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-	{{Template}}	+	#redirect[[Urban studies]]
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-	'''Urban theory''' describes the economic, political and social processes which affect the formation and development of cities.	+
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-	==Overview==	+
-	Theoretical discourse has often polarized between [[economic determinism]]<ref name=Marx>Marx, K. (1976) Capital Vol 1Harmondsworth: Penguin (Original work published in 1867)</ref> and [[cultural determinism]]<ref name=Weber>Weber, M. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, London: Allen & Unwin (Originally published in 1905)</ref> with scientific or [[technological determinism]] adding another contentious issue of reification. Studies across eastern and western nations have suggested that certain cultural values promote [[economic development]] and that the economy in turn changes cultural values.<ref name=Allen>Allen, M. W. Ng, S. H. Ikeda, K. Jawan, J. A. Sufi, A. H. Wilson, M. & Yang, K. S. "Two Decades of Change in Cultural Values and Economic Development in Eight East Asian and Pacific Island Nations" in Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology Vol. 38: pp. 247-69</ref> Urban historians were among the first to acknowledge the importance of technology in the city.<ref name=Hommels>Hommels, A. "Studying Obducracy in the City: Toward a Productive Fusion between Technology Studies and Urban Studies" in Science Technology and Human Values, Vol. 30 No. 3: pp.323-51</ref> It embeds the single most dominant characteristic of a city; its networked character perpetuated by information technology.<ref name=Graham>Graham, S. & Marvin, S. (1996) Telecommunications and the City: Electronic Spaces, Urban Places, London: Routledge</ref> Regardless of the deterministic stance (economic, cultural or technological), in the context of [[globalization]], there is a mandate to mold the city to complement the global economic structure and urbanomics gains ascendancy.	+
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-	== Political processes ==	+
-	[[Lewis Mumford]] described monumental architecture as an "expression of power" seeking to produce "respectful terror".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Richard J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1KoDwAAQBAJ&q=why+cities+look+the+way+they+do|title=Why Cities Look the Way They Do|date=2019-08-08|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-7456-9184-8|pages=52|language=en}}</ref> Gigantism, geometry, and order are characteristic of cities such as [[Washington, D.C.]], [[New Delhi]], [[Beijing]] and [[Brasília]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Richard J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1KoDwAAQBAJ&q=why+cities+look+the+way+they+do|title=Why Cities Look the Way They Do|date=2019-08-08|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-7456-9184-8|pages=54|language=en}}</ref>	+
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-	==Economic capital and globalization==	+
-	The [[Industrial Revolution]] was accompanied by urbanization in Europe and the United States in the 19th century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Thorpe|first1=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ8DrgEACAAJ|title=The Sociology Book|last2=Yuill|first2=Chris|last3=Hobbs|first3=Mitchell|last4=Todd|first4=Megan|last5=Tomley|first5=Sarah|last6=Weeks|first6=Marcus|date=2015|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-0-241-18229-1|pages=192|language=en}}</ref> [[Friedrich Engels]] studied [[Manchester]], which was being transformed by the cotton industry.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Richard J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1KoDwAAQBAJ&q=why+cities+look+the+way+they+do|title=Why Cities Look the Way They Do|date=2019-08-08|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-7456-9184-8|pages=30|language=en}}</ref> He noted how the city was divided into the wealthy and working class areas, which were physically separated so that one could not see any of the latter from the former.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Richard J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1KoDwAAQBAJ&q=why+cities+look+the+way+they+do|title=Why Cities Look the Way They Do|date=2019-08-08|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-7456-9184-8|pages=30–31|language=en}}</ref> The city was therefore a function of [[Capital (economics)|capital]].<ref name=":3" />	+
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-	[[Georg Simmel]] studied the effect of the urban environment on the individuals living in cities, arguing in ''[[The Metropolis and Mental Life]]'' that the increase in human interaction affected relationships.<ref name=":0" /> The activity and anonymity of the city led a 'blasé attitude' with reservations and aloofness by urban denizens.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Thorpe|first1=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ8DrgEACAAJ|title=The Sociology Book|last2=Yuill|first2=Chris|last3=Hobbs|first3=Mitchell|last4=Todd|first4=Megan|last5=Tomley|first5=Sarah|last6=Weeks|first6=Marcus|date=2015|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-0-241-18229-1|pages=193|language=en}}</ref> This was also driven by the market economy of the city, which corroded traditional norms.<ref name=":1" /> However, people in cities were also more tolerant and sophisticated.<ref name=":1" />	+
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-	[[Henri Lefebvre]] argued in the 1960s and 1970s that urban space is dominated by the interests of [[corporation]]s and [[capitalism]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last1=Thorpe|first1=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ8DrgEACAAJ|title=The Sociology Book|last2=Yuill|first2=Chris|last3=Hobbs|first3=Mitchell|last4=Todd|first4=Megan|last5=Tomley|first5=Sarah|last6=Weeks|first6=Marcus|date=2015|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-0-241-18229-1|pages=198|language=en}}</ref> Private places such as shopping centres and office buildings dominated over public space.<ref name=":2" /> The economic relations could be seen in the city itself, with wealthy areas being far more opulent than the run-down parts of the poor.<ref name=":2" /> To fix this, a [[right to the city]] needed to be asserted to give everyone a say on urban space.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Thorpe|first1=Christopher|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ8DrgEACAAJ|title=The Sociology Book|last2=Yuill|first2=Chris|last3=Hobbs|first3=Mitchell|last4=Todd|first4=Megan|last5=Tomley|first5=Sarah|last6=Weeks|first6=Marcus|date=2015|publisher=Dorling Kindersley Limited|isbn=978-0-241-18229-1|pages=199|language=en}}</ref>	+
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-	==Economic sustainability==	+
-	In fact, urbanomics can spillover beyond the city parameters. The process of globalization extends its territories into global city regions. Essentially, they are territorial platforms (metropolitan extensions from key cities, chain of cities linked within a state territory or across inter-state boundaries and arguably; networked cities and/or regions cutting across national boundaries) interconnected in the globalized economy. Some see global city-regions rather than global cities as the nodes of a global network.<ref name=Scott>Scott, A. J. (ed.) (2001) Global City-Regions, Oxford: Oxford University Press Sennett, R. 1990 The Conscience of the Eye, the Design and Social Life of Cities, London: Norton & Company</ref>	+
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-	The rules of engagement are built on economic sustainability – the ability to continuously generate wealth. The cornerstones of this economic framework are the following ‘4C’ attributes: (1) currency flow for trading, (2) commoditization of products and services in supply chain management, (3) command centre function in orchestrating interdependency and monitoring executions and (4) consumerization. Unless, decoupling the economy from these attributes can be demonstrated; symbolic capital expressions as legitimate as they may be; must accept the domineering status of urbanomics.	+
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-	==Revisiting economic measurements==	+
-	Arguably, the culprit of this economic entrapment is the high consumption lifestyle synonymous with affluence. The resolve may well be that ‘less is more’ and that true welfare lies not in a rise in production and income. As such, [[Gross Domestic Product]] (GDP) is increasingly being questioned as inaccurate and inadequate. GDP includes things that do not contribute to [[sustainable growth]] and excludes non-monetary benefits that improve the welfare of the people. In response, alternative measures have been proposed such as the [[Genuine Progress Indicator]] (GPI)<ref name=Talbert>Talberth, J. Cobb, C. & Slattery, N. (2006) "The Genuine Progress Indicator 2006 – Executive Summary" in Redefining Progress http://www.rprogress.org/publications/2007/GPI2006_ExecSumm.pdf Accessed 16 May 09</ref> and the Index of Sustainable Welfare - ISEW.<ref name=Hanley>Hanley, N. Moffat, I. Faichney, R. and Wilson, M. (1999) "Measuring Sustainability: A Time Series of Alternative Indicators for Scotland" in Ecological Economics, 28(1) pp.55-73</ref>	+
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-	==See also==	+
-	* [[MONU - magazine on urbanism]]	+
-	*[[Rural economics]]	+
-	*[[Urban economics]]	+
-	*[[Urban decay]]	+
-	*[[Urban development]]	+
-	*[[Urban planning]]	+
-	*[[Urban studies]]	+
-	*[[Urban vitality]]	+
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-	{{GFDL}}	+

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Revision as of 19:18, 26 October 2022

1. redirectUrban studies