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C o n c e p t s a n d Th e o r y in
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8 Urban Geography
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4 Preview: the scope of urban geography; the concept of urban; the urban as an entity; urban as a
5 quality; the importance of a spatial perspective; the value of the urban dimension; a history of urban
6 geography; environmentalism; positivism; behaviouralism; humanism; structuralism; managerialism;
7 postmodernism; transnationalism; postcolonialism; moral philosophy; levels of urban analysis
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20
1 I N T RO D U C T I O N In essence, urban geography may be defined as the study
2 of cities as systems within a system of cities.1 Figure 2.1
3 As we saw in Chapter 1, in approaching a subject for the indicates the scope of urban geography as well as the
4 first time it is useful to begin by obtaining an overview of subdisciplines links with other branches of geography.
5 the main conceptual approaches, themes and issues that The diagram also indicates the power of urban geogra-
6 comprise the field. In this chapter we describe the scope phy to synthesise many different perspectives so as to
7 of urban geography and its links with other branches of advance our understanding of urban phenomena. This
8 geography. We define the concept of urban and explain eclectic approach to the analysis of urban places extends
9 the value of an urban geographical perspective for an beyond geography to incorporate research findings and
30 understanding of contemporary towns and cities. We knowledge across traditional disciplinary boundaries.
1 establish the academic context for the study of urban The integrative power of urban geography is a key
2 geography by providing a brief history of the subject. In characteristic of the subdiscipline.
3 this discussion we relate work in urban geography to the A second principal characteristic of geographical
4 major theoretical developments in the discipline of geog- analysis of the city is the centrality of a spatial per-
5 raphy. Finally, we employ the concept of levels of analy- spective. This distinguishes urban geography from
6 sis to illustrate the kind of research undertaken by urban cognate areas of urban study such as urban economics,
7 geographers from the global to the local scale. urban sociology or urban politics. We shall see later
8 that there is a long-standing debate among social
9 scientists over the relative importance of spatial and
40 THE SCOPE OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY social forces for the explanation of urban phenomena.
1 However, as we saw in Chapter 1, it is important to be
2 Urban geographers are concerned to identify and clear about the place of space in urban geography. By
3 explain the distribution of towns and cities and the acknowledging the importance of spatial location we
4 socio-spatial similarities and contrasts that exist within are not implying that space per se is the key explana-
5 and between them. There are thus two basic approaches tory variable underlying patterns of human activity in
6 to urban geography: the city. The significance of space varies with context.
7 For example, spatial location is of no real significance
8 1. The first refers to the spatial distribution of towns in the electronic hyperspace occupied by flows of
9 and cities and the linkages between them: the finance between cities in the global economy but may
50 study of systems of cities. be of fundamental importance for the spread of infec-
51 2. The second refers to the internal structure of tious diseases in a Third World squatter settlement.
52 urban places: the study of the city as a system. The spatial perspective of urban geography is of real

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 CONCEPTS AND THEORY IN URBAN GEOGRAPHY

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Figure 2.1 The nature of urban geography 1
2
analytical value because, as Massey (1985)2 observed, urban as a physical entity and the urban as a quality 3
the world does not exist on the head of a pin. helps us to understand the complexity of urban life, 4
and illuminates different approaches to the study of 5
cities. 6
DEFINING THE URBAN 7
8
In approaching the concept of urban it is useful to T H E UR B A N A S A N E NT I T Y 9
draw a distinction between the question of what is an 50
urban place, and what is urban. This is more than Four principal methods are employed to identify urban 51
an exercise in semantics. The distinction between the places: 52

1 9
 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY
1 1. Population size. Since urban places are generally
2 larger than rural places, at some point along the
3 populationsize scale it should be possible to
4 decide when a village becomes a town. In practice,
5 this urban population threshold varies over time and
6 space. In Sweden any settlement with more than
7 200 inhabitants is classed as urban in the national
8 census, whereas in the USA the population mini-
9 mum for urban status is 2,500; in Switzerland it is
10 10,000, rising to 30,000 in Japan. Such diversity
1 reflects social context. Given the sparse distribution
2 of settlement in many areas of Sweden, a threshold
3 of 200 may be appropriate, whereas in a densely
4 settled country such as Japan virtually all settle-
5 ments would exceed such a low urban threshold
6 population. If not made explicit, these differences
7 may complicate international comparison.
8 2. Economic base. In some countries population
9 size is combined with other diagnostic criteria to
20 define an urban place. In India, for example, a
1 settlement must have more than 75 per cent of the
2 adult male population engaged in non-agricultural
3 work to be classified as urban.
4 3. Administrative criteria. The majority of towns
5 and cities in the world are defined according to
6 legal or administrative criteria. The definition of
7 urban places by national governments leads to
8 great diversity, which creates difficulties for com-
9 parative research that can be overcome only by
30 urban analysts constructing their own definitions
1 and applying them uniformly across the globe.
2 A second problem with administrative definitions
3 is that these may have little correspondence with
4 the actual physical extent of the urban area. A
5 frequent problem is underbounding, where the
6 built-up area of the city extends beyond the urban
7 administrative boundary. This may lead to major
8 fiscal difficulties for the central city deprived of
9 taxes from commuters resident beyond the legal
40 boundaries of the city.
1 4. Functional definitions. To address problems such
2 as underbounding (and its converse, overbound-
3 ing), urban researchers devised functional urban
4 regions which reflect the real extent of urban
5 influence. The concept of the extended urban area
6 was first introduced by the US Bureau of the
7 Census in 1910 and later developed into the
8 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) in
9 1960 and, since 1983, the Metropolitan Statistical
50 Area (MSA). Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical
51 Areas (CMSAs) are formed by two or more
52 contiguous MSAs.3
2 0
In 2000 a review of standards for defining US
metropolitan statistical areas retained the two main
principles established in 1960:
1. Settlement form (based on the population size of
a central core city).
2. Functional integration between central and outlying
counties (reflected in journeys to work, with this
criterion raised from 15 per cent to 25 per cent).
Other criteria for inclusion within a metropolitan area,
(for example, percentage of the labour force that is
non-agricultural), were dropped. The 2000 standards
identify two main types of core based statistical areas
(CBSAs). These are:
1. Metropolitan statistical areas, defined around at
least one Census Bureau-defined urbanised area
of 50,000 or more population.
2. Micropolitan statistical areas, defined around at
least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 and less
than 50,000 population.
Adjacent CBSAs that have sufficient employment
interchange (measured using journey-to-work data) are
grouped to form larger combined statistical areas.
Another significant development was the replacement
of a central cities classification with one of principal
cities (defined on the basis of a variety of population
and employment data). While this will capture many of
the previous central cities it will also reflect recent
changes in the US urban landscape by identifying newer
outlying employment centres as principal cities.
Within metropolitan statistical areas the 2000
standards identify two types of counties as a basis for
metropolitan divisions. These are:
1. Main counties, with 65 per cent or more of
employed residents who remain in the county to
work, and with a jobs-to-resident-workers ratio of
0.75 or greater;
2. Secondary counties, with a high jobs-to-resident-
workers ratio (0.75 or greater), but a lower per-
centage of employed residents working within the
county (5064.9 per cent).
Main counties can stand alone as a metropolitan
division or can provide the organising basis for a met-
ropolitan division. Secondary counties must combine
with another secondary county or with a main county
to form the basis of a metropolitan division. The
remaining counties of an MSA are assigned to the main
 CONCEPTS AND THEORY IN URBAN GEOGRAPHY

and secondary counties with which they have the high- the meaning of urban places and the effect of the 1
est commuting interchange. Metropolitan divisions, if urban milieu on peoples lifestyles (and vice versa). 2
present in an MSA, will account for all of its territory. Clearly, although cities exist as physical objects, it is by 3
Comparison of the 2000 metropolitan standards no means certain that they are perceived by their inhab- 4
with the 1990 standards revealed that the new defini- itants in the same way that they are objectively struc- 5
tions accounted for 90 per cent of the US population tured. It is reasonable, therefore, to think of a city as 6
(compared with 80 per cent for the 1990 definitions). having both an objective physical structure and a 7
Clearly, the application of the new urban standards will subjective or cognitive structure. 8
result in a change of status for many US counties. In We each have our own conception of what a city is 9
2003 the US Office of Management and Budget intro- and of our local town or city. The same urban space can 10
duced a new category of places called micropolitan be seen in different ways by residents, tourists, workers, 1
areas (Box 2.1). elderly people, unemployed people, women and chil- 2
Geographers in the UK have sought to define a sim- dren. For the homeless person the city may be a cold, 3
ilar set of daily urban systems. A first attempt identi- anonymous and inhospitable place; for the elderly a 4
fied Standard Metropolitan Labour Areas comprising a spatially restricted world; for the wealthy a cornucopia 5
core plus metropolitan ring that together formed the of opportunity and well-being. Understanding these 6
daily urban system. A development of this system subjective interpretations of the urban is important, 7
added an outer ring consisting of all local authorities because meanings inform us not only about the places 8
that send more commuters to the core in question than to which they refer but also about the people who 9
to any other core, the whole being designated a Local articulate them and the social context in which they live. 20
Labour Market Area (LLMA). A conceptually similar Urban geographers and others have sought to iden- 1
scheme is that based on Functional Urban Regions, tify urban meaning through two main approaches. 2
which have been used to compare changing patterns of 3
urbanisation in Western Europe.4 1. Cognitive mapping. Geographers, planners and 4
environmental psychologists have employed men- 5
tal maps or cognitive mapping techniques to 6
T H E UR B A N A S A Q UA L I T Y explore the subjective world of urban places, with 7
a view to both obtaining a better understanding 8
In contrast to definitions of the city as a physical entity, of human behaviour in the urban environment 9
the concept of the urban as a quality is related more to and improving the quality of urban life.5 Whereas 30
1
2
B OX 2 . 1 3
4
Micropolitan America 5
A place is defined as metropolitan or micropolitan Collectively micropolitan areas account for 690 of 6
based on the size of its centre rather than total the 3,141 US counties; over 28.3 million people (one 7
population. This is relevant to the definition of in ten Americans) live in micropolitan areas. Overall, 8
urban. The traditional view holds that a large core population growth in micropolitan areas lags behind 9
city anchors subsequent suburbanisation and creates that of the USA as a whole. Most fast-growing 40
a metropolitan area. But micropolitan areas reverse micropolitan areas are in the shadow of booming 1
this standard pattern by growing to metropolitan metropolitan areas like Las Vegas NV, Jacksonville 2
scale without a large central city. FL and Dallas TX. Almost all are in the fastest-
3
Some of the largest micropolitan areas can be growing parts of the country, with none in the north-
classed as decentralised cities yet are differentiated east and only one in the Mid-west. 4
from the edge city phenomenon (see Chapter 4) The micropolitan area classification permits a 5
because growth is taking place at a distance from a more sensitive differentiation between urban and rural 6
central city. America. The previous Census Bureau designation of 7
Some micropolitan statistical areas have larger non-metropolitan was too broad to be synonymous 8
populations than the smallest metropolitan statistical with rural areas. Now the remaining non-metropolitan 9
areas but are classified as the former because their counties that fall below the micropolitan level can be 50
core urban areas have fewer than 50,000 people. classified as truly rural. 51
52

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 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY
1 traditional means of cognitive mapping provide
2 subjective spatial representations of urban environ-
3 ments, more recently postmodern approaches seek
4 to map the meanings of the city for different tex-
5 tual communities who share a common under-
6 standing of the text and organise their lives
7 accordingly as, for example, in the creation of a
8 suburban mentality.6
9 2. Urbanism as a way of life. Early efforts to identify
10 urban places in terms of a distinct lifestyle were
1 based on Wirths (1938) concept of a ruralurban
2 continuum.7 This argued that as the size, density
3 and heterogeneity of places increased, so did the
4 level of economic and social disorganisation.
5 Wirth, a member of the Chicago school of human
6 ecology, regarded urbanisation as a process lead-
7 ing to the erosion of the moral order of society due
8 to the concomitant decline of community. He saw
9 the urban as a separate spatial realm with its own
20 environmental influences on individuals, and he
1 contrasted the social disorganisation of urban life
2 (in which much social interaction is of a transitory
3 and superficial nature with unknown others)
4 with the strong extended family links and commu-
5 nities in small settlements and rural areas. More
6 recent perspectives that acknowledge the interpen-
7 etration of social realms have rejected the crude
8 dualism of bipolar concepts such as urbanrural or
9 publicprivate.
30
1 Accordingly, although cities do exert a particular influ-
2 ence on their inhabitants the concept of a ruralurban
3 continuum has been criticised:
4 and enduring connections. As we see in Chapter 18,
5 1. For its Western ethnocentrism (which assumed
6 that the ruralurban change process is universally
7 applicable);
8 2. By studies which reveal the presence of village
9 communities in cities (including Wirths own
40 work on the ghetto);8 and
1 3. For failure to locate the process of urbanisation
2 within the political economy of capitalism (not
3 least the impact of wider social, economic and
4 political changes in rural areas, as demonstrated
5 by the presence of urban societies in supposedly
6 rural areas).9
7 acteristic of the restructuring of many contemporary
8 In seeking to reinterpret the meaning of urban, Harvey
9 (1973, 1985) and Castells (1977) dispensed with the
50 notion of a separate urban realm and concluded that
51 while urbanism (as a way of life associated with resi-
52 dence in an urban area) has a distinctive structure and
2 2
character, it exists within a larger framework created
by the forces of capitalism.10 This means that urban
lifestyles can spread beyond the physical limits of
the city.
The quintessential diversity of urban life is central
to postmodern representations of the city. Informed by
processes of globalisation, social polarisation, cultural
fragmentation and advances in information and commu-
nications technology, these focus on the rise of new cul-
tural groupings and urban spaces, such as those defined
by lifestyle communities.11 Postmodern readings of the
city as text employing urban metaphors, such as the
city as jungle, bazaar, organism and machine,12 produce
a multitude of representations of cities from the perspec-
tives of different populations. In order to understand
the truth of the city we need to acknowledge the reality
of the city as a concrete construction (thing) and as an
abstract representation (idea), and examine how each
influences the form of the other.
T H E S I G N I F I CA N C E O F S PA C E
AND PLACE
Place is part of but different from space. Place is a
unique and special location in space notable for the
fact that the regular activities of human beings occur
there. Moreover, because it is a site of such activities
and all that they entail, place may furnish the basis of
our sense of identity as human beings, as well as for
our sense of community with others. In short, places
are special sites in space where people live and work
and where, therefore, they are likely to form intimate
even in a globalising world a sense of place is of real
importance in peoples daily lives.
Paradoxically, the advent of cyberspace has re-
focused attention on the importance of places in urban
life. There is growing recognition among urban schol-
ars that place is a central concept in the analysis of how
urban areas are constructed and come to have meaning
for their residents. Furthermore, as the constraints of
geographical distance become less important, the spe-
cific features of particular locales are becoming more
important in the locational decisions of businesses and
households. The construction of place is also a char-
cities from being centres of production (for example,
the steeltowns of yesteryear) to being centres of con-
sumption (for example, Las Vegas of today), in the
sense that they provide the context in which goods and
services are compared, evaluated, purchased and used.
 CONCEPTS AND THEORY IN URBAN GEOGRAPHY

Places such as Londons Covent Garden or Fishermans urban spaces occupied by the poor, where time and 1
Wharf in San Francisco obtain a distinctive character space constraints are profoundly real.16 2
that not only reinforces the places sense of identity but 3
transforms the locality into an item of consumption, a 4
process often boosted by city marketing strategies T H E VA L U E O F T H E U R B A N 5
(see Chapter 16). DIMENSION 6
In striving to redefine urban in other than empirical 7
terms, and to explain the meaning of urban life, both The Wirthian association of particular lifestyles with 8
Harvey and Castells rightly rejected notions of spatial different settlement sizes is now regarded as unaccept- 9
fetishism (which assigned causal power to space per se ably simplistic. Some have extended this argument to 10
in determining human action) and emphasised the need claim that the concept of urban has become redundant 1
to examine the role of urban places in capitalist society. on the grounds that, in Western societies at least, we are 2
However, it is important not to dismiss completely the all urban no matter where we live. This has led some 3
power of space. Space is more than a medium in which to conclude that it is neither fruitful nor appropriate to 4
social, economic and political processes operate. The study the city in its own right.17 5
dimensions of space size, density, distance, direction, Leaving aside the fact that this represents a Western 6
territory and location exert powerful influences on view of contemporary society which is not yet applic- 7
urban development and on human interaction. Distance able to all parts of the world, the suggestion that the 8
and direction have a direct effect on social networks, city cannot be a significant unit of study confuses two 9
journeys to work and physical access to place-bound different questions. These are: 20
facilities. The size and density of residential develop- 1
ments have been shown to influence the incidence of 1. Whether cities can be objects of analysis. 2
deviant behaviour and social pathologies. The concept 2. Whether explanations of urban phenomena can 3
of territoriality contributes to the formation of dis- be restricted to the urban level. 4
crete sub-areas within cities, often segregated on ethnic 5
or class lines. The partitioning of space by local gov- As Agnew et al. (1984)18 point out, a negative answer to 6
ernment boundaries has implications for the social the second question does not require a negative answer 7
composition and fiscal health of different areas and to the first. We can reject the idea of urban explanation 8
the quality of life of residents. Competition between while accepting the urban as a valid object of analysis. 9
local administrations to attract desirable developments, Cities are places or, more accurately, conglomerations 30
such as shopping centres, and exclude undesirable of overlapping and interrelated places and, as we 1
facilities, such as mental hospitals, also has a funda- have seen, places matter! Social relations occur in, and 2
mental spatial basis. There is a reciprocal relationship help to constitute, places. Individuals, households, com- 3
between society and space. As Massey (1984 p. 52) munities, companies and public agencies exist and 4
observed, just as there are no purely spatial processes, operate in particular places. Peoples social, economic 5
neither are there any non-spatial social processes.13 and political relations are embedded in the particu- 6
A more recent challenge to the significance of larity of specific places. The results of global-level 7
geographical space has accompanied the advent of structural forces come to ground in particular places. To 8
cyberspaces (such as the Internet), which for some maintain that cities are merely elements in the capital- 9
authors has undermined the relevance conceptual and ist mode of production ignores significant variations 40
actual of real space. It is argued that as a result of between and within urban places, as well as the com- 1
timespace compression, cyberspace negates the plex suite of other social and cultural factors shown to 2
effects of physical separation and produces new space- be involved in the construction and reconstruction of 3
less, placeless social spaces in which people can inter- urban environments.19 4
act.14 While cyberspace undoubtedly has spatial More recent arguments against the urban as a frame 5
implications, the suggestion that it heralds the end of reference reflect those that dismiss the value of 6
of geography is excessive, not least because even space, and contend that advances in telecommunications 7
in advanced societies connections to cyberspace are technologies will lead to the effective dissolution of the 8
unevenly distributed.15 This is illustrated clearly by the city on the grounds that, once time has become instan- 9
contrast between elite, and often physically enclosed, taneous, spatial congregation becomes unnecessary.20 50
communities with extensive links to the global informa- Such technologically deterministic views ignore the rela- 51
tion superhighway and spatially proximate off-line tional links between new information technologies and 52

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 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY

1 urban form which have been apparent ever since the significance of the urban dimension and underlines
2 introduction of the telegraph, wireless and telephone in the value of the study of urban geography.
3 the nineteenth century.21 New technologies contribute to
4 the reconstruction of urban space but do not render it
5 redundant. Visions of the spaceless city greatly over- A B R I E F H I S TO RY O F U R B A N
6 estimate the degree to which virtual reality can substitute GEOGRAPHY
7 for place-based face-to-face interaction.22 As Amin and
8 Graham (1997) conclude, the contemporary city, while Urban geography is an established branch of geography
9 housing vast arrays of telematic entry points into the that attracts researchers and students in significant num-
10 burgeoning worlds of electronic space, is a cauldron bers, and produces a large and expanding volume of
1 of emotional and personal worlds and attachments, an published work to aid our understanding of the city. The
2 engine of reflexivity, trust and reciprocity.23 While advance of urban geography to a central position within
3 many cities and citizens are linked into an electronic the discipline has occurred over the past half-century.
4 non-place urban realm,24 place-based relational net- As Herbert and Johnston (1978 p. 1) noted:
5 works that rely on propinquity and physical interaction
6 the key characteristics of urban places remain central whereas in the early 1950s a separate course on
7 to the experience of human social, economic and urban geography at an English-speaking university
8 cultural life. was quite exceptional, today the absence of such a
9 The fundamental importance of towns and cities course would be equally remarkable; indeed, in many
20 as focal points in contemporary society, in both the institutions students can opt for a group of courses
1 developed and the developing realms, emphasises the treating different aspects of the urban environment.25
2
3 Urban geography is a dynamic subdiscipline that com-
4 prises a combination of past ideas and approaches,
5 current concepts and issues that are still being worked
6 out (Table 2.1). It may be likened to:
7
8 a city with districts of different ages and vitalities.
9 There are some long-established districts dating back
30 to a century ago and sometimes in need of repair;
1 and there are areas which were once fashionable but
2 are so no longer, while others are being rehabilitated.
3 Other districts have expanded recently and rapidly;
4 some are well built, others rather gimcrack.26
5
6 Since the late 1970s the scope of urban geography has
7 expanded rapidly. For some commentators the increased
8 diversity is a source of potential weakness that may lead
9 ultimately to its disintegration. For others, including the
40 present writer, the breadth of perspective strengthens
1 urban geographys position as an integrative focus for
2 research on the city.
3 Urban geographers have approached the study of
4 the city from a number of philosophical perspectives.
5 While the significance of each for the practice of
6 urban geography has changed over time, none of the
7 main approaches has been abandoned completely, and
8 research informed by all perspectives continues to be
9 Plate 2.1 The variety of urban environments is shown by exam- undertaken under the umbrella of urban geography. It
50 ples of waterfront living in (upper) a shanty town built on stilts is important for students of urban geography to be
51 over a coastal marsh in the port city of Manta, Ecuador, and familiar with the different philosophies of science
52 (lower) the gentrified St Katharines Dock in central London which underlie the subject. To aid this understanding

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 CONCEPTS AND THEORY IN URBAN GEOGRAPHY

TA B L E 2 . 1 T H E E X PA N D I N G S C O P E O F U R B A N G E O G R A P H Y 1
2
Systems of cities Cities as systems
3
1900 Urban origins and growth Site and situation of settlements 4
Regional patterns of settlement Urban morphology 5
Townscape analysis 6
Urban ecology 7
Central place theory Social area analysis 8
Settlement classification Factorial ecology 9
Delimitation of the central business district 10
1
Population movements Residential mobility
Migration decisions Retailing and consumer behaviour 2
Suburbanisation Urban imagery 3
4
Urban and regional planning Power and politics 5
Territorial justice
Differential access to services 6
7
The role of cities in the national Urban problems in structural context 8
political economy 9
Edge cities Economic restructuring 20
Counter-urbanisation Poverty and deprivation 1
The inner-city problem 2
Ruralurban migration in the Housing markets and gentrification 3
Third World The urban property market 4
Traffic and transport problems 5
The urban physical environment 6
Housing, health and economy in Third World cities 7
Globalisation of culture and society The urban impact of globalisation 8
The global economy Social construction of urban space 9
The global urban system Cultural diversity in cities 30
World cities and global cities Social justice 1
Megacities Urban liveability
Sustainable cities 2
3
2000 Technopoles Future urban form 4
5
6
we shall structure our discussion of the changing climate.27 Despite their simplicity, these investigations 7
nature of urban geography with reference to the main provided a foundation for the more conceptually 8
epistemological developments in the discipline. refined practice of urban morphological analysis 9
which continues to illuminate patterns of urban growth 40
and change to the present day.28 1
E N V I R O N M E NTA L I S M At the inter-urban scale, studies of regional patterns 2
of settlement focused attention on the importance of 3
During the first half of the twentieth century the major transportation systems.29 Together with the work of land 4
concerns of urban geography reflected the more gen- economists,30 this shifted attention from environmental 5
eral geographical interest in the relationship between factors towards the economics of location. The eco- 6
people and environment, and in regional description. nomic analysis of cities as points in space was developed 7
Early work on urban site and situation, and on the most fully in central place theory.31 At the intra-urban 8
origins and growth of towns, was largely descriptive. scale, work on urban ecology also moved attention from 9
One of the first English-language texts in urban geog- the environment to human behaviour, and introduced a 50
raphy comprised a classification and analysis of over social dimension to urban geography. Nevertheless, at 51
200 towns in terms of their site, situation, relief and mid-twentieth century the focus of urban geography was 52

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 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY

1 primarily on land use and related issues. The first major The new approach led to multivariate classifications
2 paradigm shift to affect urban geography reflected a of settlement types,35 investigations of the ranksize
3 desire to make geographical investigation more scien- rule for the populations of urban places,36 and analyses
4 tific. This led to the introduction of the philosophy of of spatial variations in urban population densities.37
5 positivism. Stimulated by translations of Christallers work, urban
6 geographers devoted attention to modelling settlement
7 patterns and the flows of goods and people between
8 POSITIVISM places.38 Concepts such as distance decay (the attenu-
9 ation of a pattern or process over distance) were also
10 Positivism is characterised by adherence to the scien- introduced in the study of urban phenomena such as
1 tific method of investigation based on hypothesis consumer behaviour, and trip generation and travel pat-
2 testing, statistical inference and theory construction terns.39 The subsequent expansion of computing power
3 (Box 2.2). Although evident in the work of Christaller and development of geographical information systems
4 (1933) and Losch (1954) on the spatial patterning of has ensured that modelling and simulation remain a
5 settlements,32 positivism blossomed in urban geog- vibrant, if minority, area of urban geography.40
6 raphy in the late 1950s with the development of the The new methods of spatial science were also applied
7 spatial analysis school. The redefinition of urban geog- to analysis of the internal structure of cities. The urban
8 raphy as the science of spatial relationships33 was land-use models of the Chicago school of human ecology
9 accompanied by a shift in emphasis away from excep- reflected the positivist philosophy in their proponents
20 tionalism (the study of the unique and particular) belief that human behaviour was determined by ecological
1 towards a nomothetic approach (aimed at a search for principles or natural laws which stated that the most
2 abstract or universal laws). This was aided by the emer- powerful group would obtain the most advantageous
3 gence of quantitative analytical techniques fuelled by position (e.g. the best residential location) in a given
4 the quantitative revolution in geography of the 1950s space. During the 1970s the development of a range of
5 and 1960s.34 multivariate statistical techniques extended the social
6 area approach of the ecologists in the form of factorial
7 ecologies designed to reveal the bases of residential differ-
8 B ox 2 . 2 entiation within the city.41 The positivist spatial science
9 approach was also central to the models of urban structure
30 The assumptions of positivism introduced into geography from neoclassical economics.
1 1. Events that occur within a society or which These were founded on the assumption of Homo econom-
2 involve human decision-making have a icus or the economic rationality of human behaviour. This
3 determinate cause that is identifiable and stated that individual decisions were based on the goal of
4 verifiable. utility maximisation that is, the aim of minimising the
5 2. Decision-making is the result of a set of laws costs involved (usually in terms of time and money) and
to which individuals conform.
6 3. There is an objective world comprising
maximising the benefits.
7 individual behaviour and the results of that For two decades, spatial science was the dominant
8 behaviour which can be observed and recorded paradigm in urban geography. However, during the
9 in an objective manner on universally agreed 1970s a growing awareness among geographers of
40 criteria. alternative philosophies of science led to strong
1 4. The researcher is a disinterested observer. criticism of positivism:
2 5. As in the study of inanimate matter, there is a
3 structure to human society (an organic 1. The adequacy of an approach which focused on
4 whole) that changes in determinate ways spatial form to the neglect of underlying causal
5 according to observable laws. processes was questioned. It was argued that,
6. Application of the laws and theories of
6 positivist social science can be used to
since spatial form was largely the outcome of the
7 alter societies in determinate ways (social prevailing social forces, the focus of urban
8 engineering). research should switch from the study of spatial
9 relations to the study of social relations.
50 Source: adapted from R. Johnston (1983) Philosophy 2. Particular criticism was directed at positivisms
51 and Human Geography London: Arnold mechanistic view of the role of humankind,
52 and its failure to recognise and account for the

2 6
 CONCEPTS AND THEORY IN URBAN GEOGRAPHY

idiosyncratic and subjective values that motivate practice, this means a change from the positivist princi- 1
much human behaviour. ples of statistical inference based on representative 2
3. The science of spatial relations affords no insight random samples of the population to the principle of 3
into the meaning of urban places to their inhabi- logical inference based on unique case studies using 4
tants. To explore this sense of place requires an methods such as ethnography and analysis of literary 5
approach that focuses on the daily activities and texts to demonstrate the social construction of urban 6
perceptions of urban residents. space.47 7
The humanistic perspective has been criticised for 8
One response to a growing dissatisfaction with posi- placing excessive emphasis on the power of individu- 9
tivist science and the poor predictive ability of many als to determine their own behaviour in the city, and 10
spatial models was a move towards direct observation of affording insufficient attention to the constraints on 1
human behaviour and decision-making. This led to the human decision-making. This critique was advanced 2
development of behaviouralism in urban geography.42 most forcefully by proponents of structuralism (see 3
below), who regarded the focus on the individual in 4
society as a distortion of a reality in which peoples 5
B E H AV I O UR A L I S M behaviour is conditioned by forces over which they 6
have little control. 7
The behavioural approach sought to overcome the 8
shortcomings of spatial analysis by highlighting the role 9
of cognitive processes and decision-making in mediat- ST RU C T UR A L I S M 20
ing the relationship between the urban environment 1
and peoples spatial behaviour. Urban geographers Structuralism is a generic term for a set of principles 2
employed cognitive mapping techniques to examine a and procedures designed to expose the underlying 3
host of issues, including migration,43 consumer behav- causes of revealed patterns of human behaviour. In 4
iour,44 residential mobility,45 residential preferences, practice this means that explanations for observed phe- 5
perceived neighbourhood areas and images of the city.46 nomena cannot be found through empirical study of the 6
The behavioural approach introduced greater phenomena alone but must be sought by examination 7
realism into urban studies, as the emphasis on empiri- of prevailing social, economic and political structures. 8
cal investigation of human behaviour countered the Structural analysis in urban geography has been 9
abstract nature of spatial theory. But behaviouralism based primarily on the work of Marx.48 According to 30
did not break away wholly from the positivist tradition. the Marxian or political economy approach, every 1
Much of the methodology of positivism was retained, society is built upon a mode of production a set 2
and although focused on exposing the values, goals of institutional practices by which the society organises 3
and motivations of human behaviour, it was still con- its productive activities, provides for its material 4
cerned with seeking law-like generalisations. As a needs, and reproduces the socio-economic structure. 5
consequence, behaviouralism has attracted much of the Capitalism is a specific mode of production (others 6
same criticism that has been levelled at positivism, in being slavery, feudalism, socialism and communism). 7
particular its failure to recognise and account for the Cities are viewed as an integral part of the capitalist 8
untidiness, ambiguity and dynamism of everyday life. mode of production by providing an environment 9
favourable to the fundamental capitalist goal of 40
accumulation. This is the process by which the value 1
H UM A N I S M of capital is increased through the continual reinvest- 2
ment of profits from earlier investments. The effect of 3
The humanistic approach views the individual as a pur- this expansionary dynamic is most visible in the chang- 4
poseful agent of change in the city rather than a passive ing urban land market and, as we shall see later, in 5
respondent to external stimuli. Although it is acknowl- processes such as urban redevelopment, gentrification 6
edged that people do not act free of constraints, the and suburbanisation. 7
humanist philosophy accords central importance to The political economy approach entered urban geog- 8
human awareness, agency, consciousness and creativity. raphy in the early 1970s in response to the continuing 9
The aim of a humanistic approach is to understand social problems of urban areas, highlighted in the USA 50
human social behaviour using methodologies that by the civil rights movement. In seeking to uncover the 51
explore peoples subjective experience of the world. In structural forces underlying observed social problems 52

2 7
 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY
1 located in the dynamics of the capitalist system, it was
2 argued that:
3 example, access to public housing, or the allocation
4 1. Capitalist society is characterised by conflict
5 between socio-economic groups over the distribu-
6 tion of resources. A key resource is power, most
7 of which is held by an elite who are able to
8 manipulate the majority.
9 2. Since quantitative spatial analysis describes
10 patterns but fails to reveal underlying causes, any
1 proposals or policies based on this analysis will
2 be supportive of the status quo and unable to lead
3 to progressive social change.
4
5 Much attention has been directed to the analysis of urban
6 property and housing markets, and studies of residential
7 patterns.49 Notwithstanding the exercise of constrained
8 choice by individuals, the political economy approach
9 interpreted urban residential segregation primarily as a
20 result of decisions by those with power in the property
1 market, including building society managers,50 estate
2 agents51 and local authority housing managers.52 Harvey
3 (1976)53 offered an incisive exposition of the relation-
4 ship between urban residential patterns and the dominant
5 political economy of monopoly capitalism.
6 The dominance assigned to social structure over
7 human agency in the structuralist perspective was
8 rejected by humanistic geographers. Other critics have
9 attacked the emphasis attached to class divisions in
30 society to the neglect of other lines of cleavage such as
1 gender, ethnicity and sexuality, all of which cut across
2 class boundaries and which exert a significant influ-
3 ence on urban lifestyle and the processes of urban
4 restructuring.54 Nevertheless, the political economy
5 approach has had a major impact in urban geography
6 and has provided real insight into the economic and
7 political forces underlying urban change.
8 disability.62
9 In addition to fundamental societal divisions based
40 M A N A GER I A L I S M
1 focus particular attention on social cleavages based on
2 Doubts over the analytical value of class in modern
3 societies led some writers to abandon Marxs class-
4 based analysis in favour of Webers concept of social
5 closure a process by which social groups seek to
6 maximise their benefits by restricting access to
7 resources and opportunities to a limited circle of eli-
8 gibles. (The practice of exclusionary zoning of land London felt obliged to conform to working practices
9 use in the USA city provides a good example.) This
50 perspective on power and conflict in society is closely
51 related to the concept of urban managerialism, which
52 focuses attention on the power of urban managers
2 8
professionals and bureaucrats to influence the socio-
spatial structure of cities through their control of, for
of mortgage finance.55 Structuralists are dismissive
of managerialisms focus on intermediate-level
decision-makers within a social formation. However,
at the interface between consumers and allocators of
scarce resources, managerialism introduces a human-
istic perspective that can help to expose the operation
and rationalities of the distributive process in cities.
P O ST M O D ER N I S M
Postmodern theory began to exert an influence on
urban geography in the late 1980s and 1990s. The
postmodern perspective is characterised by the rejec-
tion of grand theory and an emphasis on human
difference. This distances postmodernism from both
positivism, with its search for general laws and mod-
els, and structuralism, with its base in grand theory
relating to the capitalist mode of production. The most
visible impact of postmodern thinking on the city is in
its architecture, where the concrete functionalism of
the modern era is replaced by a diversity of styles. In
terms of the social geography of the city, the most
important contribution of a postmodern perspective is
how its focus on difference, uniqueness and individu-
ality sensitises us to the needs and situations of all
members of a society. This emphasis on the need to
study urban phenomena from the multiple viewpoints
of diverse individuals and groups was an integral part
of the cultural turn in urban geography (Box 2.3),
and has been reflected in studies of gender differences
in urban labour markets,56 as well as of the spaces of
exclusion occupied by minority groups defined by
class,57 marital status,58 sexuality,59 race,60 age61 and
on class and ethnicity postmodernism has helped
gender and sexuality as presented in feminist geogra-
phy and in queer theory. Men and women not only use
cityscapes in different ways but experience and per-
ceive them differently. City environments both create
and reflect gender roles in society. McDowall (1995)
describes how female merchant bankers in the City of
of an aggressive male dominated environment.63
Clearly, gender roles in the city reflect not only sexual
differences but the system of power relations. Under a
system of patriarchy the dominant social arrangements
 CONCEPTS AND THEORY IN URBAN GEOGRAPHY

1
B ox 2 . 3 2
3
The cultural turn in urban geography 4
The cultural turn of the 1980s and 1990s high- urban expression of sprawling low-density suburbia 5
lighted the study of culture in cities. Culture, in this with that of a compact, highly regulated form of 6
context, is best regarded as ways of life it is a development. A citys dominant value systems are 7
process of social significance wherein meaning is fluid contested for example, a multi-storey office build- 8
and contested as it emerges from the shared discourse ing may represent both an icon of financial power 9
(sets of meanings) of different human groups. Culture and a symbol of capitalist oppression. 10
viewed as a way of life comprises the interrelated A key impact of the cultural turn in urban geog- 1
elements of: raphy was greater recognition of the voices of 2
diverse others and incorporation of the concerns of
Values, i.e. peoples ideals and aspirations, e.g. 3
those previously excluded from urban geographical
personal freedom. 4
study. Conversely critics point to over-emphasis on
Norms, i.e. rules and principles that govern peoples 5
representation, ideology and meaning and extensions
lives, e.g. parking restrictions. 6
into literary and psychoanalytical theory as under-
Objects, i.e. material things that people use, e.g. 7
playing key issues of power, inequality and material
automobiles.
welfare. 8
The cultural values of a society may be read from 9
the text of the cityscape. Compare, for example, an 20
1
2
3
and institutional structures promote domination of criticism from socially concerned urban geographers 4
men over women and of masculinity over femininity. who decry postmodernisms inability to address the 5
Cities can also provide supportive environments for real problems of disadvantaged urban residents. 6
formation of feminist associations to oppose patri- 7
archical social systems as evident in the increasing 8
representation of women in the spheres of business T R A N S N AT I O N A L I S M 9
and politics. 30
A postmodern perspective, and in particular queer Transnational urbanism refers to contemporary forms 1
theory, emphasises the socially constructed character of urbanism resulting from the forces of globalisation. 2
of sexual identities. Cities can be places of repression Particular attention is focused on transnational flows 3
and sites of liberation for those whose sexuality trans- of migration and cultural practices that link residents 4
gresses conventional boundaries. Gay and lesbian in sending and receiving localities in a form of 5
spaces comprising clubs, retail outlets and areas of transnational social formation. 6
residential gentrification have contributed to the According to Smith (2001 p. 4), social networks of 7
establishment of alternative sexual identities, as well transnational migrants comprise one of the key cir- 8
as to creation of a pink economy and communities in cuits of communicative action connecting localities 9
many cities.64 Postmodern perspectives on gender and beyond borders and constituting translocal ties across 40
sexuality in the city also illustrate that planes of the globe.66 Transnational urbanism is evident in 1
division are cross-cutting and overlapping. For exam- many ways. Examples range from the economic and 2
ple, those who do not qualify on class, ethnic, age or cultural links between small rural villages in Mexico 3
gender are as likely to be excluded from a gay enclave and large US cities (as in the flow of remittances and 4
as from any other neighbourhood where their identity communications between places); to political activities 5
marks them as an other. of transnational networks of urban pressure groups, 6
A major criticism directed at the postmodern such as Slum/Shack Dwellers International, a network 7
approach to the city is its apparently unlimited concerned with mutual learning through shared 8
relativism. Because it privileges the views of all indi- experience that has federations in several countries 9
viduals, there appears to be no limit to the range of (see Chapter 29). The perspective of transnational 50
possible interpretations of any situation there is, in urbanism helps illuminate the commonality within the 51
effect, no real world.65 This has drawn particular diversity of our urban world. 52

2 9
 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY
1 P O ST C O L O N I A L I S M
2 approach, in the consideration afforded to issues of
3 Although the colonial era is largely past the attributes
4 of the period may persist in Western representations of
5 non-Western societies both in the Third World and
6 within cities in the West. The postcolonial stance of
7 critical engagement with the after-effects of colonial-
8 ism attempts to expose the ethnocentricism of the
9 dominant culture.67 In the urban context, postcolonial
10 theory contributes to understanding of cities in both
1 colonising and colonised states. This is evident, for
2 example, in the imprint of colonialism in cities of
3 former colonial powers, as in the cultural and ethnic
4 hybridity introduced by Algerian migrants in Paris,
5 Puerto Ricans in New York City, and Jamaicans in
6 London. Equally a postcolonial perspective can high-
7 light the construction and reconstruction of cities in
8 former colonies in practices ranging from promotion
9 of heritage conservation in Singapore to creation of a
20 new capital city (Lilongwe) in Malawi as a conscious
1 break with the colonial past.
2 The particular value of a postcolonial approach to
3 urban study is its sensitivity to the diversity of urban
4 experience and its advocacy of a global perspective
5 that views different forms of urbanism as integral to an
6 understanding of the contemporary world.
7 Each of the major philosophical perspectives consid-
8 ered can claim to illuminate some part of the complex
9 MORAL PHILOSOPHY
30
1 An approach based on moral philosophy or ethics
2 represents an emergent perspective in urban geogra-
3 phy. This seeks to examine critically the moral bases
4 of society. Central to the ethical perspective is the
5 concept of normative judgement that focuses on what
6 should be rather than what is.68 This involves critical
7 evaluation of actual situations against normative
8 conditions as defined by ethical principles. In urban
9 geography, researchers are confronted constantly by
40 ethical issues. Questions addressed include the extent
1 to which there is equity in the distribution of welfare
2 services, employment opportunities and decent hous-
3 ing for different social groups in the city; how to inter-
4 pret the causes of inner-city poverty (including the
5 relative weight attached to personal deficiencies of
6 the population, or structurally induced constraints on
7 behaviour); and the social acceptability of existing
8 urban conditions for example, what is an acceptable
9 level of air pollution or of infant mortality?
50 Although moral perspectives on the city formed
51 an important part of social science in the nineteenth
52 century,69 the foundations of the current ethical per-
3 0
spective in urban geography lie in the humanistic
social justice within the political economy perspective
of the early 1970s,70 and in more recent critiques of
the ethics of market-oriented individualism.71 There is
also a degree of commonality with the postmodernist
emphasis on the importance of difference (seen, for
example, in feminist critiques of male-centred inter-
pretations of what constitutes a liveable urban envi-
ronment).72 Most fundamentally, however, the ethical
perspective rejects the postmodernist denial of the
possible existence of generally applicable moral bases
for societal behaviour. Further, an ethical perspective
contends that in a society not all manifestations of
otherness should be fostered; some (racial discrimi-
nation or child prostitution, for example) should be
constrained.73 As Smith (1994 p. 294) observed, while
acknowledging the importance of difference and
otherness, we should not allow uncritical deference
to other peoples views and cultures to deny the possi-
bility that some kinds of behaviour, ways of life and
even moral codes are wrong.74
I N S E A R C H O F C O M M O N G RO U N D
dynamics and structure of the city. But no single
approach provides a full explanation of urban phenom-
ena. The question of whether an accommodation is pos-
sible among the different approaches has been polarised
between those who accept a pluralist stance agreeing
to differ on the grounds that there is no single way to
gain knowledge and those who insist on the need
to make a unitary choice of theoretical framework due
to the perceived superiority of a particular theory of
knowledge. Others have sought to combine approaches
in different ways.75 The latter route, which incorporates
a search for a middle ground between the generalisation
of positivism and the exceptionalism of postmodern
theory, is the approach favoured here.
The analytical value of employing different theoret-
ical perspectives is illustrated in Table 2.2, with
reference to the question of urban residential structure.
To fully understand urban phenomena in the contem-
porary world requires consideration of both the general
structural processes related to the mode of produc-
tion and an empirically informed appreciation of the
particular social formations that emerge from the inter-
action of structural forces and local context. The impor-
tance of employing a combined multi-layered realist
TA B L E 2 . 2 A N A LY T I CA L VA L U E O F D I F F E R E N T T H E O R E T I CA L P E R S P E C T I V E S 1
I N U R B A N G E O G R A P H Y: T H E E X A M P L E O F U R B A N R E S I D E N T I A L S T R U C T U R E 2
3
Theoretical perspective Interpretative insight 4
Environmentalism Although the notion of environmental determinism is now 5
discredited, the influence of environmental factors on 6
residential location can be seen in the problems of building 7
in hazardous zones, and in the effects of architectural 8
design on social behaviour (see examples in Chapter 19) 9
Positivism Uses statistical analysis of objective social, economic and 10
demographic data (e.g. via factorial ecology) to reveal 1
areas in the city that display similar residential 2
characteristics (see examples in Chapter 18) 3
Behaviouralism Addresses the key question of why people and households 4
relocate by examining the motives and strategies 5
underlying the intra-urban migration of different social 6
groups (see examples in Chapter 10) 7
Humanism Explains how different individuals and social groups interact 8
with their perceived environments, as in the differential 9
use of public and private spaces within a city or 20
residential neighbourhood (see examples in Chapter 19) 1
Managerialism Illustrates how urban residential structure is affected by 2
the ability of professional and bureaucratic gatekeepers 3
to control access to resources, such as social housing or 4
mortgage finance (see examples in Chapter 11) 5
6
Structuralism Examines the ways in which political and economic
forces and actors (e.g. financial institutions, property 7
speculators and estate agents) influence the residential 8
structure of a city through their activities in urban land 9
and housing markets (see examples in Chapter 7) 30
1
Postmodernism Explores the place of different social groups in the
residential mosaic of the city by focusing on the 2
particular lifestyles and residential experiences of 3
various populations, such as ethnic minorities, 4
affluent groups, gays, the elderly, disabled, and the 5
poor (see examples in Chapter 18) 6
Transnationalism Emphasises the interrelationships between cultural and 7
residential environments across the globe as a 8
consequence of globalisation, as evidenced in links 9
between Third World rural villages and minority ethnic 40
communities in Western cities (see Chapter 21) 1
Postcolonialism Illuminates the effects of the colonial era on contemporary 2
urban environments in both former colonising and 3
colonised states as, for example, in the continuing 4
influence of Western planning regulations on the form of 5
urban development in Third World cities (see Chapter 22) 6
Moral philosophy Critically evaluates the ethical underpinnings of issues such 7
as homelessness or the incidence of slums and squatter 8
settlements (see examples in Chapter 25) 9
50
51
52
 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY

1 perspective76 that encompasses the global and local would focus on the behaviour and biases of formal
2 scales, social structure and human agency, and theory organisations as well as the informal arrangements by
3 and empirical investigation in seeking to interpret the which public and private interests operate to influence
4 city informs the organisation and content of this book. government decisions. The differential socio-spatial
5 distribution of benefits and disbenefits in the city is
6 also an important area of investigation in urban
7 L E V E L S O F A N A LY S I S I N geography.
8 URBAN GEOGRAPHY
9
10 As we have seen, the character of urban environments THE REGION
1 is the outcome of the interplay of a host of private and
2 public interests operating at a variety of geographical The spread of urban influences into surrounding rural
3 scales. In order to understand the geography of towns areas and, in particular, the spatial expansion of cities
4 and cities, therefore, it is necessary to look both within have introduced concepts such as urban region, metropo-
5 and beyond the settlement, and to examine the com- lis, metroplex, conurbation and megalopolis into urban
6 plex of factors involved in urban change at all levels of geography. Issues appropriate to this level of analysis
7 the globallocal continuum. include the ecological footprint of the city, land-use
8 Although the factors and processes involved in conflict on the urban fringe, growth management
9 urban development are not confined to any discrete strategies and forms of metropolitan governance.
20 level of the globallocal spectrum, the concept of
1 levels of analysis offers a useful organising frame-
2 work which simplifies the complexity of the real world T H E N AT I O N A L S YST E M O F C I T I E S
3 and illustrates some of the issues of concern to urban
4 geography at different spatial scales. We can identify Cities are affected by nationally defined goals estab-
5 five main levels of analysis. lished in pursuit of objectives that extend beyond urban
6 concerns. Successive New Right governments in the
7 UK (under Margaret Thatcher and John Major) and
8 T H E NE I G H B O UR H O O D the USA (under Ronald Reagan and George Bush)
9 followed an economic policy that focused on national
30 The neighbourhood is the area immediately around economic development largely irrespective of its
1 ones home; it usually displays some homogeneity in consequences for the growth or decline of individual
2 terms of housing type, ethnicity or socio-cultural val- urban areas. Cities were encouraged to become more
3 ues. Neighbourhoods may offer a locus for the forma- competitive to attract inward investment. National-
4 tion of shared interests and development of community level policy guidelines, incentives in the shape of com-
5 solidarity. Issues of relevance to the urban geographer petitive grants, and financial and other controls over the
6 at this level include the processes of local economic actions of local government have a direct influence on
7 decline or revitalisation, residential segregation, levels urban decision-making and management. In order to
8 of service provision and the use of neighbourhood comprehend processes and patterns of urban change,
9 political organisations as part of the popular struggle to geographers need to have an understanding of national
40 control urban space. policy and the ways in which it affects the inter- and
1 intra-urban geography of the state.
2
3 THE CITY
4 T H E WO R L D S YST E M O F C I T I E S
5 Cities are centres of economic production and con-
6 sumption, arenas of social networks and cultural activ- The concept of a world system of cities reflects the
7 ities, and the seat of government and administration. growing interdependence of nations and cities within the
8 Urban geographers examine the role of a city in the global political economy. In this urban system, world
9 regional, national and international economy, and how cities occupy a distinctive niche owing to their role as
50 the citys socio-spatial form is conditioned by its role political and financial control centres. This status is evi-
51 (for example, as a financial centre or manufacturing dent in the concentration of advanced producer services
52 base). Study of the distribution of power in the city such as education, R&D, banking and insurance,

3 2
 CONCEPTS AND THEORY IN URBAN GEOGRAPHY

accounting, legal services, advertising and real estate and local forces in the production and re-production of 1
services. Drawing on a world cities perspective enables urban environments. The need for such a perspective is 2
the urban geographer to reframe many urban questions reinforced by the process of globalisation, which, as we 3
previously defined in the context of the city or regional have seen, emphasises the linkages between different 4
boundaries. This is illustrated graphically by the way in levels of analysis. In particular, the global and the local 5
which investment decisions by managers in a Japanese- must be regarded not as analytical opposites but as two 6
owned multinational company with headquarters in New sides of the same coin. The process of globalisation 7
York can lead to job losses and deprivation at the neigh- underscores the need for urban geographers to employ a 8
bourhood level in Liverpool or Lagos. multi-level interdisciplinary perspective in the search for 9
In studying the contemporary city, urban geographers urban explanation. 10
must remain aware of the relationship between global 1
2
3
4
5
FURTHER READING 6
7
BOOKS J O UR N A L A RT I C L E S 8
9
B. Berry and J. Wheeler (2005) Urban Geography in America A. Amin and S. Graham (1997) The ordinary city Transactions
20
19502000 New York: Routledge of the Institute of British Geographers 22, 41129
1
K. Cox and R. Golledge (1981) Behavioural Problems in B. Berry (1964) Cities as systems within systems of cities
Geography Revisited London: Methuen Papers and Proceedings of the Regional Science 2
D. Gregory and J. Urry (1985) Social Relations and Spatial Association 13, 14763 3
Structures London: Macmillan. M. Dear and S. Flusty (1998) Postmodern urbanism Annals of 4
D. Harvey (1973) Social Justice and the City London: Arnold the Association of American Geographers 88(1), 5072 5
D. Harvey (1985) The Urbanisation of Capital Oxford: M. Gottdeiner (2000) Lefebvre and the bias of academic 6
Blackwell urbanism City 4(1), 93100 7
D. Ley and M. Samuels (1978) Humanistic Geography London: F. Schaefer (1953) Exceptionalism in geography: a 8
Croom Helm methodological examination Annals of the Association of 9
S.A. Marston, B. Towers, M. Cadwallader and A. Kirby (1989) American Geographers 43, 22649
30
The urban problematic, in G. Gaile and C. Willmott (eds) D. Walmsley (2000) Community, place and cyberspace
1
Geography in America Columbus OH: Merrill, 65172 Australian Geographer 31(1), 519
R. Peet (1998) Modern Geographical Thought Oxford: L. Wirth (1938) Urbanism as a way of life American Journal of 2
Blackwell Sociology 44, 124 3
4
5
6
7
8
9
KEY CONCEPTS 40
1
Meaning of urban Positivism 2
Urbanisation Behaviouralism 3
Urbanism Humanism 4
Ruralurban continuum Structuralism 5
Space and place Managerialism 6
Cyberspace Postmodernism 7
Social processes Moral philosophy 8
Spatial processes Levels of analysis 9
Environmentalism 50
51
52

3 3
 THE STUDY OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY

1 S T U DY Q U E S T I O N S
2
3 1. What do you understand by the term urban?
4 2. Consider the value of an urban geographical perspective for understanding contemporary towns and cities.
5 3. With the aid of relevant examples, identify the concerns of the urban geographer at different levels of the
6 globallocal spectrum.
7 4. Dr Johnson (170984) said, When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all
8 that life can afford, yet Shelley (17921822) thought that Hell is a city much like London. Make a list of the
9 positive and negative features of urban life.
10 5. With reference to appropriate examples examine the view that large cities concentrate diversity.
1 6. Select any one of the major theoretical perspectives (such as positivism, structuralism or postmodernism) and
2 write a reasoned critique of its value for the study of urban geography.
3
4
5
6
7
8 P RO J E C T
9
Select a major academic journal dealing with urban issues (e.g. Urban Studies or Urban Geography) and
20
undertake a content analysis over a period of time to illustrate the changing focus of the subject. For each of
1
the journal issues sampled you should classify the papers by their main theme. This information can then be
2
tabulated and/or graphed to indicate the percentage coverage of different themes and hence the changing
3
emphasis of urban geography over time. You should expect to find some enduring issues, some that decline in
4
importance, as well as new entries to the field.
5
6
7
8
9
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
40
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
50
51
52

3 4