GGY201 Introduction to Urban Geography PDF

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology GGY201 City, Structure, Environment and Society Dr JJ Gregory 1 Introduction to...

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology GGY201 City, Structure, Environment and Society Dr JJ Gregory 1 Introduction to Urban Geography “Cities, great and mundane, are sites of power and importance in almost every realm of life, including politics, economies, law, education and culture” (Kaplan et al., 2014, p.3). “Cities are our greatest invention. They generate wealth and improve living standards while providing the density, interaction and networks that make us more creative and productive. They are the key social and organising units of our time, bringing together people, jobs and all the inputs required for economic growth” (Richard Florida). 2 Introduction to Urban Geography Broad outcomes of this lecture; – Understand and motivate why it is important for us to study cities. – Be able to identify and understand the different scales of urban geographical inquiry. – Critically engage with the different epistemological/philosophical approaches and how these have shaped urban geographical research/theory over time. – Should be able to recognise what constitutes an urban area and that “what is considered urban” is rather difficult to define. ssir.org 3 Why do we study cities? Majority of the world’s population resides in cities. Around 56% of the world’s population – 4.4 billion inhabitants – live in cities (World Bank, 2020). By 2050, nearly 7 of 10 people in the world will live in cities (World Bank, 2020). This growth will be concentrated in the developing world/Global South. 200 years ago the global population was 3% urbanized and 100 years ago it was around 14%. 4 smartcitiesworld.net Why do we study cities? Greater percentage of people living in cities in industrialized economies. This is changing, for example rapid urbanization in Africa, without widespread industrialization. Cities are important for economic activities, social interactions, entertainment, leisure, political expression, education, culture, etc. People who do not reside in cities are dependent on cities for certain functions. 5 geospatialworld.net How do we study cities? Several disciplines are interested in studying cities, these include; sociology, anthropology, history, economics, political sciences, psychology, ecology, archeology, theology, town and regional planning, architecture and geography. Distinctive sub-fields have emerged that focus on the study of cities, for example urban sociology, urban anthropology and of course urban geography. Urban geography draws on or “borrows” information, knowledge and theory from various disciplines to understand cities and complex urban systems. Various professions require to have an understanding of cities. For example, urban planning, urban design, public administration, real estate development, NGOs, etc. 6  The field of urban geography Human geographers are concerned with the location of people and their activities across geographical space. Urban geography studies urban areas (by default also people in the urban environment). Scale of urban geographical interest; – Intermetropolitan; studying the relationships and processes amongst a group or system of cities at a regional, national, or global scale. – Intrametropolitan; studying the internal arrangement, processes and activities within cities. Different scales of urban geographical research; – A case study (a specific city or neighbourhood) – Regional (cities within a specific region, for example Southern Africa). – Topical issues (poverty, housing, segregation, etc.). 7  The origin and evolution of urban geography Interest in studying cities emerged early 20th century. Early interests; site and situation of urban settlement patterns. From the 1950s urban geography as a specific sub-discipline took off. Several approaches to urban geographical research has evolved over the past century. We refer to these approaches as epistemological or philosophical approaches. I.e. how and under which circumstances knowledge is produced and studied. The main epistemological/ philosophical approaches that have been used to study cities include; – Positivism – Structuralism (Marxism) – Humanism – Post-structuralism (Postmodernism) 8 thebestbrainpossible.com The origin and evolution of urban geography Positivism; scientific method with a focus on rigorous empirical observation, it is associated with generalising and hypothesis testing. Structuralism; focuses on deep structural realities in our world that are difficult to measure, for example how broader political and economic processes are understood in relation to urbanisation. Humanism; critical of positivist research methods, focuses on meaning and experiences, as well as perceptions, attitudes and values towards space/place. A focus on feelings and ideas towards space/place. Post-structuralism; rejects the idea of generalising “truth”, instead offers a variety of objectives. Focuses on how socially produced realities operate. Critical of both positivist and structuralist inquiry. 9 The origin and evolution of urban geography Out of these broad epistemological approaches several streams of urban geographical research has evolved over time; Spatial analysis – Is positivist in nature, mid-century, quantitative revolution. – Draws on neoclassical economic theory of presumed rationality of human behaviour. – Classic examples include Christaller (1933), Losch (1938) and Weber (1929), focusing on urban settlement patterns. – A strong reliance on statistical and mathematical modelling to determine generalisable relationships and hypotheses. 10 Christaller (1933) Central Place Theory 11 Weber (1929) Industrial Location Theory The origin and evolution of urban geography Behavioural urban geography; – Late 1960s – Also grounded in positivism – Looks at generalizing individuals spatial decisions/ behaviours – A focus on individual attitudes and expectations of place – Borrows methodology from psychology 12 Open Edition Journals The origin and evolution of urban geography Marxist urban geography (political economy); – Grounded in structuralism – Emerged in the late 1960s as a way of understanding urban inequality and injustice. – Draws on Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism to understand cities. – A strong focus on how the capitalist mode of production and labour relations has shaped cities and contributes to uneven development. – David Harvey’s (1973) seminal text Social Justice and the City 13 Progress in Political Economy The origin and evolution of urban geography Critical social theory in urban geography; – from the 1970s/1980s a much stronger focus on human agency/ social context emerged in urban geographical research. – A strong focus on understanding social context and power relations before we can comprehend spatial attributes. Feminist urban geography; – from the 1970s onwards emergence of gender studies and feminist theory in urban geographical research. – a strong focus on gendered disparities in relation to urban space. – Feminist urban geography also explores the links between patriarchy and capitalism. 14 The origin and evolution of urban geography Postmodern urban geography; – From the 1980s and influenced by the “cultural turn”. – Grounded in post-structuralism – Postmodernism rejects science as the only way to generate knowledge and is severely critical of positivism and structuralism. – It rather focuses on diversity and differences and that there can be no “real truth”. – Postmodernism is difficult to define, it rejoices in complexity and plurality. – It has been criticized for being too abstract and ambigious. 15 The origin and evolution of urban geography Geographic Information Sciences and urban geography; – GISci evolved out of cartography, remote sensing and satellite image data. – It is a contemporary version of spatial analysis and useful to illustrate urban issues and problems. Unearth labs 16 Defining cities / the urban Rural – urban continuum Transect Collection 17 Defining cities / the urban How do we define a city? Some argue population size can be used as an indicator, but it is not that simple. Population density is another way to distinguish an urban place from a non-urban place. There are other social, economic and political indicators. What is the spatial extent of the city? – What are the boundaries of the city? – Metropolitan areas/ boundaries – Combined areas – Urbanized areas 18 Bertaud, 2001 19 20 Chatindiara, 2019 21