The City & Urbanism

The City & Urbanism

Does Urban Theory Matter?

Theory...does not flow above everyday life in a detached way: It comes from some place, and it is the responsibility of analysis to return it there (Ligget and Perry, 1995, 2)

Urban Theory, Simon Parker

Georg Simmel

Encountering the City, Simon Parker

Lewis Mumford

DOB: October 19, 1895

DOD: January 26, 1990

Areas of Emphasis: History & Philosophy.

Major Works:

1. At the beginning of the 20th century some 10% of the world's

population dwelt in towns or cities.

2. In 1975 this figure had risen to 37.8% of the world's population.

3. In 1995 the figure had reached 45.3% of the world's population.

4. By the year 2006 every second human being is expected to

live in urban settlements.

5. By 2030 over 60% of the world's population will be urbanised.

All urban theory, according to Parker, is comprised of the 4 C's:

1. Culture: systems of beliefs, contents & means of

communication, traditional and popular cultural production.

2. Consumption: not reducing it to products or services, but the

nature of exchange and the means to which such goods and

services are produced.

3. Conflict: physical violence, civil disorder, uneven distribution

of social resources.

4. Community: some aspect of social life of cities, 'value-terms'

(Gesselshaft [Society] & Gemeinshaft [Community]) (4).

DOB: March 01, 1858

DOD: September 28, 1918

Areas of Emphasis: Philosophy & Sociology

Areas of Study:

Levels of Concern; Dialectical Thinking;

Individual Consciousness; Sociability; Social Geometry-Dyad and Triad; Distance. The Metropolis and Mental Life; The Philosophy of Money; and The Stranger.

1968

1934

1961

2000

2005

1995

2010

1990

The City in History

Metropolis and Mental Life

How to talk about the City? Urbanism?

What is the city?

How did it come into existence?

1. "Urban theory" is a subset of general sociological theory.

2. Urban theory has a particular way to discuss different aspects

of doing (praxis), being (ontological), developing values

(axiology), and knowledge (epistemology).

What processes does it further?

The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his [and her] existence against the weight of the historical heritage, and the external culture, and technique of life.

What purpose does it fill?

Will the city disappear or will the whole planet turn into a vast urban hive?

We, as a collective, according to Mumford must understand the origin, development of the city, to understand its past successes, its failures, and actualize untapped (unrecognized) potential.

The metropolis has always been the seat of money economy because the many sidedness and concentration of commercial activity have given the medium of exchange an importance which not have acquired in the commercial aspects of rural life.

The city is the theater to which human existence plays out its drama!