How does the study of Urban Geography contribute to our understanding of the nature of the city? of the possibilities of the ideal city? How does theology interface with urban geography?

1. Theology &
Urban
Geography

2. Discerning the city
CITY TRANSFORMATION INTO WHAT?
But how do we discern what the ideal city
should look like in our context?
Discernment is an ancient Christian spiritual
discipline and an urban discipline.
It is collective. It listens to the wisdom of God ,
be it found in truth-seeking researchers in their
discipline or among godly policymakers
CITY TRANSFORMATION AS A GOAL
SInce the Garden ends in the city, we perceive
that God is an urbanizing God.
So we wish to see our cities reflect the themes
of the City of God and of the Ideal City. That is a
theological vision.
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3. Hello!
I am Dr Viv Grigg
I have been seeking
transformation of cities for 45
years. And slums.
You can find me at
viv@urbanleaders.org
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4. EVERY CITY HAS
A PURPOSE(S).

5. “ How do we discern city
purposes? How do we speak
of ethics to them?
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6. Discernment of a city is collective
▸ It comes form those who have wisdom and
understanding and are godly
▸ Such have become experts in their particular
fields
▸ But are spiritual, so understand the spiritual
implications of their academics or their
activism.
▸ Such listen with humility to others (James 3:16)
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7. Is critical in discerning:
▸ Spiritual history and
activity in the city
▸ In inviting God to act
▸ In seeking his breaking
of sin, and strongholds.
Collective Prayer
Is insufficient for discernment
Discernment requires both
spirituality and accuracy.
Experts, each in their fields are
trained to discern truth
accurately.
At city levels, it is not just words
of knowledge needed but the
collective wisdom of the wise. 7

8. Two major themes that
dominate its study.
• problems relating to the
spatial distribution of cities
and the patterns of
movement and links that
connect them across space.
• patterns of distribution and
interaction of people and
businesses within cities.
Themes of Urban Geography: City
Systems Analysis
Different levels of analysis.
Urban geographers must look
at the city:
• on the neighborhood
• citywide level,
• as well as how it relates to
other cities on a regional,
national and global level.
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9. Contributions of Urban Geography
The Study of Spatial
Arrangements
What are the
Geographic
arrangements of the
City
A Theology of Space
The economic
arrangement of
spaces
The social
arrangement of
spaces
The spiritual
arrangement of
spaces
Theology of Space?
Who owns the
land?
What is the use of
the land?
Is space
supporting
humanness? .
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10. Definition of a City • a
concentration of people
• with a similar way of life based
on job type, cultural preferences,
political views and lifestyle.
• Specialized land uses, a variety
different institutions and use of
resources also help in
distinguishing one city from
another.
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11. Some Elements of Urban
Geography
Urban geography is a branch of human
geography exploring aspects of cities:
• location and space
• spatial processes that create patterns observed in urban areas.
• the site, evolution and growth, and classification of villages,
towns and cities
• their location and importance in relation to different regions and
cities.
• Economic, political and social aspects within cities
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12. Physical Geography is important in understanding why a
city is located in a specific area as site and
environmental conditions play a large role in whether or not
a city develops.
Cultural Geography can aid in understanding various
conditions related to an area's people
Economic geography aids in understanding the types of
economic activities and jobs available in an area.
Interdisciplinary: Fields outside of geography such as
resource management, anthropology and urban sociology
are also important.
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13. U.S. Racial
Segregation
Detroit
Long Beach
New York
Washington, D.C.
• Segregation –
The combined
result of
congregation &
discrimination,
the spatial
separation of
specific
subgroups within
a wider
population.
• Development of
American Cities
reflect historical
trend of racial
segregation

14. Central Place
theory:
Concentric Zones of
urban activity in an
American city
from mid to late
19th century to
mid- 1970s of
de-
industrialization;
Zone in
Transition-

15. Rank-Size Rule
▸ In 1949, George Zipf devised his theory of rank-size rule to
explain the size cities in a country. He explained that the
second and subsequently smaller cities should represent a
proportion of the largest city.
▸ If the largest city in a country contained one million citizens,
Zipf stated that the second city would contain one-half as
many as the first, or 500,000. The third would contain one-
third or 333,333, the fourth would be home to one-quarter
or 250,000, and so on, with the rank of the city
representing the denominator in the fraction.
▸ While some countries' urban hierarchy somewhat fits into Zipf's
scheme, later geographers argued that his model should be seen
as a probability model, deviations are to be expected.
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16. Gentrification in Philadelphia – Elite
economic class enjoys revitalization of older
core residences near the CBD & Downtown of
American cities. Controversial for displacing
lower income residents
Metroburban landscapes – merging of urban
centers with edge cities of residences, retail
centers, & business parks. Commute times are
extended but over time the regions mergeinto
interconnected metro-urban areas.
Spatial
Organization

17. Primate Cities
A country's leading city is always
disproportionately large and
exceptionally expressive of national
capacity and feeling. The primate
city is commonly at least twice as
large as the next largest city and
more than twice as significant. -
Mark Jefferson, 1939
However, not every country
has a primate city.
Paris
An excellent example of a
primate city is Paris, which truly
represents and serves as the
focus of France.
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Influence
They dominate the country in influence and
are the national focal-point. Their sheer size
and activity becomes a strong pull factor,
bringing additional residents to the city and
causing the primate city to
become even larger and more disproportional
to smaller cities in the country.

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