Abstract In 1938, Louis Wirth wrote an article about his observations and critiques of urbanization. While many of his observations are held to be true today, nobody can clearly define what makes up a city or an urban area. The paper argues that whether urbanization and industrialization are good is all a matter of personal opinion. While urbanization poses a threat to certain social classes and even the environment, it has also helped to evolve the way goods and services are made available to a broad area. The paper argues that ,if urbanization continues on the path that it is currently on, guidelines and boundaries will have to be put in place to prevent the destruction of all that urbanization has helped us achieve.
From the Paper "Alan Booth raised an issue of concern about overpopulation and crowding in urban areas. Urban crowding can affect a number of factors. First, the more people there are in an area, the more space people will desire due to the need for privacy. This can cause rapid expansion in what was a small crowded area. When an area expands rapidly, it can cause great environmental damage. It crowds wildlife populations and often destroys useful and fertile farm land or forests. Wildlife ecosystems respond with biological controls on fertility and birth rates that reduce populations and can lead species to become endangered in certain areas. The destruction of farm land is becoming more and more of an issue, especially in the mid-west where many of the United States' crops are grown. Land in the mid-west is fairly plentiful and peoples' desire for more personal space is leading real-estate developers to buy up land in the central U.S. and clear it for housing developments. This also applies to the metropolitan areas and some suburban areas within which the government provides housing (Booth 1976:1-10)."
Abstract This paper describes Ebenezer Howard's role in the advancement of urban planning. The author points out that Howard understood the necessity of asserting control over urban development. The paper further describes Howard's belief that controlling urban development improves city life, enhances productivity, increases efficiency and reduces the socioeconomic and political problems that uncontrolled urbanization produced. The paper relates that Howard believed that the negative aspects of urbanization could be minimized and eventually eliminated through logical urban planning to which he devoted his life.
From the Paper "In analyzing the advancement of urban planning, it is evident that innovative urban thinkers, like Ebenezer Howard, understood the vital importance of promoting and achieving effective urban development. Throughout the centuries, most cities expanded outward from their central core in a haphazard fashion in response to a variety of short-term economic, social and geographical factors. As this random process unfolded, cities became sprawling urban areas in which the quality of human life steadily declined, economic productivity suffered, and social and political tensions became chronic problems. "
Abstract This paper is an in-depth examination of the Third World urban crisis. The paper looks at high population growth rates and growing immigration into urban areas that are causing huge problems for public services and governmental control of urban growth. The paper examines the informal sector of the economy, in which most urban poor are employed, together with possible suggestions on how to deal with the urban problem.
From the Paper "As a whole, the Third World urban population is growing at the rate of 4% per year. This is three times the urban growth rate of First World countries. Latin America and East Asia are almost as urbanized as the western world, as nearly 50% of their people live in cities with 500,000 or more inhabitants. As the new century begins, more than 20 of the world's cities will have a total population of 10 million or more. With the exceptions of Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, Osaka and Moscow, most of them will be in the Third World. The largest First World agglomerations were the world's biggest in the 1940?s, but are now smaller than much bigger Third World rivals such as Mexico City and Sao Paulo."
Abstract The paper discusses how the urban areas of Ontario and Toronto are experiencing urban sprawl. The paper describes the characteristics of urban sprawl and how it can be measured. The paper looks at urban sprawl's negative impacts on the environment, taxpayers and on the population's cultural and social life. The paper offers recommendations for future land-use development that will sustainably manage growth and discourage urban sprawl.
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Issue
Analysis
Recommendations
From the Paper "Urban sprawl is not easy to define. "To paraphrase the United States Supreme Court's long-ago ruling on pornography, most people can't define sprawl--but they know it when they see it" (Fulton et al, 2001). Urban sprawl is a phenomenon that occurs around metropolitan areas, usually represented by suburbs, and it involved the spread of cities and the urbanization or areas around it previously undeveloped, used for agriculture or green fields and forests.
"There are several characteristics of urban sprawl by which it can be recognized. First, the land-use is segregated and usually entails single use zoning. This means that residential, commercial and industrial areas are separated from one another. Often there are large undeveloped, empty areas between them. Because these areas are separated, traveling from one to the other can only be done with a car."
Tags: suburbs, cities, urbanization, fields, low-density, development
This paper provides a look at the principles of New Urbanism, a land development movement designed to combat ugly urban sprawl, by redeveloping inner cities and/or making the most efficient use of open space development.
Abstract This paper examines the topic, New Urbanism, synonymous with the term "Smart Growth" which is a way to develop land efficiently, whether it may be a new development using open space land, or a redevelopment of a part of an inner city- called "infilling". The paper explores the ten principles that New Urbanism is guided by and gives examples of developments across the country that have used this method and prospered.
From the Paper "Small, picturesque towns like Nantucket and Savannah dot the eastern landscape of the country. These towns are the illustration of the principles America was founded upon: closeness, unity, community, and family. The neighborhoods were compact and had mixed-uses. Everything a family needed in the normal course of the week was all within walking distance. There was a town square where the townspeople met and talked. In the youth of this country small developments like these were common, however in the last 50 years America has seen development practices take a turn for the worse. The current practice of building suburbs nationwide sprang up after World War II, and development has sacrificed hundreds of thousands of acres to this practice ever since. Now the majority of U.S. citizens now live in automobile-oriented, unattractive suburbs full of strip malls and four-lane roads with four-foot sidewalks. Although this is still the norm, there is a new kind of development that is making an impact on the way communities are built. This new method, called New Urbanism or Smart Growth, has caught on in the last 20 years and is now popping up all over the country. New Urbanism is a way to combat ugly urban sprawl, replacing it instead with small, interconnected communities that are pedestrian-friendly and contain housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks, and other amenities essential to the daily lives of residents, all within easy walking distance of each other. New Urbanism involves using the principles it sets forth to fix and redevelop existing cities, called "infilling", as well as to create new, high-density, compact towns and villages."
Abstract This paper examines the various methods of studying urbanization which include community formation and the process of urbanization. This paper also discusses advanced computer software programs that reveal concise developing patterns and complex sciences such as chaos and fragile theory which tell about the inner workings of cities. This paper describes how the emergence of new living patterns are a direct response to technology, modes of transportation and individual preferences. For more than 100 years urban theorists have contended that the balance of forces between white and black and male and female is a natural condition, yet this paper proves why this is no longer true. The writer focuses on the urbanization of L.A. which is more fragmented than most other multicultural municipalities due to its large Hispanic population. This paper also touches on the introduction of Islam into the African-American community and the resulting impact.
From the Paper "Since 1966, and the theories of Jane Jacobs and post-modern urbanists, urbanists view the city as a living organism--one whose many cycles can be captured better on film then by a static plan. Indeed computer programs that reveal developing patterns and complex sciences, such as chaos and fragile theory, tell us much more about how cities really work than the old mechanic models of modern architects. An excellent candidate for such a study would be that complex, unexplainable entity known as Los Angeles. According to a United Nations report published in 1992, more than one million refugees migrated around the globe--compared to a World War II high of 16 million."
Abstract This paper illustrates the diversity of global urban experience and examines variations in levels of urbanization and rates of change in that level over the period 1975-2000 amongst different countries and world regions and particularly among developed and developing nations. It also examines the relationships between urbanization, level of national economic development and social conditions and the inconsistencies in these relationships within different countries and regions. The data for this examination comes from three tables that provide information on levels of urbanization, population, growth rates, income and economic development for UN countries.
Abstract This paper examines and critiques two articles that deal with urban space and its primary features. The first of the two articles presents some of the main concepts and ideas by which Urban Spatial Structure can be understood. The second of the two articles presents a review of Canadian urban social geography and what it suggests about the state of the Canadian urban landscape and about our present course in housing and social policy. The paper analyzes the pros and cons of both articles and suggests both are worthwhile additions to the literature.
Abstract The paper addresses some important questions in connection with rapid growth of population in urban centers of the developing countries. Though rate of urbanization has decreased significantly in the industrialized countries, it is still a major cause of concern for the third world because of the delayed development of their urban cities.
Abstract This paper presents a review of literature on urban youth crime. The paper discusses a number of aspects relating to the topic including depression and urban delinquency, school bonds and delinquency, family practices and urban delinquency reform.
From the Paper "This literature review, concerning the topic of juvenile delinquency in urban areas, addresses the following relevant areas: introduction to juvenile delinquency in urban areas, depression and urban delinquency, school bonds and urban delinquency, parent and family practices and urban delinquency, social influences of urban delinquency, multiple causes of urban delinquency, urban delinquency reform and summary and conclusions. Juvenile delinquency in urban areas is higher than juvenile offending in other neighborhoods and these rates are higher..."
Abstract This paper focuses on the urban immigrant in the United States. It further discusses the sociological aspects of the urban immigrant. The paper discusses the issues of industrialization, culture, assimilation within society, the loss of jobs and discrimination against native minorities in the United States. It also discusses the changing sphere of sociological beliefs in relation to urban immigrants.
From the Paper "The lives of immigrants in the United States, and how those lives relate to the American society, is dependant upon several factors that culminate before and after arrival in this country. Sociologists perceive that there is a difference in an immigrant's survival in the United States if they elect to come here, or if they were brought here by force because of issues that were life threatening, or placed in exile by their homelands. The possibility of success for immigrants is further weighed against factors such as education, ability to speak English, connection to family, and the economic resources available. With the greatest number of immigrants to the United States selecting urban areas as home, these factors become significant within American cities."
Abstract This seven page paper examines urban planning issues. Because the rapid growth and expansion of cities in the twentieth century appears to have gone unchecked, modern urban centers are plagued by a variety of social problems. The paper suggests that many of these social problems can be reduced and even eliminated through effective urban planning policies.
From the Paper "Recreating Urban Environments through Urban Planning Because the rapid growth and expansion of cities in the twentieth century appears to have gone unchecked, modern urban centers are plagued by a variety of social problems. In contemplating ways to recreate urban environments as viable and sustainable places for decent living, recreation, and creativity, it is evident that many of these social problems can be reduced and even eliminated through effective urban planning policies. Transforming blighted, sprawling urban areas into vibrant, thriving communities would entail significant short-term costs, but it is undeniable that the chronic social problems caused by uncontrolled urbanization in the United States have required municipal, state, and federal government officials to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in attempts to resolve these problems."
Abstract This paper discusses urbanization and rural urban migration in developing countries. In particular, the paper discusses the role that the entrepreneurial class, made up most of rural peasant migrants, has had on China. Basically these individuals are responsible for all of the political and economic changes in China.
From the Paper "Urbanization and rural-urban migrations are two very closely related phenomena. According to K. Jegasothy in "Population and Rural-Urban Environmental Interactions in Developing Countries," urbanization is conventionally defined as a process of spatial movement of a population towards towns and cities and their resulting expansion" (Jegasothy 1031). Urbanization is the direct result of rural-urban migrations. This is because urbanization is caused by people from rural areas moving into cities and towns. The rate of urbanization and rural-urban migrations has been increasing in recent decades."
This paper reviews the role that non-profit organizations play in urban politics, especially in decision making, urban redevelopment and social service issues.
Abstract The following paper examines the history of the relationship between non-profit organizations and urban politics, with reference to a review of the literature provided. In addition, a proposal is made to create a model for responsible development programs through community resident and other oversights to enable goal achievement and minimize/eliminate system abuse.
From the Paper "Urban communities rely on nonprofit organizations to provide public services, promote community partnerships, and to provide coalitions to solve a variety of problems facing urban areas. The participation of these neighborhood and city-wide association and groups helps in the planning and oversight of many municipal services.Nonprofit organizations play a very important role in urban politics. They are the way in which ordinary citizens can participate in doing charitable work, provide a form of grass-roots democracy by allowing people having similar goals to group together to have a greater voice than any one of them could have alone, and they support urban government and services in many ways the government does not have the manpower or the funds to do on its own."
Abstract This paper is a critical review of Ira Katznelson's definition of urban crises, his account of the class order and group relations in America and the solutions he offers for the urban crises in America.
From the Paper "Katznelson doesn?t start by examining the heterogenous, working-class Washington Heights-Inwood community which he studies in the rest of the book. Rather he discusses the development of the working class in the period after rapid industrialization in eighteenth century London. He says that one of the main aspects of the new industrialized order was "a new kind of social crisis that was associated with the emergence of a cycle of boom and bust" (43). Work and community began to separate, greatly altering economic and social experience. At work, people saw themselves primarily as laborers whereas at home they saw themselves primarily through ethnic and territorial lenses."
