The city: the basics

227 Pages·2013·2.539 MB·English

by  Archer, Kevin

THE CITY
THE BASICS
The City: The Basics provides a brief yet compelling overview of
the study of cities and city life. The book draws on a range
of perspectives – economic, political, cultural, and environmental
aspects are all considered – to provide a broad survey of the evo-
lution of cities in the rich Global North and the poorer Global
South. Topics covered in the book include:
(cid:1) a brief history of cities from ancient times to the post-modern
present
(cid:1) the differences between “global cities” in the North and
“megacities” in the South
(cid:1) the environmental impact of urban life
(cid:1) urbaneconomics,urbanpolitics,urbanculture,andurbanplanning.
Featuring suggestions for further reading, a glossary, and several
international case studies, this is the ideal starting point for those
interested in any aspect of cities or urban studies.
Kevin Archer is Chair of the Department of Geographyat Central
Washington University. He teaches graduate and undergraduate
courses on urban issues, globalization, and the production of nature.
The Basics
ACTING FINANCE(SECONDEDITION)
BELLAMERLIN ERIKBANKS
ANTHROPOLOGY HUMANGENETICS
PETERMETCALF RICKILEWIS
ARCHAEOLOGY(SECONDEDITION) HUMANGEOGRAPHY
CLIVEGAMBLE ANDREWJONES
ARTHISTORY INTERNATIONALRELATIONS
GRANTPOOKEANDDIANANEWALL PETERSUTCHANDJUANITAELIAS
ARTIFICIALINTELLIGENCE ISLAM(SECONDEDITION)
KEVINWARWICK COLINTURNER
THEBIBLE JOURNALISMSTUDIES
JOHNBARTON MARTINCONBOY
BUDDHISM JUDAISM
CATHYCANTWELL JACOBNEUSNER
CONTEMPORARYLITERATURE LANGUAGE(SECONDEDITION)
SUMANGUPTA R.L.TRASK
CRIMINALLAW LAW
JONATHANHERRING GARYSLAPPERANDDAVIDKELLY
CRIMINOLOGY(SECONDEDITION) LITERARYTHEORY(SECONDEDITION)
SANDRAWALKLATE HANSBERTENS
DANCESTUDIES LOGIC
JOBUTTERWORTH J.C.BEALL
EASTERNPHILOSOPHY MANAGEMENT
VICTORIAS.HARRISON MORGENWITZEL
ECONOMICS(SECONDEDITION) MARKETING(SECONDEDITION)
TONYCLEAVER KARLMOOREANDNIKETHPAREEK
EDUCATION MEDIASTUDIES
KAYWOOD JULIANMCDOUGALL
EUROPEANUNION(SECONDEDITION) THEOLYMPICS
ALEXWARLEIGH-LACK ANDYMIAHANDBEATRIZGARCIA
EVOLUTION PHILOSOPHY(FIFTHEDITION)
SHERRIELYONS NIGELWARBURTON
FILMSTUDIES PHYSICALGEOGRAPHY
AMYVILLAREJO JOSEPHHOLDEN
POETRY(SECONDEDITION) SHAKESPEARE(THIRDEDITION)
JEFFREYWAINWRIGHT SEANMCEVOY
POLITICS(FOURTHEDITION) SOCIALWORK
STEPHENTANSEYANDNIGELJACKSON MARKDOEL
THEQUR’AN SOCIOLOGY
MASSIMOCAMPANINI KENPLUMMER
RACEANDETHNICITY SPECIALEDUCATIONALNEEDS
PETERKIVISTOAND JANICEWEARMOUTH
PAULR.CROLL
TELEVISIONSTUDIES
RELIGION(SECONDEDITION) TOBYMILLER
MALORYNYE
TERRORISM
RELIGIONANDSCIENCE JAMESLUTZANDBRENDALUTZ
PHILIPCLAYTON
THEATRESTUDIES
RESEARCHMETHODS ROBERTLEACH
NICHOLASWALLIMAN
WORLDHISTORY
ROMANCATHOLICISM PETERN.STEARNS
MICHAELWALSH
SEMIOTICS(SECONDEDITION)
DANIELCHANDLER
THE CITY
THE BASICS
kevin archer
Firstpublished2013
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanadabyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2013KevinArcher
TherightofKevinArchertobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeen
assertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,
DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,
nowknownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,
orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissionin
writingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent
toinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Archer,Kevin,1957-
Thecity:thebasics/KevinArcher.
p.cm.–(Thebasics)
1.Citiesandtowns.2.Sociology,Urban.3.Citylife.I.Title.
HT151.A7242013
307.76–dc23
2012015729
ISBN:978-0-415-67080-7(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-67079-1(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-08466-3(ebk)
TypesetinBemboandScalaSans
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
CONTENTS
1 Cities and City Life 1
2 Cities as the Source of Civilization 12
3 From Trading to Industrial Cities 34
4 From Industrial to Post-Industrial Cities 55
5 City Economics 81
6 City Politics 104
7 City Culture 127
8 City Environment 148
9 City Planning 167
10 City Futures 192
Glossary 201
Index 216
(cid:1)
1
CITIES AND CITY LIFE
For the first time in human history, most people now live in cities.
This urbanization of the world’s population is predicted to continue,
even intensify, in the years ahead. According to one estimate, by
2020, global population will reach 8.1 billion and only 37 percent
of this total will live in rural areas. The pace of city growth is
especiallyrapidin poorercountriesoftheGlobalSouth,particularly
in Asia and Africa, where the urban population is expected to
double between 2000 and 2030. Indeed, a recent report by the
UnitedNationsestimatesthatby2030,citiesoftheGlobalSouthwill
accountforasmuchas81percentoftheworld’surbanpopulation.It
is clear, then, that the urban condition, across the planet, is fast
becoming the human condition.
In addition to describing the historical and contemporary pro-
cesses behind these trends in global urbanization, this book is an
attempt to determine, in broad overview, what this latter assertion
means. In what ways does life in the city differ from that in rural
areas? If it does, what are the differences and in what ways do these
differences matter for the human condition, now and in the future?
Some have argued, for example, that life in cities is so significantly
distinct that it represents a whole new form of social relations
demanding, in turn, new ways of thinking about one’s neighbors,
one’sself, andone’s placein a greater community. Ifthisis thecase,
2
CITIESANDCITYLIFE
then it behooves those concerned about the global human condition
to figure out just what the implications may be of such rapid
urbanization on a planetary scale.
To study “the city” in this way it is necessary to take an inter-
disciplinary, holistic approach. There is nothing out there in reality
thatisthecity“economy”thatisnotalreadyrelatedtocity“politics,”
city “culture,” even to the city’s natural “environment.” Inner-city
poverty in the United States, for example, has as much to do with
policy-making or a culture of insecurity as it does with job creation
and markets. Similarly, a world of hyper-wealthy cities and hyper-
poor cities did not just appear as a result of some natural economic
evolution but, rather, as a historical legacy of political oppression
and economic exploitation on a global scale. While the following
chapters of this book focus specifically on one or another of these
aspects of the city, this essential interrelationship among them needs
to be kept in mind if one is to come to a comprehensive under-
standing of the city. At the same time, one needs to avoid reifying
the “city” as if it were an active agent itself. The “city” does not
“do” anything or act in certain ways but, rather, city people do, in
various ways with various results.
CITY AND COUNTRY
Theinitialthingtonoticeaboutcitiesisthattheyconsistofrelatively
large and densely packed groups of people crowded into small
pieces of territory. This is at once a fundamental change from rural
life where small groups of people sparsely occupy rather large terri-
tories. From this quite obvious beginning arise several less obvious
characteristics of city life. First, this large group of city-people
somehow must find a way to feed itself. The limited territorial
extent of the city precludes the possibility of feeding all from
within. Second, the fact that we are talking about a relatively large
group of people means that the population of the city cannot consist
solely of extended family members or a few well-known neighbors.
Rather, it is a population of relative strangers, difficult, if not
impossible, to get to know on anything more than a limited basis.
In this social context, it is difficult to know who to trust or to
whom to delegate decision-making authority for the whole. Third,
this dense population of relative strangers necessarily includes
3
CITIESANDCITYLIFE
individuals from all classes, rich and poor, coming from different
villages, near and far, with different, and sometimes very different,
customs. Because of close proximity in the city, it is difficult, if not
impossible,toavoidinteractingwithsuchsocialandculturalstrangers.
And such interaction necessarily produces reflection on, even a
questioningof,one’sownsocialstationandwhatappropriatecultural
norms and customs might be.
Already, this overly brief account sets one on the path to thinking
about some distinguishing characteristics of city life. In the chapters
that follow, these characteristics will be discussed in more depth in
terms of the specific economic, political, and cultural traits of cities.
Before turning to these, however, it is necessary to highlight one
further thing with regard to cities of increasing importance in the
world today. This fourth aspect concerns the relation of cities to
the natural environment. City populations necessarily build dense
configurations of material and relatively permanent living, working,
and symbolic monuments. Such monuments replace or otherwise
extremely modify the nature of the place. Similarly, large, tightly
packed human populations on small territories not only need food
to survive, but also water for drinking, cleansing, producing goods,
andflushingwaste.Occupyingsuchasmallterritory,citypopulations
also need someplace, and increasingly someplace else, to dispose of
their material wastes. Cities thus have a significant ecological impact
which cannot be ignored and which some argue makes them
inherently unsustainable as modes of human life. That this may be
the case will also be explored in this book. Here, suffice it to say
that if cities are, indeed, environmentally unsustainable, then the
fact that the planet is so rapidly urbanizing should be cause for great
concern for everyone. Again, this small book is intended as a broad
overview of just what might be at stake in this respect.
THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF CITIES
Since the Agricultural Revolution, when much of humankind
stoppedbeingpredominantlyhuntersandgatherers,therehavealways
been cities in the world. However, since the Western Renaissance
(ca. 1250), the nature of city development changed and, indeed,
citiesbegan tospringupanddevelopon a regular basis first through-
out Europe and then in the non-Western world as a result of