1. Introduction to Metropolitan Studies

2. Thinking about Cities

3. What do you see?
What do

4. Keep staring at the black dot
Keep staring at the black dot. After a while the gray haze around it will appear to shrink.

5. Urban and interdisciplinary Perspective
Metropolitan studies is a way of looking at and studying cities
The Urban explosion
UN: 3.2 billion urbanites 2007, nearly 5 billion 2030
2030: Nearly 60% in cities
Biggest increase: Asia and Africa - poorest, least- urbanized, least able to cope
2017: nearly 500 cities of 1m+
2025: 8 cities 20m+ - Tokyo, Mumbai, Manila, Dhaka, São Paulo, Mexico City, New York, and Calcutta India

6. Early Perspectives
Until about 200 years ago, most people lived a rural life.
Industrial Revolution – movement of people.
Factories - places of employment, so people moved to cities in search of work.
This led to a huge growth in the size and number of towns and cities.

7. Early Perspectives
This growth in the size and number of cities is called Urbanization.
In essence, a rural to urban shift is taking place.
Push- Pull effect

8. Existing Theories and Practice
Theories that have motivated and still inform the construction of cities are both normative and functional.
Normative theories attempt to specify "goodness“….what is good city form?... and discuss in detail the aspects that create good cities…..Prescriptive…..What cities ought to be!
Functional theories attempt to explain how cities perform by concentrating on city form processes, spatial and social structure, and form models……Descriptive……What cities are!

9. Slums and Mega Slums
There are about 1 billion slum dwellers; by 2020 this number is expected to have extended to 1.4 billion
What is a slum?
slum is an area that combines to various extents the following characteristics-
inadequate access to safe water (if available; cost!)
inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure;
poor structural quality of housing;
overcrowding (high density)
Insecure residential status (Security of tenure)

10. slum growth
Baltimore, Maryland
Kibera, Nairobi

11. Chicago School of Sociology Urban Land-Use
Chicago School of Community Studies
inspired by Robert Park and his colleagues
University of Chicago
Park was a professor,

12. Urban Ecology
Park argued that there are "natural area" in the city (Park, 1967, p. 9)
various functions—populations and activities, are in competition for space
the most adaptive and resourceful win the competition for the most valuable spaces

13. How Cities Change Ecological Processes competition: driving force
dominance: most powerful functions
invasion: new activity or population enters established community (natural area)
waves of immigrants
expansion of strip malls and fast food
succession: new activity becomes dominant
takes over community/area

14. Succession Suburbanization: Deterioration/gentrification
housing moves out of city, following highways
commerce and industry follows
Deterioration/gentrification
abandoned residences, warehouses and industrial buildings deteriorate into slum
warehouses and industrial buildings become lofts and apartments; residences are refurbished by young urban professionals

15. Urban Ecology
Major transformation in the organization of urban/community space
results from new technologies
which decrease the time/cost of transportation
and reduce the value of central location
Invasion & succession
social groups can colonize new areas, and create the conditions for other groups to invade
like plant communities

16. The Urban Pattern Pattern and order result from competition
finance and trade: dominant functions tend to occupy central location
factories are located on major transportation lines
working class neighborhoods near factories
more marginal (slum) areas: deteriorating buildings house newly arrived immigrants
nearby is bohemia: artists and radicals

17. Natural organization of city
determined by geography
lakes and rivers
later, canals
still later, Railroads
finally, interstate highways
Cities vary by when they were built
walking city: 18th century
railroad city: 19th century
freeway city: 20th century

18. Functional Zones in Cities
If we look at the pattern of most cities in the world, we can see that there are a number of different zones.
Each of these zones has a different function or use.
The following zones can be seen in most cities;
1. A Central Business District (CBD)
2. Some smaller shopping areas
3. A number of shopping centers
4. Industrial areas
5. Open space for recreation / leisure.

19. Earnest Burgess and Robert
Parks
Concentric Zone Model
Created 1923– Sociologist E. W. Burgess
It is: - model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are spatially arranged in a series of rings
Cities grow outwards from the centre in a series of rings.

20. Concentric Zone Model- Burgess

21. Concentric Zone Theory
Timeframe
1920’s
Class conscious society
Housing segregated according to income
Lack of transport infrastructure
Assumptions
Older buildings in city centre
Newer buildings at edge of city
Land values highest in city centre
Strong economic and ethnic segregation
Low income groups lack transport and live close to city centre.
Cities develop on a flat plain with equal access to transport

22. continued 5 Zones CBD – central business district Zone in Transition
Innermost ring- concentration of non-residential activities
Zone in Transition
Industry and poorer-quality housing
Often subdivided apartment houses
Often filled by immigrants

23. continued Zone of Working Class Homes Zone of Middle Class Homes
Modest older houses occupied by stable families
Zone of Middle Class Homes
Newer and more spacious homes
Commuter’s Zone
Area of people who don’t live in city where they work

24. Concentric Zone Weaknesses:
too simple
developed for American cities
cars uncommon at time (horses & streetcars)
assumes reliance on public transit
lots of spatial differences in terms of ethnic & social patterns

25. Problems with Burgess Model
Old
Doesn't consider car ownership
Landscape not considered
Impact that industry and transport could have on land use not considered.
Zones are never as clear-cut

26. Another Perspective…Economic Theory…..Bid Rent
Bid rent theory is a geographical theory that refers to how the price and demand on land changes as the distance towards the CBD (Central Business Districts) increases.
It states that different land users will compete with one and other for land close to the city center.
This is based upon the idea that retail establishments wish to maximize their profitability, so they are much more willing to pay more for land close to the CBD and less for land further away from this area
The different land users all compete with one and other for the more accessible land. The amount that they are willing to pay is called Bid Rent.
However, in modern times this is rarely the case, as many people prefer to trade off the accessibility of being close to the CBD, and move to the edges of the settlement, where it is possible to buy more land for the same amount of money (as Bid Rent states).

27. Another Perspective…Feminist Economic
Counter approach – to invest in the social infrastructure (care, multigenerational – infant, children, teenagers, disabled, elderly)
In economic terms- as important as the physical infrastructure ( roads, housing)
Not just jobs for women; but important stimulus to the economy – creates employment, spending, tax revenues as well as skills and experience
Reproductive work ( not just biological but also daily, generational and social) essential for the rest of the economy to function

28. Modernization theory and Social Change
Modernization: The process of social change initiated by industrialization. The key dimensions are:
Decline of small, traditional communities: Cars, TV, and high-tech communications puts small towns in touch with the world
Expansion of personal choice: An unending series of options referred to as “individualization”
Increasing social diversity: Modernization promotes a more rational, scientific world-view
These transformations – Economic and technical come with a loss of :
Loss of attachment
Loss of sense of connection to culture, security and identity
Evolutionary NOT revolutionary

29. Causes of Social Change
Innovation
Production of new objects, ideas, and social patterns
Discovery
Taking note of certain elements of a culture
Diffusion
The spread of products, people, and information from one culture to another