ueban sociology introduction

1. University of Gondar
IoT
Architecture Department
Teaching Material of Urban Sociology Course for Architects
(Mihiret Ashagrie)

2. Sociology in general
• The word Sociology was coined in the early 1930s by eminent Frenchman
Auguste Comte and he described it as the scientific study of society. He is referred
to as the “Father of Sociology”. He insisted that society needs decisive facts to
solve its problems, which can be achieved through scientific study.
• Sociology aims at understanding human behavior, the working of different
societies, and the influence of various social institutions such as religion, culture,
hierarchy, and power on individuals.
• It will help one understand different social norms and phenomena such as social
influence, which has a significant impact on decision-making for most people in
society, especially when interacting with a group.
• Sociology is important to understand the nature and behavior of an individual,
especially in societies or communities.
• It is important to understand why individual acts or reacts the way he/she does.
• It gives us the reason behind every action and decision.

3. The study of sociology include
• From marriage to divorce, child adoption to surrogacy, racism to gender
inequality, and urbanism.
• Sociology is also essential in understanding various institutions of our lives
and people’s perspectives and the social structure of society
• everything is absolutely and entirely linked to society and its impact on it.
• Sociologists believe that human decisions are based on multiple variables
like the current trends, peer pressure, morals, beliefs, the environment in
which they are brought up and their social interactions.
• We see social inequalities in our day-to-day lives. Some people have
privileges while some have to struggle to make ends meet.
• These inequalities often give rise to conflicts or crimes in society.
• Social situations like these also give rise to human emotions like anger,
frustration or desperation. The poor or vulnerable section might feel left out
of society.

4. The study of sociology include
• Society studies contribute to social policy formulation, which requires
knowledge of society.
• Sociological descriptive research provides valuable information that
can be used to make social policy decisions
• Sociology has contributed to various aspects of society. With the help
of specialised courses on gender studies, environment, regulatory
policies, and urban policies
• Studying sociology helps them understand different dynamics of
society and then act according to them
• Sociology strives for the betterment and improvement of society. It
analyses the problems within society and strives to find solutions for
the smooth functioning of society.

5. The study of sociology include
• It enlightens us with the fact that every small section of society is interlinked and
can have an effect on one another.
• For instance, conflicts at the workplace or small quarrels at school might impact
family time at home.
• Sociology also enriches culture.
• In this world, there are multiple societies and even more diverse cultures.
• Culture is a way of life and sociology helps us to explore and respect how
different cultures are co-existing together in a society, peacefully.
• It helps to understand different past and current happenings in society. To solve
social problems, it is imperative to study society.
• In the current world, there are numerous social problems of great magnitude,
including poverty, religious discrimination, unemployment, overpopulation, racial
problems, crime, addictions,
• To solve these problems, it is necessary to analyse them carefully, An analysis of
this kind can be found in this subject, and also we can under reasons for social
pathology

6. Urban sociology
• Urban sociology is the sociological study of life and human interaction
in metropolitan areas.
• it is a normative disciplines of sociology seeking to study the structure,
process, changes and problems of an urban area and by doing so
provide inputs for planning and policy making.
• In other words it is the sociological study of cities and their role in the
development of society like most areas of sociology,
• urban sociologists use statistical analysis, observation, social theory,
interviews, and other methods to study a range of topics, including
migration and demographic trends, economics , poverty, race relations
and economic trends.

7. Urban Sociology
• Urban sociology is the sociology of urban living; of people in groups
and social relationship in urban social circumstances and situation.
• The study of urban sociology is generally defined as being the search
for answers and reasons for why populations in an urban area react to
their environment in the way they do, and how the dynamics of these
reactions affect their lives, economics, structures and governmental
processes of this area.
• This also includes the resulting problems that arise from these
interactions. The information acquired is helpful in not only creating
policies, but is useful in planning strategies for the growth of society
in general.

8. Urban Sociology
• Study and research still involves reaching out to the individuals that make
up the urban environment.
• Most people live in a metropolitan area, and if we stop and think about it,
we come to realize that our lives are shaped by that environment, and we in
turn will influence our area of that city because we live there.
• Sociologists look at improving that environment, knowing the added
psychological and physical changes will impact those living there.
• But that is exactly what sociology is, conceptualizing the relationships
between people, places, and the institutions in place at that particular time.
• By studying the different issues of the people living in the city, like race,
age, gender, cultural beliefs, economic background and immigration status,
• urban sociologists can make predictions as well as suggest changes to
improve the lives of the citizens living there.

9. Urban Sociology
• Urban sociology is a branch of sociology that deals with the impact of city life on social action,
social relations, social institutions, and the types of civilization derived from and based on urban
mode of life.
• Urban sociology examines a great deal of issues including:
• 1. Understanding and explaining the socio-cultural and behavioral peculiarities of urban residents
and the urban community. The value, sentiments, desires etc. Of urban communities in contrast to
that of the rural characteristics.
• 2. Ecological organization and socio geographic differentiation of cities, spatial distribution and
structure of cities, interrelationships and interactions among the different socio geographic regions
(suburbs, slums).
• 3. Social and cultural changes in the organizational structure and functioning of the different sub
areas of the city. Causes and consequences of social change. Reactions to the process of social
change including maladjustment, conflict, harmony, etc among the different urban groups.
• 4. History of urbanization to provide perspectives and comparative materials on earlier
urbanization.
• 5. Explanation of urban demographic characteristics including population size distribution etc.
• 6. The nature of and solutions to urban social evils such as crime, delinquency, drug abuse,
pollution, congestion, housing, unemployment etc

10. How did cities form in the first place?
• Some theorists have speculated on what they consider pre-conditions and
basic mechanisms that could explain the rise of cities.
• Agriculture is believed to be a pre-requisite for cities, which help preserve
surplus production and create economies of scale.
• The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic
Revolution, with the spread of agriculture.
• The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic
lifestyles and settle near others who lived by agricultural production.
• Agriculture yielded more food, which made denser human populations
possible, thereby supporting city development.
• Farming led to dense, settled populations, and food surpluses that required
storage and could facilitate trade.
• These conditions seem to be important prerequisites for city life.

11. Origin, Evolution of cities
• Early humans led a nomadic existence, relying on hunting and gathering for
sustenance.
• Between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, systematic cultivation of plants and the
domestication of animals allowed for more permanent settlements.
• During the fourth millennium B.C., the requirements for the "urban revolution"
were finally met: the production of a surplus of storable food, a more complex
social organization, and technological advances such as the plough, potter's wheel,
loom and metallurgy.
• A good environment and strong social organization are two necessities for the
formation of a successful city. A good environment includes clean water and a
favorable climate for growing crops and agriculture.
• A strong sense of social organization helps a newly formed city work together in
times of need, and it allows people to develop various functions to assist in the
future development of the city (for example, farmer or merchant).
• The first true urban settlements appeared around 3,000 B.C. in ancient
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley. Mohenjo-daro, located in the Indus
Valley (present-day Pakistan);

12. Why cities are established
• Ancient cities were notable for their geographical diversity, as well as
their diversity in form and function.
• Excavations at early urban sites show that some cities were sparsely
populated political capitals, others were trade centers, and still other
cities had a primarily religious focus.
• Some cities had large dense populations, whereas others carried out
urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having
large associated populations.
• Some ancient cities grew to be powerful capital cities and centers of
commerce and industry, situated at the centers of growing ancient
empires.

13. Why cities are established
• While ancient cities may have arisen organically as trading centers,
preindustrial cities evolved to become well defined political units, like
today’s states.
• Cities may have held other advantages, too. For example, cities
reduced transport costs for goods, people, and ideas by bringing them
all together in one spot.
• By reducing these transaction costs, cities contributed to worker
productivity.
• Finally, cities likely performed the essential function of providing
protection for people and the valuable things they were beginning to
accumulate.

14. why sociologists are interested in urban
• From a historical perspective, we have always been curious about the
dynamics behind the question, what makes a city?
• From pioneers in sociology, like Karl Marx, Max Weber, George Simmel
and others, we have learned that issues such as cultural differences, poverty,
race and demographic and economic trends all play a role in the make-up of
an urban area.
• Early studies suggested that economic problems, as well as social alienation
and class, or caste, worked to break down individuals, and further break
down families.
• The work of these sociologists in the early 19th century eventually led to
the creation of the Chicago School of Sociology, as we know it today.
• Using the inner-city of Chicago as a model, the study involved coming to an
understanding of the social interactions that resulted in urbanization at that
time.

15. why sociologists are interested in urban
• The Chicago School had only one question.
• How did an increase in urbanization during the industrial revolution
contribute to the growth of today’s socio-economic problems in a
metropolis?
• This question was researched through interviews, observations,
statistical analysis, theory and other methods to come to a conclusion
based on their findings.

16. why sociologists are interested in urban
• Sociologists are interested in urbanization because the urban mode of life is
becoming more and more dominant.
• Percentage of world population living in places of 5000 and more
population Year % of urban population 1800 3% 1900 14% 1950 28% 1980
45% 2000 55% 2025 64%
• The above figure indicates that the settlement pattern of the human
population which was dominantly rural has been in a process of reversal and
• the rural population is diminishing through time while the urban share is
growing.
• Before the industrial revolution, the proportion of the rural population was
very large while
• after the industrial revolution the urban population has been in a radical
increase.

17. why sociologists are interested in urban
• According to kingsely Davis, the reasons why sociologists are interested in urban
phenomenon include:
• Urban mode of life is recent phenomenon in the history of mankind.
• Urbanization has brought revolutionary changes in the whole pattern of social life.
• It tends to affect every aspect of human life, social institutions, production
systems, transportation etc.
• Urban centers tend to be centers of power and influence throughout the
whole society.
• The most important economic activities (trade, communication.
administration etc) are concentrated in urban areas.
• Cities are centers of political power and residence of emperors and
presidents(governors)
• The process of urbanization is still occurring and its direction is uncertain.
There are many problems associated with urbanization

18. What is a Sociologically-Urban-Area?
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
• CLASSICAL THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
• Louis Wirth,
• Georg Simmel
• Karl Marx
• Friedrich Engels
• Ferdinand Tonnies
• Emile Durkheim
• Max Weber
• Sorokin and Zimmerman

19. What is a Sociologically-Urban-Area?
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES of Louis Wirth
,
• Sociological view of urban life is quite deep. It has a great combination of
various theories by different sociologists. Yet most of the sociologists find it
difficult to define an urban area. Louis Wirth, in his article, Urbanism as a
Way of Life gave a sociological definition of the city. He says, “For
sociological purposes a city maybe defined as a relatively large, dense
and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals.” He also
argued that sociology should emphasize on the cultural aspect rather than
geographical aspect.
• In 1903 Georg Simmel wrote an article on urban life which has the
headline ‘The Metropolis and Mental Life’. It is the first sociological
write-up on urbanisation. Therefore Georg Simmel is considered as the
father of Urban Sociology

20. What is a Sociologically-Urban-Area?
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES of Louis Wirth
• Concerning urban sociology, there is popular theory by Louis Wirth
called Urbanism. There he used the metaphor melting pot for urban areas. Are you
wondering why?
• In primitive society, like-minded people lived together, societies were all about
homogenous groups. The same culture is still quite maintained in rural areas too.
But in an urban area, it is a great combination of heterogeneous people. From
profession to the prospect of life, almost everything is variable. Different people
play different roles.
• This is how cities are built up, people are useful to each other. Everyone comes to
the city to meet their needs and eventually they fulfil what a city needs. People do
not think if they would find similar people like them. Rather it is the livelihood
they seek for. No wonder a city is so densely populated.
• In the words of Louis Wirth “The city has thus historically melting-pot of
races, peoples and cultures, and a most-favorable breeding ground of new
biological and cultural hybrids.” Louis Wirth thinks there is a big chance
for Anomie to be created. Mental breakdown, suicide, personal disorder etc are
much more like in the urban areas than in the rural ones.

21. Three city characteristics contribute to “Urban Way
of Life” or “Urban Personality” Type
 Size of Population
 Density
 Heterogeneity
It is always a secondary level conduct!
Primary level of conducts are much common in rural areas
which is almost absent in urban area. This distinguished
urban society from the rural one.
Louis Wirth believes that the interactions are superficial. It
does not involve your heart. It is just about purposes!
THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY LEUS WIRTH

22. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Emile Durkhem

Emile Durkheim described sociology as the study of social facts through
social institutions.
 He was the first philosopher and sociologist actually to use scientific methods
to understand social notions.
 Durkheim used statistics to understand the behaviour of individuals.
 He compiled theories on different forms of suicides and their reasons with the
help of statistical data.
 the theory of Social Solidarity by Emile Durkheim can be applied to describe the urban
environment
 these are Mechanical solidarity and Organic solidarity
 Cities definitely visualise the organic solidarity. A high division of labour is present here.

23. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Emile Durkheim
 Mechanical solidarity: refers to social bonds constructed on likeness and
largely dependent upon common belief, custom, ritual, routines, and symbol,
people are identical in major ways and thus united almost automatically, self-
sufficient; social cohesion based upon the likeness and similarities among
individuals in a society. Common among prehistoric and pre-agricultural
societies, and lessens in predominance as modernity increases.
 2) Organic solidarity: social order based on social differences, complex
division of labour where many different people specialize in many different
occupations, greater freedom and choice for city inhabitants despite
acknowledged impersonality, alienation, disagreement and conflict,
undermined traditional social integration but created a new form of social
cohesion based on mutual interdependence, liberating; social cohesion based
upon the dependence individuals in more advanced society have on each
other.

24. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY MAX WEBER
 Max Weber, a German Sociologist annotated sociology as the study of social
action. Weber stressed that sociologists need to study and observe different phenomena
from the perspective of individuals in society and study them from the eyes of people
rather than studying the events only.
 Sociology as a modern discipline was founded, however, in the 19th century through
three major changes that changed the way people viewed society and sociology.
 The first one is the development of scientific and modern technology. It enabled
social scientists to study and analyse society beyond morals and norms and evaluate
and understand it with the help of science and statistics.
 It helped to develop a perspective around sociology, that social problem can be
solved with the help of advancements in science and technology.
 The second event which boosted the significance of sociology was the emergence of
democratic governments. The French and American revolutions and the formation of
the People’s Republic of China brought an end to the age-old forms of Government
based on Monarchy or God.

25. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY EMILE DURKEHM
 The third change A new kind of society was visible With the industrial
revolution at its peak, new concepts like urbanisation, capitalist competition and
individualism transformed society.
 Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels –
 People in preindustrial, traditional societies were generic, tribal beings
 Rise of city was transition from barbarism to civilization
 People realize political and economic freedom, productive specialization
 Social evolution of humans not complete until capitalism was transformed
into socialism
 Emphasis of economics and problems of inequality and conflict

26. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Ferdinand Tonnies (1855-1936)
 Ferdinand Tonnies (1855-1936) German (pessimistic) - macro-sociological
 Considered social structure of city
 Defined and described two basic organizing principles of human association or two contrasting
types of human social life, a typology with a continuum of pure type of settlement:
 1) Gemeinschaft (community): characterized country village, people in rural village have an
essential unity of purpose, work together for the common good, united by ties of family (kinship)
and neighbourhood, land worked communally by inhabitants, social life characterized by intimate,
private and exclusive living together, members bound by common language and traditions,
recognized common goods and evils, common friends and enemies, sense of we-ness or our-ness,
humane
 2) Gesellschaft (association): characterized large city, city life is a mechanical aggregate
characterized by disunity, rampant individualism and selfishness, meaning of existence shifts from
group to individual, rational, calculating, each person understood in terms of a particular role and
service provided; deals with the artificial construction of an aggregate of human beings which
superficially resembles the Gemeinschaft in so far as the individuals peacefully live together yet
whereas in Gemeinschaft people are united in spite of all separating factors, in Gesellschaft
people are separated in spite of all uniting factors

27. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Ferdinand Tonnies (1855-1936)
 There are three types of Gemeinschaft relationships: Kinship, Friendship, and
Neighborhood or Locality
 1.1) Kinship Gemeinschaft is based on Family; the strongest relationship
being between mother and child, then husband and wife, and then siblings.
Gemeinschaft also exists between father and child, but this relationship is less
instinctual than that of mother and child. However, the father-child relationship
is the original manifestation of authority within Gemeinschaft.
 1.2) Kinship develops and differentiates into the Gemeinschaft of Locality,
which is based on a common habitat
 1.3) there is also Friendship, or Gemeinschaft of the mind, which requires a
common mental community (eg: religion). He feared the undermining of the
fabric of social life

28. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Georg Simmel (1858-1918)
Considered importance of urban experience, i.e. chose to focus on urbanism (life
within the city) rather than urbanizetion (development of urban areas),
 Unique trait of modern city is intensification of nervous stimuli with which city
dweller must cope, from rural setting where rhythm of life and sensory imagery is
slower, habitual and even, to city with constant bombardments of sights, sounds and
smells
 Individual learns to discriminate, become rational and calculating, develops a blasé
attitude – matter-of-fact, a social reserve, a detachment, respond with head rather than
heart, don’t care and don’t get involved Urbanites highly attuned to time
 Rationality expressed in advanced economic division of labour, and the use of
money because of requirement for a universal means of exchange
 Acknowledged freedom, transcendence of pettiness of daily routine, new heights of
personal and spiritual development but sense of alienation could override this
 To maintain sense of individuality and not feel like cog in machine, do something
different or odd to stand out

29. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Georg Simmel (1858-1918)
 Philosophy of Money
 Economic exchange is a form of social interaction
 When monetary transactions replaced earlier forms of barter, significant changes occurred in the form of
interaction between social actors
 Money is subject to precise division and manipulation, it permits exact measurement of equivalents
 Money is impersonal, objects of barter are/were not
 Money promotes rational calculation in human affairs, furthering rationalization characteristic of modern
societies
 Money replaces personal ties by impersonal relations that limited to a specific purpose
 Abstract calculation invades areas of social life, e.g. kinship relations or realm of esthetic appreciation
 Shift from qualitative to quantitative appraisals
 Money increases personal freedom and fosters social differentiation
 Money in modern world is standard of value and means of exchange
 Above economic functions, it symbolizes and embodies modern spirit of rationalism, calculability and
impersonalit

30. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Georg Simmel (1858-1918)
 The blasé attitude
 Incapacity to react to new sensations due to saturation.
 Reinforced by the money economy: money--a common denominator of all values,
regardless of their individuality.
 Reserve, indifference, apathy--forms of psychological protection--become parts of
the metropolitan lifestyle.
 Positive aspect of metropolitan life: reserve and detachment produce individual
freedom.
 Paradox of city life: objectification leads to greater individualism and subjectivism.
 [The most significant characteristic of the metropolis] "Functional extension beyond
its physical boundaries"—a person’s life does not end with the limits of his/her body
and the area of his/her immediate activity.

31. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Theory of (Sorokin and Zimmerman 1929)
 There has been a recent international resurgence of interest in the modern city in
particular, emphasis has been placed on urban areas and regions as drivers of economic
change and centers of cultural regeneration and identity formation, as well as spaces of
social division, conflict and inequality.
 Cities, with their concentration of talent, mixture of peoples, and economic surplus,
have provided a fertile ground for the evolution of human culture: the arts, scientific
research, and technical innovation. They serve as centers of communication, where
new ideas and information are spread to the surrounding territory and to foreign lands.
 However the opposing cultural theme portrays rural society as a way of life that is
superior to existence in the cities and threatened by urban industrial capitalism
(Sorokin and Zimmerman 1929). It has protagonists within rural sociology and in
society for whom the problem is how to preserve the wholesome qualities of rural
society against the encroachments of urban industrial capitalism (e.g., how to avoid
community disintegration, loss of local autonomy, the collapse of the family farm,
the decline of the traditional rural way of life, degradation of the rural landscape,
and depletion of nonrenewable natural resources).

32. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY Theory of (Sorokin and Zimmerman 1929)
 'Principles of Rural-Urban sociology have stated that the factors distinguishing rural from urban communities include
occupation, size and density of population as well as mobility, differentiation and stratification.
1. The urban society is heterogeneous known for its diversity and complexity.
2. It is dominated by secondary relations.
3. Formal means of social control such as law, legislation, police, and court are needed in addition to the informal means for
regulating the behavior of the people.
4. The urban society is mobile and open. It provides more chances for social mobility. The status is achieved than ascribed.
5. Occupations are more specialized. There is widespread division of labor and specialization opportunities for pursuing
occupations are numerous.
6. Family is said to be unstable. More than the family individual is given importance. Joint families are comparatively less in
number.
7. People are more class -conscious and progressive .They welcome changes. They are exposed to the modern developments
in the fields of science and technology.
8. Urban community is a complex multi group society.
9. The urban community replaced consensus by dissensus. The social organization is atomistic and ill defined. It is
characterized by disorganization, mental illness and anomie.
10. Mass education is widespread in the city increasing democratization of the organizations and institutions demand formal
education.

33. THEORIES OF URBAN SOCIOLOGY :Theory of Urban Form
• Urban Form Theory focuses on the historical and current production of the built
environment and centers on realizing the position of urban design within the broader
fields of urban development.
• how urban space is shaped by human relations, and in turn, shapes these same
relations for future generations.
• recognize how social, economic, political and cultural forces shape urban built
form.
• also examine the crucial links between design and society, looking particularly at
how formal elements can create or sustain diversity and interaction.
• Theorists on urban form
• Ernest Burgess' Concentric Zone Theory
• Homer Hoyt’s Sector Theory
• Harris and Ullman’s Multiple Nuclei Theory

34. Theory of Urban Form
• Urban form’ and ‘urban morphology’
• Urban form refers to the arrangement of the larger functional units of a city, reflecting
both the historical development of the city and its more recent planning history;
• it is defined by the spatial patterning of industrial, commercial and residential land uses
and also by different levels of residential density (Rose, 1967).
• Urban morphology, sometimes referred to as the ‘urban fabric' or ‘urban texture’, deals
primarily with the particular shape and dimensions of the built environment and with the
aggregations and configurations of building types.
• At this fine scale the configurations of cities directly affect both outdoor and indoor
activities. Moreover,
• Urban Morphology is the study of internal structure of the cities,
• involves the analysis of the locational pattern of the functions and residences.
• One needs to know where they are found and why.
• This pattern is outcome of several factors.
• The segregation of functions and residences and internal differentiation of cities occur due
to economic and social and spatial causes.

35. Theory of Urban Form cont.
• Urban form’ and ‘urban morphology’ cont.
• Urban structure can also refer to urban spatial structure; the arrangement of public
and private space in cities and the degree of connectivity and accessibility.
• In this context, urban structure is concerned with the arrangement of the CBD,
industrial and residential areas, and open space.
• Milder provides an overview of typologies of urban forms, pointing out that there
are various classifications that are found in the literature,
• but reducing them to ‘roughly’ seven forms, of which all other classifications are
mainly sub-divisions:
• Dispersed city; Compact city; Corridor/Linear/ City; Radial city; Multi-
nuclear/polycentric city; Fringe city; Edge city; Satellite city. The dispersed city
and the compact city can be seen as two extreme poles with the other
classifications fitting somewhere in between

36. Theory of Urban Form
• Urban form’ and ‘urban morphology’ cont.
• Urban Structure/form Models
1. Concentric Ring Model
• The concentric ring model was postulated in 1924 by sociologist Ernest Burgess,
based on his observations of Chicago.
• It draws on human ecology theories, which compared the city to an ecosystem,
with processes of adaptation and assimilation.
• Urban residents naturally sort themselves into appropriate rings, or ecological
niches, depending on class and cultural assimilation.
• His model, referred to as the concentric zone or zonal model also deals with the
urban growth process.
• Burgess demonstrated how with functional differentiation and growing population
which competes for space; the city enlarges itself but still maintains a basic
structure.
• The Concentric Zone Model suggests that as cities expand, the interaction of
people and their economic social and political organizations create rings of urban
growth from centre to outwards as follows

37. • Urban form’ and ‘urban morphology’ cont.
• Urban Structure/form Models
1. Concentric Ring Model
• The innermost ring represents the central business district (CBD), called
Zone A.
• It is surrounded by a zone of transition (B), which contains industry and
poorer-quality housing.
• The third ring (C) contains housing for the working-class—the zone of
independent workers’ homes.
• The fourth ring (D) has newer and larger houses occupied by the middle-
class.
• The outermost ring (E), or commuter’s zone, is residential suburbs
• These expand outward from the city center which is the main area of
commercial activity or the Central Business District (CBD).

38. Concentric Ring Model cont.
• The two inner rings of Burgess’ model are distinct in their functional
character.
• The transition zone actually marks the extension of the CBD, where
older derelict houses are converted for commercial use.
• The CBD is the life centre of the city and is also the most accessible
part because people from all economic as well as social groups need to
commute there every day.
• Very often the CBD draws people from outside the urban limits.
• The ‘centrality’ of a city can be measured by the character of its CBD.
• The more important regional centres that serve a large hinterland will
have larger CBDs, where financial as well as material and service
transactions draw people daily from other service centres too.

39. Urban Structure/form Models cont.
1. Concentric Ring Model cont.
1.Central Business District (CBD)
2. Transition Zone
3. Zone of lower income group
4. Zone of middle and high income group
5. Commuter Zone.
1
2
3
4
5
Fig. 1 Burgus Concentric Ring Model.

40. Urban Structure/form Models cont.
1. Concentric Ring Model cont.
• Limitation of the model
• Since the concentric zone model is based on the empirical study of American cities
especially Chicago, it is essentially an inductive one.
• The universality of the model is therefore difficult to establish, although it has
been widely studied and discussed.
• this is unnatural since change is never abrupt. Moreover the basic homogeneity of
each zone is questionable.
• what limits the model is its lack of universality, since this theory is restricted to a
particular time and place that is Chicago in the 1920’s.
• It describes an American geography in which the inner city is poor while suburbs
are wealthy—elsewhere, the converse is the norm.
• In new, western U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, advances in transportation and
communication have blurred these “zones.”
• Further, the model fails to account for topographical and physical features of the
landscape.
• Even in Chicago, the concentric rings were semi-circles, interrupted by Lake
Michigan.

41. Urban Structure/form Models cont.
2. Sector Model cont.
• In 1939, the economist Homer Hoyt adapted the concentric ring model by observing 25
cities proposing that cities develop in wedge-shaped sectors instead of rings.
• The model demonstrate a CBD from which grow the sectors belonging to different
economic levels.
• The picture presents a central commercial area with sectoral landuse zones radiating from
• Some kinds of landuse tend to attract each other such as industrial areas and working-
class residences, while some repel each other.
• Certain areas of a city are more attractive for various activities, whether by chance or
geographic/environmental reasons.
• As these activities flourish and expand outward, they form wedges, becoming city sectors.
• Like the concentric ring model, Hoyt’s sectoral model has been criticized for ignoring
physical features and new transportation patterns that restrict or direct growth.
• Hoyt’s Sectoral Model of Urban Growth: In Hoyt’s model, cities grow in wedge-shaped sectors
radiating from the center.

42. Urban Structure/form Models cont.
2. Sector Model cont.
Fig. 2 Homer Hoyt Sector Model.

43. Urban Structure/form Models cont.
3. Multiple Nuclei Model cont.
• The multiple nuclei model was developed by C.D. Harris and E.L.
Ullman (1945) proposed a model with multiple nuclei as follows to
explain city formation after the spread of the automobile.
• People have greater movement due to increased car ownership,
allowing for the specialization of regional centers.
• A city contains more than one center around which activities revolve.
Some activities are attracted to particular nodes while others try to
avoid them.
• For example, a university node may attract well-educated residents,
pizzerias, and bookstores,
• whereas an airport may attract hotels and warehouses. Incompatible
activities will avoid clustering in the same area.

44. Multi nuclei model cont.
• They observed that towns and cities do not necessarily grow around a single
business district.
• Differential landuse patterns evolve around several commercial centres and
it is an agglomeration of these that make the city.
• Some underlying factors are common in the way in which growth takes
place around a number of nuclei:
• (1.)Certain activities require specialized facilities. A port for instance, needs
to be located at the waterfront while business areas must have a high degree
of accessibility.
• (2.)Certain kinds of activities will tend to stay apart such as heavy industry
and upper class residences.
• (3.)Certain kinds of activities are found together to their mutual advantage.
• (4.)The rental rates differ from one area to another.

45. Multiple nuclei cont.
• 1. CBD)
• 2. Wholesale and light manufacturing
• 3. Low-class residential
• 4. Middle-class residential
• 5. High-class residential
• 6. Heavy manufacturing.
• 7. Outlying Business District
• 8. Residential Suburb
• 9. Industrial Suburb.

46. Urban social problems
• social problem refers to any undesirable condition or situation that is
judged by an influential number of persons within a community to be
intolerable and to require group action toward constructive reform =
examples are urban homelessness, poverty, crime, prostitution,
divorce, chronic unemployment, racial and cultural conflict, and so on
• Classic sociology considered social problems to be the result of the
disintegrating influences of the city======> that is, they are
typically associated with the dense, mixed, heterogeneous, disorderly
populations of large urban centers. {Although such problems also exist
in rural areas, we still tend to perceive them to be worse in cities.
• contemporary theorists tend to see all social problems as social
constructions tied to economic and political inequalities =====> even
what is defined as a social problem is determined by power relations
=====> social problems are created and fashioned by political
domination and socio-economic control

47. Urban social problems
• Some of the major problems of urbanization are 1. Urban Sprawl 2.
Overcrowding 3. Housing 4. Unemployment 5. Slums and Squatter
Settlements 6. Transport 7. Water 8. Sewerage Problems 9. Trash Disposal
10. Urban Crimes 11. Problem of Urban Pollution.12 drug addiction.13
racial and ethnic inequality
• The sheer magnitude of the urban population, haphazard and unplanned
growth of urban areas, and a desperate lack of infrastructure are the main
causes of such a situation.
• The rapid growth of urban population both natural and through migration,
has put heavy pressure on public utilities like housing, sanitation, transport,
water, electricity, health, education and so on.
• Poverty, unemployment and under employment among the rural
immigrants, beggary, thefts,burglaries and other social evils are on rampage.
Urban sprawl is rapidly encroaching the precious agricultural land

48. Urban problems of sprawl and over dens

49. Urban problem: unemployment and urban crime

50. Urban problem: flood and slum in the urban area

51. Urban problem: pollution and congestion

52. REFERENCES:
1. Fannagan W., Contemporary Urban Sociology, Cambridge, University of Cambridge, 1993
2. Squirs, G.Ed. Urban Sprawl, Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses, the urban publication
2002
3. Louis Wirth, Urbanism as a way of Life, American Journal of Sociology
4. Park Dixton Goist, City and ‘community’:
5. Mark Gottdiener, Ray Hutchinson, The New Urban Sociology, 4th edition, Westview Press
6. Archer, J. (2005). Social Theory of Space: Architecture and the Production of Self, Culture, and Society.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 64(4), 430-433. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25068197
7. Korllos, T. (1980). Sociology of architecture: An emerging perspective. Ekistics, 47(285), 470-475. Retrieved
June 14, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43619763
8. Lipstadt, H. (2005). Sociology: Bourdieu’s Bequest. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 64(4),
433-436. doi:10.2307/25068198
9. Ankerl, G. (1981). Experimental sociology of architecture: A guide to theory, research and literature.
Mouton Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110903058
10. Muller, A. & Reichmann, W. (2015). Architecture, Materiality and Society: Connecting Sociology of
Architecture with Science and Technology Studies. Palgrave
Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137461131
11. Jones, P. (2011). The sociology of architecture. Liverpool University Press.
https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2015/SOC593/um/Jones_2011_The_Sociology_of_Architecture_book_1
30920.pdf

53. Thank you
I wish you all the Best