Introduction: In Urban Studies two schools of academic thought answer the “urban question”: the ecological and urban political economy schools. I will argue that the political economy perspective better allows us to fully grasp the “urban question” where society and space mutually encompass each other and allow us to better explain and address urban inequality. First, I will develop a working definition of “the urban question”. Second, I will write on the ecological school’s view of the “urban” question and how their vista explains but inadequately addresses urban inequalities. Third, I will review the political economy (social-spatial dialect) landscape of the “urban question” and how their panorama explains and gives better analyses of urban inequality. Definition: The Urban Question Again, this section will give a working definition of the “urban question’. To fully compare the political economy and ecological perspectives a description of the “urban question” allows the reader to better understand the divergent schools of thought. For Social Science scholars, from a variety of disciplines, the “urban question” asks how space and the urban or city are related (The City Reader, 2009). The perspective that guides the ecological and the social spatial-dialect schools of thought asks the “urban question” in separate distinct terminology. Respected scholars from the ecological mode of thinking, like Burgess, Wirth and others view society and space from the rationale that geographical scope determines society (The City Reader, 2009). The “urban question” that results from the ecological paradigm sees the relationship between the city (space) as influencing the behaviors of individuals or society in the city. On the other hand... ... middle of paper ... ...r (pp. 150-157). New York, NY: Routledge. Gottdiener, M., & Feagin, J.R. (1988). The paradigm Shift in Urban sociology. Urban Affairs Quarterly, 24(2), 163-167. Harvey, D. (1989). The Urban Process under Capitalism: A Framework for Analysis. In R.T. Legates, & F. Stout (Eds.). The City Reader (pp. 116-124). New York, NY: Routledge. In R.T. Legates, & F. Stout (Eds.). (2009).The City Reader. (4th Ed.) New York, NY. Routledge. Sassen, S. (1998). Globalization and its Discontents. In G. Bridge, & S. Watson (Ed.). The Blackwell City Reader (pp. 161-170). Oxford, U: Blackwell Publishing. Wilson, W.J. (1996). From Instituional to Jobless Ghettos. In R.T. Legates, & F. Stout (Eds.). The City Reader (pp. 110-119). New York, NY: Routledge. Wirth, L. (1938). Urban as a Way of Life. In R.T. Legates, & F. Stout (Eds.). The City Reader (pp. 90-97). New York, NY: Routledge
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.
Mark Clapson. 2003. Suburban Century: Social Change and Urban Growth in England and the USA. Berg. New York.
The modern story of developed areas is a move from the inner city to the suburbs. This decentralization of metropolitan areas has left urban areas neglected. Such a transformation has had negative consequences, because it has inherently meant the abandonment of those left behind in urban centers. Furthermore, the issue is complicated by the fact that the distinction between those moving to the suburbs and those left behind has been defined largely by race. As Kain notes,
Wolff, Geoffrey. “Suburban Suffering.” New York Times. 12 Mar. 2009. n.p. Web. 3 May. 2010.
Jackson, K.T, 1995 ‘The Trolley & Suburbanization’ in Roberts G.KC.& Steadman, P. (eds).) American Cities & Technology, Reader, London, Routledge: 89-98
Talen, E 2000, ‘New Urbanism and The Culture of Criticism,’ Urban Geography, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 318–341.
Older, Daniel Jose. “Gentrification’s Insidious Violence: The Truth About American Cities.” Salon. Salon, 8 April 2014. Web. 19 May 2014.
Since the late 1980s, the notion of ‘sustainable development’ has transcended beyond the eminent United Nations report titled Our Common Future, to mainstream dialogue throughout the globe at all scales within government and public spheres. This form of development seeks to balance current environmental, social and economic needs of the population, “without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, 43). Used interchangeably with ‘sustainability’ (Seghezzo, 2009), the concept has been fastened to a plethora of themes, including that of cities where ‘urban sustainability’ speaks to negligent urban expansion and resource depletion. However, as the idea of urban sustainability has begun percolating into widespread discussions, so to have the obstacles and conflicts surrounding sustainable development. The following sections will examine these complexities, beginning with the ambiguity of sustainable development, followed by interpretations of urban sustainability, and finally, the political ecology of sustainable development in an urban environment.
2. Calthorpe, Peter. The Next American Metropolis: Ecology, Community, and the American Dream. New York: Princeton Architectural Press (1993).
Platt, Rutherford H. “Conclusion” in The Ecological City, Rutherford H. Platt, Rowan A. Rowntree and Pamela C. Muick, eds. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1994.
Introduction One of the mainly electrifying essentials of contemporary times is the urbanisation of the globe. For sociological reasons, a city is a relatively great, crowded and lasting community of diverse individuals. In metropolitan areas, urban sociology is the sociological research of life, human interaction and their role in the growth of society. Modern urban sociology is created from the work of sociologists such as Max Weber and Georg Simmel who put forward the economic, social and intellectual development of urbanisation and its consequences. The aim of this essay is to explain what life is like in the ‘big metropolis’, both objectively and subjectively.
When thinking about the good city naturally every person imagines a physical condition to be improved but the physical environment is not the only force that shapes the city. For example, city and urban society cannot be detached (Lefebvre, 1970/2003). Hence the urban society is, combined with the city, an important force in urban development.
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).
As previously implied, cities are currently the antithesis of even the barest sense of sustainability. To succinctly define the term “sustainability” would be to say that it represents living within one’s needs. When it comes to the city, with almost zero local sources of food or goods, one’s means is pushed and twisted to include resources originating far beyond the boundaries of the urban landscape. Those within cities paradoxically have both minimal and vast options when it comes to continuing their existence, yet this blurred reality is entirely reliant on the resources that a city can pull in with its constantly active economy.