PowerPoint presentation on urbanization, urbanism (city) life and the metropolis in a globalizing world. Covers the rise of mega-cities and some sociological aspects of urban life; with many pictures, themes and key social theorists.

1. Cities and
Urban Life:
Globalization and the
Modern Metropolis
Accompaniment
to the superb
Giddens and
Sutton (2013)
(left) Chapter 6,
with an
assortment of
additional
accompanying
resources

2. .
18th century Paris:
the original modern metropolis

3. .
(Top left) The
straight,
organized
boulevards of the
modern
metropolis
(Below) The
Parisian arcades:
the world’s first
‘shopping malls’
displaying
consumer goods
from around
France’s
colonized world
In the 18th century, Paris was
home to between 500,000 and 1
million people.
It was, to most visitors,
“shocking” in size; to many
“wondrous and beautiful”, for
others “the worst kind of hell.”
(G&S2013: 205)

4. .
• .
New York City:
A major hub for international diplomacy,
Fundamental to global popular culture,
Melting-pot (or “salad bowl” ) of global ethnicities

5. .
Crucially, NYC is home
to Wall Street- the
“command centre” of
the global, free-market
economy

6. .
Tokyo:
The most populous, and biggest, metropolis in the world; a megalopolis of epic
proportions,
Home to the world’s 2nd-largest stock exchange,
A “major cultural centre with many museums, art galleries and festivals”

7. How does 18th century Paris compare to
the modern “mega city”?

8. .
By 21st century standards, 18th century Paris was
unremarkable; comparable to Dublin (Ireland),
Turin (Italy) and Danang (Vietnam)- all
of which have around 1million inhabitants

9. .Tokyo, by contrast, has somewhere
between 35 and 39 million
people, depending on the definition of city
boundaries
Today, there are 24 megacities; 12 of
which have more than 20million, with two (Tokyo
and Guangzhou) already over 30million

10. .
Please refer to the excellent “Rise of the Megacities”
Guardian interactive resource:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/interactive/2012/oct/04/rise-of-megacities-
interactive

11. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-
tLNOH8ulN5g/Tx8J1Lmw2cI/AAAAAAAA
AE0/iILvFyVZe8s/s1600/megacities.jpg
To better
“zoom in”
please visit:

12. .
G&S (2013): “Large cities
provide unrivalled
work
opportunities and
cultural
experiences and
yet…many find them
lonelyand
unfriendlyplaces.”

13. .
Urban life is at once intensely social, and hopelessly anonymous
Unlike those of rural, agrarian societies (across time and space), urban dwellers frequently
interact with strangers, or vague acquaintances

14. .
G&S (2013): “In a city or town, think about the number of times
you interact everyday with people you
do not know…”

15. .
“…the list might include the bus
driver, shop workers, students and
even people with whom you
exchange
‘pleasantries’ with
on the street.”

16. Urban Studies:
The study of the metropolis’ development; and the lifestyles and personality
type that characterizes modern cities
Urbanization and urbanism are synonymous with modernity, and as such were as hotly
debated by the classical social theorists as they are today.
A&G (2013): “A useful way of evaluating urban theories is to assess the way they handle
the ‘four Cs of urban experience’:
1- culture (the built environment, belief systems, cultural production)
2- consumption (of public and private goods and services)
3- conflict (over resources and development plans
4- community (the social life and make-up of populations)”

17. The “metropolis” in classical social theory
• ‘metropolis’ (n) = mother city (Latin)  applies to all ‘central hub’ cities of
sizes variant according to the time in history (unlike the term ‘mega city’, or
‘megalopolis’ , which is widely used for cities strictly over 10 million)
• Hence the “metropolis sociology” of theorists writing centuries ago is still
relevant despite the huge differences in size; the metropolis
still performs similar functions
Metropolis=
mētēr
(mother)
+ polis (city)

18. Ferdinand Tonnies (1887):
Gemeinschaft and gesselschaft
• Study of effects of urbanization on social bonds and relations, and
community solidarity

19. Gemeinschaft
“Community bonds”
• gemeinschaft= the pre-modern, rural/agrarian way of life; strong
community ties
• very personal and often lifelong relationships between
neighbors/community members
• “Sense of duty and commitment” between them
Tonnies grew up in rural Germany,
and moved to the city as a young adult

20. Gesselschaft
“Associational bonds”
• The modern, metropolitan way of life
• People bonding through “association”; which was often “short-
lived, transitory and instrumental” (A&G 2013)
• As interactionists like Goffman have shown, urbanism presents a
complex minefield of often short, but nonetheless crucial,
encounters;

21. .
• Ties based on short-term circumstance rather than the
deep, holistic bonds of the rural way of life
• Modern urbanites could not depend on each other in the
same way as rural folk; and relationships are means-t0-
ends rather than pure and holistic
Activity:
Tonnies’ theory is similar to Durkheim’s
notion of mechanical and _______
similarity, and Parsons’ ________
variables’. Please revise these and note
the links between the theories.

22. Georg Simmel (1903):
The Metropolis and Mental Life
• Tonnies, Durkheim and Weber described the effects of
the metropolis on society; but what about the
individual?
• Simmel is unique among the “founding fathers” in his more- “socio-
psychological” approach, which later resonated in the work of Erving
Goffman
See Classic Studies 6.1
Page 207

23. .
• Simmel held that the rapid pace of city life, with it’s
bombardment of “external stimuli” produced a
strange effect on the individual
• These “external stimuli” included buildings,
monuments, art, consumer goods and other
people

24. .• Metropolitan individuals develop a
“blasé attitude”
• they are disinterested and bored despite what –in
cities like Berlin, London and Paris- was the
pinnacle of human advancement
• Individuals “distance themselves
from each other emotionally
and physically”; leading to what could be
seen as coldness, unfriendliness or impersonality

25. .• Simmel held that this attitude had an ancient, evolutionary cause; it
was a natural need for an individual to :
“…preserve the autonomyand individuality of his
existence” in the face of what –for both “primitive” and “modern”
individuals were often overwhelming circumstances
- In other words, the battle to preserve oneself and not be
dominated or swallowed up by one’s environment
Full text:
http://www.altruists.org/static/files/the%20metropolis%20and%20mental%20life%20(
georg%20simmel).htm

26. The Chicago School and the metropolis
• 1920s-1940s: theorists of the University of Chicago e.g.
Robert Park and Louis Wirth are very influential still
today
• Two key areas: (i) urban ecology
(ii) urbanism
• (i) Urban ecology: ecology is a physical
science of the adaptation of biological organisms to their
environment
• In nature, organisms form systems and equilibriums
• The Chicago School studied the metropolis in these terms;
how they appear, grow, and operate

27. .
• For example, cities appear and develop initially based on
natural resources e.g. water, fertile soil, or man-made resources
like railways or trade routes
• Within the metropolis, biological notions of
competition, invasion and
succession apply as cities become ordered into zones
based on individuals and families’ adaptation to the social and
economic (i.e. natural) system

28. .
• Robert Park (1952):
“a city is … a great sorting mechanism
which (automatically, naturally) selects out of
the population as a whole individuals
best suited to live in a particular
region or milieu”
Cities tend to form rings, and within
these rings class-based
segments

29. .
• e.g. in the late-modern city centre
are big-business
headquarters and stores, and older
private homes;
• further out are larger
residential neighborhoods
for working classes and less
“important” commercial properties;
• and even further out are
“suburbs” mainly for
middle-classeswhich
typically have less commercial
properties nearby

30. .(ii) Urbanism the study of the urban way of
life
• The same tradition as Weber,
Simmeland Tonniespreviously
• Louis Wirth (1938): again, urban life features
more fleeting, short-term,
associational, contacts: he called
these “secondary” rather than the “primary”
ones that dominate rural life

31. .
• City life is much more
“fast-paced”
• G&S(2013):
“Competition
prevails over cooperation and
social relationships appear flimsy
and brittle”

32. .
• ‘urbanism’ begins in the city, but is a general form of
modern social existence spreads somewhat
to the countryside also as more and more rural
people visit the city and have friends and kin there
• Wirth (1938) did however find some positives: cities were places
of increased tolerance, diversity, choice
and progress
Activity
using examples from your home
city, provide some real-life
examples of Wirth (1938),
Simmel (1903) or Tonnies
(1897)s’ points

33. .
Criticisms of the
pessimism of Wirth (1938),
Simmel (1903) and Tonnies
(1897):
- Their urbanism is that only of their
home countriese.g. Germany
and the USA; it doesn’t necessarily apply to
the metropolis of the
contemporary
developing world e.g.
Sri Lanka, Vietnam

34. .
- The impersonality and lack of
community may have been very
exaggerated:
communities do exist
within the metropolis, and many
people make many more
“real” friendships there
than they would in the countryside
- Urban life presents opportunity for
membership of a plethora of
clubsand associations
Activity
(a) using examples
from your home
city, provide
some real-life
examples of
these criticisms
(b) Think of one
more criticism
e.g. regarding
the fast pace of
life