Principles of Sociology-SOC 101
Urbanization and Population
Lecture 12
Fiorentina Poulli
Outline of the lesson
O Understand industrialization and
urbanization
O Identify global cities; Inequality and the
global city
O Explain urbanization in the developing world
O World population growth; Identify basic
demographic concepts.
Traditional Cities
O Traditional cities differed in many ways from
modern urban areas
O Traditional cities: small, surrounded by walls,
religious buildings etc
Living in Cities
O In traditional societies only a small minority
of the population lived in urban areas
O Urbanism is also increasing very rapidly in
developing countries
O The process of urbanization generated
increasing urbanization-the movement of
the population into cities.
Urbanization is a global-process
World urbanization increased-most of this
growth has occurred in cities in developing
world societies
Theories of Urbanism
O Chicago School
-Urban processes in terms of ecological
models derived from biology
-Wirth developed the conception of urbanism
as a ‘way of life’-how life in cities is distinctive
or different from life elsewhere
O Later approaches to urban theory have
placed more emphasis on the influence if
broader socioeconomic factors on city life
O Urbanism to be analyzed in relation to major
patterns of political and economic change
Urban Development
O Global-local Issues
O The factors that influence urban
development locally are part of much more
international processes
Cities and Globalization
O Globalization-a profound effect on cities by
making them more interdependent
O Globalization and new communications
technology might lead to the demise of cities
as we know them
O Nowadays cities can be carried out in
cyberspace
Global Cities
O Global cities as urban centers that are home
to the headquarters of large, transnational
corporations and financial services (Sassen)
O New York-London-Tokyo-strategic role for
major cities
Characteristics of global cities
Global Cities Nowadays
Hong Kong
Milan
Singapore
Los Angeles
Frankfurt
More cities
are joining..
Inequality and the Global city
O Global economy-problematic in many ways
O New dynamics of inequality visible within the
global city
O New economy vs traditional economic
sectors
O People who work in finances and global
services receive high salaries thus the areas
where they live become gentrified
O Duneier argues ‘within global cities a
geography of centrality and marginality is
taking place’
O Urban redevelopment-poverty on the other
side
Urbanization in the
developing world
O Megacities as one of the main features of
third millennium urbanization
O Megacities are defined not by their size
alone but also by their role as connection
point between enormous human population
and the global economy(Castells)
O Population growth is one of the most
significant global problems currently faced
by humanity
O http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheet
s/2012/world-population-data-sheet/worldmap.aspx#/map/population
Challenges of urbanization
O Economic Implications
O Environmental challenges-pollution, housing
shortages, inadequate sanitation etc
O Social Effects- poverty, children-education
The future of Urbanization in
the Developing World
•Difficult to see prospects for change and development
•Globalization is presenting important opportunities for urban areas in
developing countries
•Globalization presents one of the most dynamic openings for growing
urban centers to become major forces in economic development.
World Population Growth
O 7 billion people
O Impact on the globe, the increasing length of
the human life span, the unbalanced human
consumption of scarce resources, and
unequal living conditions
World Population Growth
O Much of that growth has happened in Asia —
in India and China. Those two countries have
been among the world's most populous for
centuries. But a demographic shift is taking
place as the countries have modernized and
lowered their fertility rates.
O Now, the biggest growth is taking place in
sub-Saharan Africa.
Demography
O The science dealing with the size,
distribution, composition and changes in
population
O Demographic studies-where population
growth is occurring is critical to our
understanding of the future
Basic Concepts
O Life Expectancy
O Birth Rate
O Mortality
O Infant mortality Rate
O Life Expectancy
Birth Rate
•The number of live births per
1000 people in a given year
Death Rate
•The number of deaths per
1000 people in a given year
Infant Mortality
Rate: the number
of deaths among
infants under 1
year of age per
1000 live birthsCyprus 3.6
Life Expectancy:
is the expected
numbers of years
of life-Cyprus 79
years
O Questions-Discussion
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!!