Chapter 15
Population and
Urbanization
Chapter Outline
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The City of God
Population
Theories of Population Growth
Population and Social Inequality
Urbanization
The City of God: Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one of the world’s
most beautiful cities.
• With a population of more than 12 million in
2002, it is the 18th biggest metropolitan area
in the world.
• Not all are well off, slums are home to about
20% of the city’s inhabitants.
The City of God: Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
• Brazil’s 41 million people in 1940 multiplied to
about 180 million in 2004.
• The country is now more urbanized than the
United States, with more than 3/4 of its
population living in urban areas.
The Population “Explosion”
• 10,000 years before the birth of Christ there
were only about 6 million people in the world.
• By the time Christ was born, world population
had risen to 250 million, and it increased to
some 760 million by 1750.
• The number of humans reached 1 billion in
1804 and 5 billion in 1987.
The Population “Explosion”
• On July 1, 2005, there will be an estimated
6.4 billion people in the world according to the
U.S. Census Bureau.
– Where 1 person stood 12,000 years ago,
there are now 1067 people.
– Statistical projections suggest that by
2100, there will be about 1700 people.
World Population, (projected)
Age–sex Pyramid
(projected)
Age–sex pyramid
(projected)
Malthusian Theory of
Population Growth
• While food supplies increase slowly,
populations grow quickly.
• Only war, pestilence, and famine can
keep human population growth in
check.
Polling Question
•
There should be government intervention in
determining the maximum number of
children people can have.
A. Strongly agree
B. Agree somewhat
C. Unsure
D. Disagree somewhat
E. Strongly disagree
Renewable Resources, World,
% Change, 1990–2010 (projected)
Demographic Transition
Theory
• The main factors underlying population
dynamics:
– Industrialization
– Growth of cultural values
Demographic Transition
Theory: 4 Stages
1. Pre-industrial era - crude birth
rates and crude death rates were
high and population growth was
slow.
2. Early industrialization - crude
death rates fell, population growth
was rapid.
Demographic Transition
Theory: 4 Stages
3. Later in industrialization era - values
about having children changed, the
crude birth rate fell, resulting in slow
growth again.
4. Postindustrial era - crude death rate
has risen above the crude birth rate in
many societies.
Demographic Transition
Theory
Countries with Lowest and Highest
Fertility Rates, 2003
Georgia
Ukraine
Fertility
Rate
1.1
1.1
Greece
Italy
Latvia
Country
Lithuania
Niger
Somalia
Fertility
Rate
8.0
7.2
1.2
1.2
1.2
Yemen
Mali
Uganda
7.0
7.0
6.9
1.2
Dem. Rep.
Congo
6.9
Country
Fertility Rates World’s Three
Biggest Countries
Country
Fertility Rate
China
1.7
India
3.1
United States
2.0
Case Study: Kerala
• Kerala is a state in India with more than
30 million people.
• Kerala had a total fertility rate of 1.8 in
1991, half of India’s national rate and far
less than the replacement level of 2.1.
Case Study: Kerala
• The government of Kerala solved overpopulation by
increasing gender equality.
– Organized programs to educate women and
increase participation in the paid labor force.
– Made family planning widely available.
• Today, Keralan women enjoy the highest literacy rate,
the highest labor force participation rate, and the
highest rate of political participation in India.
Urbanization
World’s 5 Largest
Metropolitan Areas, 1900
Country
Millions
London, England
6.5
New York, U.S.
4.2
Paris, France
3.3
Berlin, Germany
2.4
Chicago, U.S.
1.7
World’s 5 Largest Metropolitan
Areas, 2015 (projected)
Country
Millions
Tokyo, Japan
28.7
Mumbai (Bombay), India
27.4
Lagos, Nigeria
24.4
Shanghai, China
23.4
Jakarta, Indonesia
21.2
Polling Question
•
If you could live anywhere in the United
States that you wanted to, would you prefer
a city, suburban area, small town, or farm?
A. City
B. Suburban area
C. Small town
D. Farm
Chicago School
• Described the arrangement of the
industrial city as expanding concentric
circles:
– The main business, entertainment,
and shopping area is in the center.
– The class position of residents
increases as from inner to outer rings.
Concentric Zone Model:
Chicago (1920)
After Chicago: A Critique
1. Social isolation, stress, emotional withdrawal
and other problems may be as common in
rural as in urban areas.
2. The patterns discovered are most applicable
to American industrial cities in the first
quarter of the 20th century.
3. Presents urban growth as a natural process,
slighting historical, political, and economic
foundations in capitalist industrialization.
1. Central city
2. Suburban residential
areas
3. Circumferential
highway
4. Radial highway
5. Shopping mall
6. Industrial district
7. Office park
8. Service center
9. Airport complex
10. Combined employment
and shopping center
New Urban Sociology
• Emerged in the 1970s and stresses
that city growth is a process rooted in
power relations and the urge to profit.
Corporate City
• The growing post-World War II
perception and organization of the North
American city as a vehicle for capital
accumulation.
Suburbanism
• A way of life outside city centers that is
organized mainly around the needs of
children and involves higher levels of
conformity and sociability than life in the
central city.
Gated Communities,
Exurbs, and Edge Cities
• Metropolitan areas include:
– gated communities - Residents pay high
taxes to keep the community patrolled and
walled off from the outside world.
– exurbs - Rural residential areas within
commuting distance of the city.
– edge cities - Exurban clusters of malls and
offices at the convergence point of major
highways.
20 Largest Cities in the United
States, 2002
City
Population
1
New York, NY
8,084,316
2
Los Angeles, CA
3,798,981
3
Chicago, IL
2,886,251
4
Houston, TX
2,009,834
5
Philadelphia, PA
1,492,231
6
Phoenix, AZ
1,371,960
7
San Diego, CA
1,259,532
20 Largest Cities in the United
States, 2002
City
Population
8
Dallas, TX
1,211,467
9
San Antonio, TX
1,194,222
10
Detroit, MI
925,051
11
San Jose, CA
900,443
12
Indianapolis, IN
783,612
13
San Francisco, CA
764,049
14
Jacksonville, FL
762,461
20 Largest Cities in the United
States, 2002
City
Population
15
Columbus, OH
725,228
16
Austin, TX
671,873
17
Memphis, TN
648,882
18
Baltimore, MD
638,614
19
Milwaukee, WI
590,895
20
Boston, MA
589,281
The Postmodern City:
3 Features
1. Access to formerly public spaces is limited
to those who can afford to pay.
2. A variety of lifestyles and subcultures based
on race, ethnicity, immigrant status, class,
sexual orientation, etc.
3. More globalized than the corporate city.
% Change in Population of HighPoverty Neighborhoods, United States,
1990–2000
Quick Quiz
1. According to Malthus, what forces hold
population growth in check?
a. "preventive" measures such as abortion
and infanticide
b. "positive checks" such as war, pestilence,
and famine
c. "religious checks" such as abstinence
and self-denial
d. "preventive" measures such as abortion
and infanticide, and "positive checks"
such as war, pestilence, and famine
Answer: d
1. According to Malthus, "preventive"
measures such as abortion and
infanticide, and "positive checks"
such as war, pestilence, and famine
hold population growth in check.
2. Helping the poor economically
generally results in the poor having
more children.
a. True
b. False
Answer: b
• Helping the poor economically generally
does not result in the poor having more
children.
3. According to demographic transition theory,
in the pre-industrial period:
a. the crude birth rate was low
b. the crude birth rate was high
c. the crude death rate was high
d. the crude birth rate was low, and the
crude death rate was high
e. the crude birth rate was high, and the
crude death rate was high
Answer: e
•
According to demographic transition
theory, in the pre-industrial period the
crude birth rate was high, and the
crude death rate was high.
4. What policies have been followed in Kerala, a
state in India, to reduce the fertility rate to a
manageable level?
a. The government pursued a policy of rapid
industrialization.
b. The government strictly enforced a
childbirth policy similar to China's
c. The government organized programs to
educate women and increase their
participation in the labor force.
d. All of these choices
Answer: c
•
In Kerala, a state in India, the
government organized programs to
educate women and increase their
participation in the labor force.
5. The idea that industrialization is the only
factor underlying urbanization is inaccurate
because:
a. cities existed in the ancient era as
administrative and religious centers
b. international trade stimulated urban
growth in pre-industrial Europe and the
Middle East
c. urbanization is not occurring at a rapid
rate in the world's poor countries
d. a. and b.
Answer: d
•
The idea that industrialization is the only
factor underlying urbanization is inaccurate
because cities existed in the ancient era
as administrative and religious centers
and international trade stimulated urban
growth in pre-industrial Europe and the
Middle East.
6. The new urban sociology is a
theoretical approach that borrows
ideas from biology to identify the
dynamics and patterns of urban
growth.
a. True
b. False
Answer: b
• The new urban sociology does not
borrow ideas from biology to identify the
dynamics and patterns of urban growth.
7. _________________ are rural
residential areas within commuting
distance of a city.
Answer: exurbs
• Exurbs are rural residential areas within
commuting distance of a city.