1. Chapter 15
Urban Life

2. Colonial Villages:
The period of was one of tiny villages
Small in size with no more than a few hundred residents at first
Walking villages-mostly pedestrian traffic
People knew one another
These early settlements grew slowly

3. Westward Expansion: 1800-1860 Westward migration
Followed new transportation routes
National Road
By 1860 about 20 percent of the population was living in cities

4. The Industrial Metropolis: 1860-1950
Civil War and industrial and urban expansion
Industrial metropolis
Cities grew in population
Expanded outwards around the development of new urban forms of transportation

5. The Industrial Metropolis: 1860-1950
Social Problems in Cities
Cities were synonymous with immigrants
Ethnic prejudice and the anti-urban bias
Cities were synonymous with social problems
Early part of the twentieth century urban living was very difficult

6. Postindustrial Cities and Suburbs: 1950-Present
Post WW II and migration to the suburbs
Suburbs-urban areas beyond the political boundaries of cities
Postindustrial developments-information technology made possible the economic development of the suburbs
Decentralizing population from the central cities

7. Fiscal Problems
Movement of populations and industry from the central city led to some fiscal problems in the 1970s
Corporate mergers and downsizing and loss of jobs in the city
Poor were left behind along with an increase in demand for city services

8. Fiscal Problems The Postindustrial Revival
Postindustrial economic growth and the revitalization of cities
Immigrants and population growth

9. Urban Sprawl Cities and outward expansion Government policies
Interstate highways
Low cost housing
The emergence of the megalopolis-urban region containing a number of cities and their surrounding suburbs

10. Urban Sprawl
Rapid, unplanned, and low-density development at the edge of urban areas
The numbness of urban sameness
Consumption of land
Auto-gridlock and pollution

11. Urban Sprawl
Edge Cities – business centers located some distance from the old downtowns
Mostly commercial developments
Most major cities contain several edge cities
Urban decentralization has increased the plight of the poor
Loss of city jobs to edge cities

12. Poverty
Migration of city jobs to the suburbs and elsewhere and the concentration of poverty in cities
Disadvantaged minorities
Lack of economic opportunities

13. Housing Problem Tenement Housing
Immigrants and tenement housing in the early part of the twentieth century
Poorly constructed
Crowded living conditions
The 1930’s and the New Deal saw improvement in housing

14. Housing Problem Urban Renewal
Post WW II and the migration of city dwellers to the suburbs
Decline of the city
Govt. passed the Urban Housing Act of 1949
Urban Renewal an attempt to revitalize urban areas
The regeneration of slums

15. Housing Problem Public Housing
Urban renewal and the emergence of public housing
Public Housing-typically high density apartment buildings, constructed with government funds to house poor people

16. Housing Problem Public Housing
Concerns and criticisms of public housing
Liberals saw it as a band-aid approach to the housing problem
Conservatives objected to government getting into the housing business and interfering with free-enterprise
Poor objected to the cultural stigma associated

17. Housing Problem Oscar Newman’s study
High-rise buildings and higher crime rates
Most crimes occurred in public parts of the buildings
Reason
High-rise living breeds anonymity

18. Racial Segregation Race, poverty and residential segregation
Hypersegregation-entire districts of a city racially segregated
Minority/poor urbanites are
Spatially isolated
Socially isolated

19. Homelessness
Approximately 500,000 people are homeless on any given day
Largely an urban problem
Poverty puts people at risk of becoming homeless
Family conflict and becoming homeless
Decline in affordable rental/housing units

20. Homelessness Solution to homelessness
Supportive housing- program that combines low-income housing with on-site social services
Build more low-income units

21. Snowbelt and Sunbelt Cities
Population transfer from snowbelt cities to the sunbelt
Change in political influence and power from snowbelt to sunbelt

22. Cities and Terrorism Risk is greatest in large population centers
May cause cities to lose some of their attractiveness

23. Cities in Poor Countries
About 75 percent of the population of rich nations live in cities
About 25 percent of the population in poor countries live in cities
Urban population is increasing globally
Rural to urban migration and the emergence of shantytowns

24. Structural-Functional Analysis: A Theory of Urbanism
Ferdinand Tonnies: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft
Gemeinschaft-type of social organization by which people are closely bound by kinship and tradition
Rural villages
Gesellschaft-type of social organization by which people interact on the basis of self interest
urban communities

25. Structural-Functional Analysis: A Theory of Urbanism
Emile Durkheim: Mechanical and Organic Solidarity
Mechanical solidarity-social bonds based on common feelings and shared moral values
Rural villages
Organic solidarity-social bonds based on specialization and mutual interdependence
Urban communities

26. Structural-Functional Analysis: A Theory of Urbanism
Louis Wirth: Urbanism as a Way of Life
Urban life shaped by large, dense, and socially diverse populations
Increase in secondary ties and encounters

27. Symbolic-Interaction Analysis: Experiencing the City
George Simmel: Urban Stimulation and Selectivity
Urbanites and a blasé attitude
Blasé attitude of survival due to over-stimulation
Leo Srole: Mental Health in the Metropolis
Studied urban life and mental health

28. Social-Conflict Analysis: Cities and Inequality
Urban Political Economy
Economic and political structure of the society shape the city
David Harvey’s study of Baltimore

29. Conservatives: The Market and Morality
Market economy should shape the city
Conservatives support creating
Enterprise zones- inner city where government tries to attract new business with the promise of tax relief

30. Liberals: Government Reform
Problems of cities stem from social inequality
Liberals favor government intervention into solving the problems

31. Radicals: The Need for Basic Change
Problems of the city are function of inequality,class, race, and gender
Solutions to the problems of the city would require a major overhaul of society and the economic and political order