SOCIOLOGY Richard T. Schaefer

1. SOCIOLOGYRichard T. Schaefer 20 Communities and Urbanization

2. 20. Communities and Urbanization • How Did Communities Originate? • Urbanization • Types of Communities • Social Policy and Communities

3. How Did Communities Originate? • Early Communities • Dependent on the physical environment for food supply • Horticultural societies led to dramatic changes in human social organization • No longer necessary to move in search of food • Stable communities helped establish food surpluses

4. How Did Communities Originate? Table 20-1. Comparing Types of Cities Sources: Based on E. Philips 1996:132—135; Sjoberg 1960:323—328

5. Urbanization • Preindustrial Cities • Had only a few thousand people living within their borders • Characterized by relatively closed class systems and limited social mobility Status usually based on ascribed characteristics, and education was limited to elite

6. Urbanization • Preindustrial Cities • Remained small due to: • Reliance on animal power • Modest levels of surplus • Problems in transportation and storage of food • Hardships of migration to the city • Dangers of city life

7. Urbanization • Industrial and Postindustrial Cities • Industrial City: More populous and complex than predecessors • Postindustrial City: Global finance and electronic flow of information dominate the economy • Urbanism: relatively large and permanent settlement leads to distinctive patterns of behavior

8. Urbanization • Urbanization has become central aspect of life in the U.S. • During 19th and early 20th centuries, rapid urbanization occurred in European and North American cities • Since WW II, urban “explosion” hit world’s developing countries Megalopolis: metropolitan areas that spread so far that they connect with other urban centers

9. Urbanization • Functionalist View: Urban Ecology • Human Ecology: interrelationships between people and their spatial settings and physical environments • Urban Ecology: focuses on relationships as they emerge in urban areas

10. Urbanization • Multiple-nuclei theory: all urban growth does not radiate out from a central district • Functionalist View: Urban Ecology • Concentric-zone Theory: center, or nucleus, of a city is the most highly valued land and each succeeding zone surrounding the center contains other types of land which are valued differently

11. Urbanization • Conflict View: New Urban Sociology • New urban sociology: considers interplay of local, national, and worldwide forces and their effects on local space • World Systems Analysis: certain industrialized nations hold dominant position at core of global economic system

12. Urbanization Figure 20-1. Global Urbanization 3025 (projected) Sources: National Geographic Atlas of the World, 8th ed. (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society) 2005 pp. 104-105

13. Urbanization Figure 20-2. Comparison of Ecological Theories of Urban Growth Source: Harris and Ulmann 1945:13

14. Types of Communities • Central Cities • Urban Dwellers • Gans distinguishes 5 types found in cities: • cosmopolites • unmarried and childless people • ethnic villagers • the deprived • the trapped Need to add people who live in naturally occurring retirement communities Defended neighborhood: people’s definitions of their community boundaries

15. Types of Communities • Central Cities • Issues Facing Cities • Crime • Pollution • Schools • Inadequate transportation

16. Types of Communities • Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) • Leaders, policymakers, and advocates identify a community’s strengths and then seek to mobilize those assets Helps communities recognize human resources they might overlook

17. Types of Communities • Suburbs • Any community near a large city • Three social factors differentiate suburbs from cities • Less dense than cities • Private space • More exacting building codes

18. Types of Communities • Suburbs • Suburban Expansion • Suburbanization most dramatic population trend in U.S. during 20th century • Diversity in the suburbs • The suburbs contain a significant number of low-income people from all backgrounds

19. Types of Communities • Rural Communities • One-fourth of the population lives in towns of 2,500 people or less that are not adjacent to a city • Agriculture only accounts for 9% of employment in non-urban counties

20. Social Policy and Communities • Seeking Shelter Worldwide • The Issue • For many people worldwide, housing problem consists of merely finding shelter they can afford • What can be done to ensure adequate housing for those who can’t afford it?

21. Social Policy and Communities • Seeking Shelter Worldwide • The Setting • Homelessness evident in industrialized and developing countries • By 1998, in urban areas alone, 600 million people around the world were either homeless or inadequately housed

22. Social Policy and Communities • Seeking Shelter Worldwide • Sociological Insights • Homelessness functions as a master status • Homeless are outside of society • Homeless women often have additional problems that distinguish them from homeless men • Sociologists attribute homelessness in developing nations to income inequality and population growth

23. Social Policy and Communities • Seeking Shelter Worldwide • Policy Initiatives • Policymakers mostly content to direct homeless to large, overcrowded, unhealthy shelters • Homeless people are not getting the shelter they need • Lack the political clout to get the attention of policymakers