Unit 7 Journal Title: The Natural History of Urbanization Author: Lewis Mumford As Discussed by Johnson Ojo Introduction. First, let me briefly introduce this great, “ American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic, Lewis Mumford, (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990)” (Wikipedia, 2017, p.1). He was born in Flushing, Queens, New York and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1912. “Studied at the City College of New York and The New School for Social Research, but became ill with tuberculosis and never finished his degree,” (Wikipedia, 2017, p.2). One thing that interested me about the life of this sociologist is his sense of optimism. He was not part of the collections of the mono- socialistic …show more content…
Technological heritage. He emphasized that technological advancement has help man to emancipate himself to a new urban form. This is a fulfilment of prophecy, made by ‘Prophet’ Mumford that, “human race would use electricity and mass communication to build a better world for all humankind,” (Wikipedia, 2017, p.2). 4. Urban displacement of nature. In this section, he explained how the technology catalysis the process of deforestation and urban displacement of nature. Today heavy industrial demand for wood are all factors that contributed to the urban displacement of nature. 5. Modern Forces of Expansion: In this section, he explained that urbanization happened in two stages. First stage cities were confined and limited to the valleys and food plains, like the Nile, the Fertile Crescent, the Indus and Hwang Ho. The second stage is the urban dominance, where cities are in full expansion, performance and influence. He concluded that population growth and technical improvement are factors of this change. 6. The suburban …show more content…
Sociologist … explained that open pattern of suburb is because of seeking environment free noise, dirt and overcrowding that are in the centre of cities. He gave examples of these cities as St. John’s wood, Richmond, Hampstead in London. Chestnut Hill and Germantown in Philadelphia. He added that suburban are only for the rich and high class. This plays into the hands of the critical perspectives that, “Cities are not so much the product of a quasi-natural “ecological” unfolding of social differentiation and succession, but of a dynamic of capital investment and disinvestment. City space is acted on primarily as a commodity that is bought and sold for profit, “(Little & McGivern, 2013, p.616). Conclusion. In my conclusion, I will align with sociologist Feagin and Parker suggested understanding that political and economic leaders control urban growth. Here in my country. The urban mayors, and leading business class has hijack the land allocation. “economic and political leaders work alongside each other to effect change in urban growth and decline, determining where money flows and how land use is regulated,” (Little & McGivern, 2013, p.622). Reference Little, W. and McGivern, R. (2013). Introduction to sociology, 1st Canadian Edition. Retrieved from
Phillips, E. Barbara. City Lights: Urban-Suburban Life in the Global Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
In the book The Great Inversion, author Alan Ehrenhalt reveals the changes that are happing in urban and suburban areas. Alan Ehrenhalt the former editor of Governing Magazine leads us to acknowledge that there is a shift in urban and suburban areas. This revelation comes as the poorer, diverse, city dwellers opt for the cookie cutter, shanty towns at the periphery of American cities known as the suburbs. In similar fashion the suburbanites, whom are socioeconomic advantaged, are looking to migrate into the concrete jungles, of America, to live an urban lifestyle. Also, there is a comparison drawn that recognizes the similarities of cities and their newer, more affluent, residents, and those cities of Europe a century ago and their residents. In essence this book is about the demographic shifts in Urban and Suburban areas and how these changes are occurring.
“Could suburbs prosper independently of central cities? Probably. But would they prosper even more if they were a part of a better-integrated metropolis? The answer is almost certainly yes.” (p. 66)
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
Another noteworthy urban sociologist that’s invested significant research and time into gentrification is Saskia Sassen, among other topical analysis including globalization. “Gentrification was initially understood as the rehabilitation of decaying and low-income housing by middle-class outsiders in central cities. In the late 1970s a broader conceptualization of the process began to emerge, and by the early 1980s new scholarship had developed a far broader meaning of gentrification, linking it with processes of spatial, economic and social restructuring.” (Sassen 1991: 255). This account is an extract from an influential book that extended beyond the field of gentrification and summarizes its basis proficiently. In more recent and localized media, the release the documentary-film ‘In Jackson Heights’ portrayed the devastation that gentrification is causing as it plagues through Jackson Heights, Queens. One of the local businessmen interviewed is shop owner Don Tobon, stating "We live in a
According to Lehrer, U., & Wieditz, T. (2009), Toronto saw a massive population growth in a period of thirty years due to the extensive construction of high-rise condominium towers which led to the city being divided into three distinct cities: “city of the rich, the shrinking city of middle-income households, and the growing city of concentrated poverty.” According to the article the division is caused by the development of condominiums as the new form of gentrification which displaces the poor people and focuses to attract the higher-income people to the area.
Mystique Caston Ms. Jefferson English 22 february 2016 Gentrification and Chicago Gentrification and chicago “Gentrification refers to trends in the neighborhood development that tend to attract more affluent residents, and in the instances concentrates scale commercial investment. ”(Bennet,).This means that gentrification can change how a neighborhood is ran or even how much income the community takes in depending on what businesses come in and what class of people decide to invest into that community. In this paper i will be discussing gentrification and and poverty, pros and cons of gentrification, relationships due to gentrification, conflict due to gentrification, reactions/ feelings or of small business owners about
In this means, what is suburbanization? As indicated by my exploration and studies around there of history I can without a doubt recognize that suburbanization is on an extremely fundamental level the term used to depict the physical advancement of the city at the urban-commonplace fringe, or basically the edges of the city. This in
Mark Clapson. 2003. Suburban Century: Social Change and Urban Growth in England and the USA. Berg. New York.
The opening paragraph of the novel evokes the consequences of unharnessed technology and contemporary man’s contented refusal to acknowledge the consequences (Watt).
Herbert Gans piece on the mass production of suburban styled homes like Levittown with its homes on the outskirts of the city and mixed land uses closer within the core “ analyzes the suburbs and makes it evident that they are not a utopia” no matter the societal segregation they represent (Herbert Gans). These areas have their burdens resulting in physical and social isolation, no access to transportation, the start of gender roles, and inadequate decision making. In comparison, Pleasantville was a society of segregation due to the land constraints and urban planning of the society. Its visible that there is an increase in segregation between the suburban population and inner city. The higher class living in the suburbs would remain in that area unless it was for work.
“gentrification as an ugly product of greed”. Yet these perspectives miss the point. Gentrification is a byproduct of mankind's continuing interest in advancing the notion that one group is more superior to another and worthy of capitalistic consumption with little regard to social consciousness. It is elitism with the utmost and exclusionary politics to the core. This has been a constant theme of mankind taking or depleting space for personal gain.
One reason that urbanization was necessary for us to expand was its role-play in better education. Education is the foundation of all past and future nations and it is what makes us strong. In rural areas education was limited and it was very hard to access seeing as there was not much transportation and everything was spread out and far away. In the city when people began the transfer to urbanization they learned that schools and similar places were nearby and they were easy to access. Thus education was higher in urban areas then in rural areas. Also people could share similar ideas more and that led to research teams and new discoveries.
...population distribution designed to reduce the rate of rural-urban migration appears to have had limited success in many developing countries. Policies must be directed at altering the rural economy in order to slow the rate of urban sprawl. Broad land use planning and changing of planning standards and governmental procedures would go a long way to reduce many of the problems that face urban populations in the developing areas, especially Africa. Urbanization can cause a lot of problems for a city or even a country. It can cause cities to become overpopulated which are known as mega-cites, and cause problems with living arrangements and finding a job. Urbanization can also cause health problems. Urbanization is supposed to be good for developing countries on the rise but with this rapid growth in Africa, these problems can become a major concern in the future.
has been related to the process of urbanization which is encouraged by economic growth and