Chapter 15
Population and
urbanization
Chapter Outline








Demography: The Study of Population
Population Growth in Global Context
A Brief Glimpse at International Migration Theories
Urbanization in Global Perspective
Perspectives on Urbanization and the Growth of Cities
Problems in Global Cities
Urban Problems in the United States
Population and Urbanization in the Future
Population



World’s population of 6.2 billion in 2000 is
increasing by more than 76 million people per
year.
Between 2000 and 2030, almost all of the
world’s population growth will be in low-income
countries.
By 2015: Population of high income nations will
increase by 120 million and population of lowincome nations will increase by 1.7 billion.
Changes in Population
Changes occur as a result of three processes:
 fertility (births)
 mortality (deaths)
 migration
Ten Leading Causes of Death in the
United States, 1900 and 1997
Cause of Death—1900
Rank
Cause of Death—1997
Influenza/pneumonia
1
Heart disease
Tuberculosis
2
Cancer
Stomach/intestinal disease
3
Stroke
Heart disease
4
Chronic lung disease
Cerebral hemorrhage
5
Accidents
Kidney disease
6
Pneumonia and influenza
Accidents
7
Diabetes
Cancer
8
HIV
Diseases in early infancy
9
Suicide
Diphtheria
10
Homicide
Migration
Two types of movement:
 Immigration is the movement of people into a
geographic area to take up residency.
 Emigration is the movement of people out of a
geographic area to take up residency
elsewhere.
Theories of Population Growth




The Malthusian Perspective
The Marxist Perspective
The Neo-Malthusian Perspective
Demographic Transition Theory
The Malthusian Perspective



If left unchecked, the population would exceed
the available food supply.
Population would increase in a geometric
progression (2, 4, 8, 16 . . . ) .
The food supply would increase only by an
arithmetic progression (1, 2, 3, 4 . . .).
The Marxist Perspective



Using technology, food can be produced for a
growing population.
Overpopulation will lead to the eventual
destruction of capitalism.
Workers will become dissatisfied and develop
class-consciousness because of shared
oppression.
The Neo-Malthusian Perspective


Overpopulation and rapid population growth
result in global environmental problems.
People should be encouraging zero population
growth.
Demographic Transition Theory

Stage 1: Preindustrial Societies - little
population growth, high birth rates offset by
high death rates.

Stage 2: Early Industrialization - significant
population growth, birth rates are relatively
high, death rates decline.
Demographic Transition Theory

Stage 3: Advanced Industrialization and
Urbanization - very little population growth
occurs, birth rates and death rates are low.

Stage 4: Postindustrialization - birth rates
decline as more women are employed and
raising children becomes more costly.
World Population in the Future



World population is increasing 1.8% per year.
Since many women are of childbearing age,
replacement fertility results in more births than
deaths.
Demographic shifts contribute to a reduction in
fertility rates and population growth.
Development of a City
Three preconditions:
 A favorable physical environment.
 An advanced technology that could produce a
social surplus.
 A well-developed political system to provide
social stability to the economic system.
Gender Regimes in Cities
Different cities have different gender regimes:
 How women and men should think,
feel, and act.
 How access to positions and control of
resources should be managed.
 How women and men should relate to each
other.
Simmel's View of City Life



Urban life is stimulating; it shapes people's
thoughts and actions.
Many urban residents avoid emotional
involvement with each other and try to ignore
events taking place around them.
Urban living can be liberating - people have
opportunities for individualism and autonomy.
Gans's Urban Villagers
Five categories of urban dwellers:
1. Cosmopolites are students, artists, writers,
musicians, and professionals who live in the
city to be close to its cultural facilities.
2. Unmarried people and childless couples
live in the city to be close to work and
entertainment.
Gans's Urban Villagers
3.
4.
5.
Ethnic villagers live in ethnically segregated
neighborhoods.
The deprived are poor people with dim future
prospects.
The trapped are downwardly mobile
persons, older persons, and addicts who
cannot escape the city.
Suburbs


Since World War II, the U.S. population has
shifted as people moved to the suburbs.
Suburbanites rely on urban centers for
employment but pay property taxes to
suburban governments and school districts.
Functionalist Perspective on
Urbanism: Ecological Models
Concentric
zone model
Sector model
Due to invasion, succession, and gentrification,
cities are a series of circular zones, each
characterized by a particular land use.
Cities consist of wedge-shaped sectors, based on
terrain and transportation routes, with the most
expensive areas occupying the best terrain.
Multiple nuclei Cities have more than one center of development,
model
based on specific needs and activities.
Conflict Perspective on Urbanism:
Political Economy Models
Capitalism
and urban
growth
The capitalist class chooses locations for
skyscrapers and housing projects, limiting individual
choices by others.
Gender
regimes in
cities
Different cities have different ideologies regarding
access to social positions and resources for men and
women.
Global
patterns of
growth
Capital investment decisions by core nations result in
uneven growth in peripheral and semiperipheral
nations.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
on Urbanism
Simmel’s view The intensity of city life causes people to become
of city life
insensitive to individuals and events around them.
Urbanism as a Size, density, and heterogeneity of urban
way of life
population result in elaborate division of labor and
space.
Gans’s urban
villagers
5 categories of adaptation occur among urbanites,
ranging from cosmopolites to trapped city dwellers.
Gender and
city life
Cities offer women a paradox: more freedom than
more isolated areas, yet greater potential danger.
Population and Urbanization
in the Future: Latin America
Latin America is becoming the most urban lowincome region:
 Four megacities - Mexico City (18 million),
Buenos Aires (12 million), Lima (7 million), and
Santiago (5 million) - contain more than half
the region’s population.
 By 2010, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are
expected to have a combined population of 40
million.