure and agency. A study of Pittsburgh might
The behavioral approach’s relative neglect of the impor- involve questions about how the gentrification of some central
tance of cultural context for understanding people’s actions city neighborhoods is the result of an intricate set of interactions
and the meanings attached to those actions led to the emer- between human agents, including landowners, mortgage lend-
gence of the humanistic approach. The behavioral approach’s ers, planners, and realtors; institutions such as the city govern-
positivist methodology was replaced by methods, such as ment; and social structures involving planning regulations such
ethnography and participant observation, that attempted to as land use zoning and building codes.
answer questions that capture people’s subjective experiences. Finally, the influence of literary theory has led to the
For Pittsburgh, what kind of meaning does the presence of a emergence of poststructuralist approaches, including the post-
steel mill carry for different individuals within the city? How do modern approach. The postmodern approach strongly opposes
8 Urbanization: An Introduction to Urban Geography
the idea that any general theories can explain cities and the the city (that may not reflect reality) that, in turn, are designed
people who live in them. Instead, it accepts the shifting and to influence the views and decisions of potential investors and
unstable nature of the world and concentrates on questions of residents.
who defines meaning, how this meaning is defined, and to what For the most part, all these approaches can be regarded as
end. It is concerned with understanding the power of symbol- potentially complementary. Although it is neither possible nor
ism, images, and representation as expressed in language, com- desirable to merge them into some kind of all-encompassing
munication, and the urban landscape. Again, using the example model or theory of urbanization, it is possible to gain insights
of Pittsburgh, a postmodern approach would likely examine from each. To that extent, all these approaches are represented
the city government’s attempts to “reinvent” the city within in this book (with classic examples pointed out). This does not
the global economy as it restructures away from steel and toward mean, however, that the reader will be faced with sudden or
jobs in the high-tech and services industries. This approach unexpected shifts. The material in this book is organized to
would draw attention to the city government’s use of language emphasize urban geography as the outcome of urbanization as
and communication to deliberately construct certain images of a process.
Just what is meant by an “urban” settlement varies a good deal 10 census blocks. A block group consists of all blocks
from one country to another. For the Bureau of the Census in the whose numbers begin with the same digit in a census
United States, the term urban applies to the territory, people, and tract. Block groups generally contain between 300 and
housing units located within urbanized areas and urban clusters.3 3,000 people. Block groups are important because they
are the smallest geographical area for which detailed data
• An urbanized area (UA) is a densely settled area (whether
are tabulated.
or not the territory is legally incorporated as a city) with at
• Census blocks. Census blocks generally correspond to the
least 50,000 people and a density of at least 1,000 people
physical configuration of city blocks and are bounded by
per square mile at the urban core and at least 500 people per
streets or other prominent physical features. They are the
square mile in the surrounding territory.
smallest statistical unit for which census data are available,
• An urban cluster (UC) consists of an urban core with a
although the range of data is not detailed, being limited to
population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile
basic population and housing characteristics.
and at least 500 people per square mile in the surrounding
territory that together encompass a population of at least In preparing the 1990 census, the U.S. Bureau of the Census
2,500 people, but fewer than 50,000 people. developed an electronic database called the Topologically
Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER)
Because such definitions of urbanized depend on administra-
system. TIGER files contain address ranges, latitude and lon-
tive boundaries, they do not capture the concentrations of people
gitude coordinates, and the location of roads, railways, rivers,
that live in a number of contiguous jurisdictions that form one
and other physical features. They can be linked with small-area
continuous metropolitan sprawl. The U.S. Bureau of the Census
census data to form the basis of sophisticated Geographic
began to use standardized definitions of metropolitan areas in
Information System (GIS) applications that offer a great deal of
the 1950 census under the designation of standard metropoli-
potential for research in urban geography. GIS—organized col-
tan area (SMA). The term was changed to standard metropolitan
lections of computer hardware, software, and geographic data
statistical area (SMSA) by the 1960 census and to metropolitan
that are designed to capture, store, update, manipulate, and
statistical area (MSA) in 1983.
map geographically referenced information—has grown rapidly
Within urban areas, detailed census information is available
to become an important method of urban geographic analysis.
by census tracts, block groups, and census blocks:
GIS technology allows an enormous range of urban problems
• Census tracts. These geographical subareas have bound- to be analyzed. For instance, it can be used to identify the most
aries that were drawn with the objective of delineating efficient evacuation routes for people from all or part of a city
small populations that are relatively uniform in terms of in the event of a terrorist attack, to monitor the spread of infec-
their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. They tious diseases within and between cities, to analyze the impact
vary a good deal in territorial extent and population size, of proposed changes in the boundaries of legislative districts,
although tracts within metropolitan areas contain between to identify potential customers in the vicinity of a new business,
1,000 and 8,000 people. As metropolitan America has and to provide a basis for urban and regional planning.
grown, so has the number of census tracts recognized The changing realities of urbanization present a continual
by the Census Bureau. The boundaries of many longer- challenge to the census in delineating geographic units that
established census tracts have remained the same over reflect actual patterns of urban and metropolitan change. So
several decades, making it possible to use census data to census tabulations include data not only for MSAs but also
analyze neighborhood change in certain areas. Elsewhere, metropolitan areas (MAs), for primary metropolitan statisti-
however, modifications to tract boundaries and the addition cal areas (PMSAs), consolidated metropolitan statistical areas
of new tracts make intercensal comparison difficult. (CMSAs) and core based statistical areas (CBSAs), each designed
• Block groups. Every census tract is divided into as many to provide a standardized framework for comparisons and analy-
as 9 block groups, each of which contains an average of sis at different spatial scales.
Another random document with
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vielä varjossa harjun kupeella. Kylältä ei vielä kuulunut minkäänlaisia
ääniä, mutta kosken pauhu kuului hauskana kohinana tyynen aamun
hiljaa heräävästä povesta.
»Minä olen nyt niin onnellinen, ja minun on nyt niin hyvä olla…
sillä minä tiedän, että nyt ymmärrät, miksi minä kesäöitä rakastan…
Voi, usein viime kesänä ajattelin: Jospa Martti kerran vielä Pohjolaan
palajaa… silloin hänelle sanon: Kesäyö on ihanin kaikista… Ja
kauas vieraalle maalle rukoilevan rukoukseni lähetin, sinun luoksesi,
että Pohjolaasi muistaisit…»
Ison kuistin ovet olivat auki. Rovasti oli piippuineen tullut kuistille
keinumaan, niinkuin hänen tapansa oli aina ollut. Nouseva
aamuaurinko sopi siihen paistamaan, ja siinä oli hauska keinua, kun
ilmassa oli alkavan kesän lemua, joka kuistinkin täytti, ja huvikseen
katsella pääskysten lentoa halki päiväpaisteisen pihamaan.
Martti ei ollut vielä yhtään kertaa sittenkun kotia saapui ollut niin
pirteällä tuulella, eikä Annasta ollut semmoinen ilo koskaan loistanut
kuin nyt.
»Juuri tämä aika on kaikkein ihanin täällä Pohjolassa», sanoi
Martti. »Mikä ihmeellinen yö oli! Niitä värivivahduksia! Niitä taivaan
selittämättömiä valoja… Nyt minä ymmärrän, miksi isä ei koskaan
ole täältä etelään ikävöinyt… Tämmöisenä yönä ei saisi kukaan
nukkua… eikä yön ihanuutta näkemättä antaa sen livahtaa
menemään…»
— Enkö sitä ole sanonut! Nuo kaksi kuuluvat toisilleen nyt, niinkuin
ennenkin.
9.
Annan päiväkirjasta.
Valoisa kesäyö!
Mutta en voi sitä uskoa. Siitä asti olen sitä epäillyt, kun
kesäkartanolta palasimme. Mikä äärettömän ihana yö se olikaan!
Siitä kirjoitan vielä joskus eri luvun tähän päiväkirjaani. Kuinka
ihmeellistä se olikaan. Pelkäsin ja vapisin! Voi jos hän olisi
aavistanut, kuinka lähellä oli, etten tarttunut hänen kaulaansa…!
*****
*****
Mutta Martti hymyili vain. Jospa hän olisi aavistanut, kuinka hänen
puoltaan pidin! Noin hän oli, valkoisine paidanhihoineen, ihmeen
kodikas ja mieluinen.
Ja Martti itse?
*****
Nyt ei hän enää epäile Martin kykyä, eikä pidä hänen tointansa
joutavana.
*****
Toin hänen terveisensä, ettei hän vielä malttanut tulla, hän tahtoi
nauttia ja imeä kaikki, mitä kesäyö tarjosi.
»Olkoon sitten», virkkoi ruustinna, mutta kun hän näki, että rovasti
hyväksyi Martin hommat, tuli hänkin paremmalle tuulelle ja sanoi:
»Minkävuoksi hänestä nyt on tullut semmoinen kummallinen,
härkäpäinen olento… ja lapsena oli niin herttainen ja kuuliainen…»
Rovasti sanoi:
Voi että näkisin eteenpäin! Ei. Parempi on, etten mitään tiedä.
10.
Anna selitti, missä olet, että maalaat jotakin uutta taulua lähellä
olevassa torpassa. Katoamisestasi erämaahan ei täällä silloin
kukaan tiennyt — ei Annakaan.
-Missä hän täällä kotona maalaa? Hän on kertonut suuresta
taulusta, jonka aihe on keväisestä kiveliöstä?»
Hyvä olikin, että meni. Nyt sain rauhassa katsella tauluasi… Ilo ja
riemu ja ylpeys täytti sydämeni, sillä minä näen nyt vasta, että olet
todellinen taiteilija. Pitkään aikaan en voinut irroittaa katsettani siitä,
niin huikaisevan kaunis se oli suurine valkopäisine kukkuloineen,
jotka kuvastuivat tummansinervää taivasta vastaan…
*****