Urban Studies 101 Final Review

Fiorello LaGuardia

- "human cultural hybrid"

Le Corbusier

- A twentieth-century French architect and city planner known for designing buildings with unusual curves and unconventional shapes - in addition to being one of the most important figures of modern architecture, was also an influential urban planner - wrote The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning, and The Radiant City - condemned modern cities and outlined a vision of new urban society - rejected widespread decentralization, and saw the benefits to concentrate people in tall, architecturally magnificent building surrounded by huge open spaces - reasoned that this would allow 95% of available land free from any building at all - sought to eliminate the CBD and population concentration by creating equal densities throughout the city - even flows of people throughout the whole city, rather than radical flows into and out of the center which characterizes cities today

FHA and redlining

- Federal Housing Administration - guaranteed construction loans to increase the housing supply under the New Deal in the Roosevelt administration - Redlining is the practice of, in the United States, denying, or charging more for, services such as banking, insurance, access to health care, or even supermarkets, or denying jobs to residents in particular, often racially determined, areas.

Broadacre City

- Frank Lloyd Wright, most famous of all US architects, view Le Corbusier's urban vision as a nightmare - believed high density living to be avoided at all costs - championed "organic architecture" the living union of architectural design the the natural environment - accepted the integral role of modern technology - wan antiurban and sought to increase vastly the amount of space occupied by his utopian city in order to lower greatly its density - believed people should live on their own acres of farmland and could easily reach neighbors and shopping facilities with cars - fusion of what Wright saw as the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy (extensive personal freedoms), the NA dream of plenty of land for personal use, and modern technology - met with massive criticism during his lifetime - The Living City

Daniel Monti

- He suggested that city inspire people to become civic minded individuals - argues that cities continue to inspire both a public spirit and a civic mindedness among their inhabitants - civic culture manifested by ability to coexist and cooperate in everyday routines of public habits and customs - This LBJ appointee wrote this report where he argued that the breakdown of lower class black families led to the pathology of juvenile delinquency.

School vouchers

- equal to the state's share of the cost to educate a child - can use voucher to place their child in a public or private school of their choice - critics charge that this approach siphons off much needed public education funding, thus undermining the nation's commitment to public education, and that it does little to improve central city schools

Reston VA

- Robert E. Simon -"quality urban environment" planned around two town centers linking seven villages - contemporary design with trees, lakes, and pathways - intended to be economically self sufficent and diverse, with mixed income housing - home to about 2000 businesses, but only 25% of residents live and work there, while the rest commute - mostly affluent and mostly white

Jane Jacobs

- The Death and Life of Great American Cities: best-known critique of public housing - still influential book on urban form and function - criticized conventional planners and argued that the creation of housing projects as stand alone entities was wrong in the first place, as long as conceptualization remains, nothing will overcome their stigma and unsafe environment -believes planners should seek physical changes that would integrate such places into surrounding neighborhood so that both the previously isolated projects and the nearby community would benefit

parallel social institutions

- a community support network (clubs, churches, organizations, and stores) where hispanics can share the commonality of language and culture; often many first gen Hispanic Americans cluster in urban ethnic neighborhoods, repeating a centuries-old pattern of earlier immigrants

gendered spaces (Daphne Spain)

- a result of the differentiated roles that men and women played in the home, school. workplace, and community - how differences in gender status resulted in the organization of space to reflect and reinforce those unequal distinctions - ex: women were at one point completely barred from attending college, and were then only permitted to attend women's colleges, and were finally granted submission into coed schools - gendered tasks in the workplace

Text's conclusions on city planning

- all evidence suggests that changing a city's physical form does not automatically reshape social life - new structures have become home many old problems, including harmful prejudices, class antagonism, and environmental pollution - the best planning blends good sociology with dramatic architecture - all the planning experiments of the last century have fallen short of their goals - new towns have not solved the problem of lage cities, nor have they solved man of their own troubles - urban planning occurs within a framework of certain unbending realities; economic and political considerations limit the scope of any plan -must merge the contradictory forces - planners desire to shape the urban environment and a free people's need to choose - must recognize the need for a regional, integrated view of metropolitan regions

strategic policing

- an aggressive tactic of deploying increased patrols, decoys, and sting operation in scales identified through frequent computer analyses as high-crime areas - began in NY and their success made it a model for other cities - "get tough" approaches do little to solve the root cause of crime; rather, they deal only with the consequences -ultimately, achieving long-term reductions in crime likely depends on increasing economic opportunities in poor communities - doing so involves greater mobility for inner city residents, job training, and economic incentives through gov to encourage businesses to locate in economically depressed areas

community policing

- an approach that increases interaction and cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the people and neighborhoods they serve - focus in not just on responding to crime, but forging a partnership with citizens to identify and resolve problems, assign officers to a specific geographical area on a permanent basis, empower them to speak to neighborhood groups, participate in business and civic events, and otherwise participate positively in community live

Discuss Jane Jacobs' criticism of urban planning and planners response to her

- argued that redevelopers didn't even try to understand that many areas subject to redevelopment were actually healthy, safe neighborhoods - believed many redevelopment programs reflected the bias of middle class planners against the lifestyle of low rent areas

Lewis Mumford

- argued that the city has been at the very center of Western civilization from its beginnings - human self-awareness and memories (?) attached to certain areas where they eventually live relentless social critic of the "new suburbia" created by the Levitts, Mumford himself being an architect; lamented the homogenization of American populace and bemoaned the lack of diversity and excess of conformity.

"Great Migration"

- as cities such as Chicago, new York, and Boston grew into industrial metropolises, african americans saw greater opportunity there than in the agricultural south - push-pull factors spurring migration included the decline of southern agriculture as well as farm mechanization on the one hand and northern industries' shortage of labor and active recruitment of black workers from southern states and others - massive relocation of blacks once again accelerated when industrial production rose during WWII - migration remained high until the 70s, when urban decentralization and minority movement to the South reversed this process

No Child Left Behind Act (2001)

- dramatically increased the role of the fed gov in guaranteeing the quality of public education for all children - increased funding for poor school districts - higher achievement standards for minorities and poor students - new measures to hold schools accountable for their students' progress - requires annual administration of standardized test in reading and math

Islamic City

- as nomads and overland traders, the people of the Middle East had learned how to live and prosper across vast distances of inhospitable terrain as trading centers - Muslim city reflected the power of the city's royal and religious elites, and many found these to be the most beautiful of all he world's cities - surrounding walls served a dual function, first a sa defense against marauders and also as a barrier to dust-laden winds coming from a variety of directions - trading hubs with a variety of goods and businesses - narrow passageways 0some rooms in the houses were for the use of the women only, and to preserve the modesty of Islamic tradition, the layout of the house enabled the entertaining of guests without unavoidably encountering all household members - old urban communities had a high degree of unity and an intimate, intricate, and intense atmosphere - situated in harsh conditions - reached zenith during the Middle ages

Tenochitlan

- aztec island metropolis of incredible magnificence - situated amid the calm, clear, turquoise waters of Lake Texcoco - had a pop of about 350,000 by the end of the fifteenth century - regarded as world's greatest city after Rome - utilized extensive aqueduct systems that provided very clean water, compared to that drank by European cities - personal cleanliness and hygiene, used soaps, deodorants, and breath sweeteners - commerce was vital, had an enormous Great Market - had great pyramid temples and elegant palaces, together with spotless streets, road plazas, and exotic gardens - captured by Cortés in 1521

gentrification

- broader process than homesteading - movement of more affluent individuals and families back into older, often decaying areas in the city - usually cosmopolites or unmarried and childless groups "yuppies" 1. proximity to variety and stimulation (theaters, music, and chic stores) 2. economic restricting increased the number of administrative and professional jobs available in central cities 3. as women enter workforce, and two-career couples become more common, time needed to maintain a single family suburban house is often too burdensome 4. suburban housing is expensive, one can find bargains in low income districts 5. much central city housing built from about 1880 to 1910 has a level of craftsmanship and quality rarely found in today's suburbs

capitalist city: assest and debits

- capitalist city has unquestionably been successful in generating a higher material standard of living for a larger proportion of its population than any other urban system in history - useful material goods and technological innovations are omnipresent - residents experience a significant degree of political as well as other kinds of freedom, they can vote, come and go as they please, and if they have the money, live where they like - millions of poor families live in cities, and many unprofitable districts have fallen into shocking decay - dominant focus on material goods and technological innovations creates a society which is less mindful of social/environmental needs - freedom to accumulate wealth, prestige, and power has meant that some individuals in our cities have much more of those limited resources than others, with wealth primarily in the hands of a few

Ming Peking

- civilization rested on a fundamental cultural relief in a god-like emperor - monuments and buildings dwarfed the common individual as they simultaneously magnified the pomp and majesty of the emperor and his elite - strict social stratification - great use of symbolism to praise the emperor - intensified Chinese culture

Oswald Spengler

- contended that cities developed, ultimately dominated a society, and then declined, carrying with them the culture built over generations and centuries human civilization takes on distinctive qualities in the city; at some point the "should" of the city emerges - believed that whole periods of European civilization were manifest only in citiesWriter who published "The Decline of the West" in which he argues that Western Civilization was in its old age and would soon be conquered by East Asia - every culture experiences a life cycle of growth and decline. Western civilization, in Spengler's opinion, was in its old age, and death was approaching in the form of conquest by the yellow-race. (934)

"model minority"

- despite their cultural diversity, many Asians have a record of educational achievement, high income, and overall success in Canadian and U.S. metropolitan areas - dubbed "model minority" because of their accomplishments - many others who do not fit tis stereotype, are often non-citizens who get by on low-paying jobs, often working multiple jobs, and depend on multiple wage earners in the household - hampered by language difficulties, poor education, and weak job skills, many Southeast Asian refugees remain on welfare - some truth too stereotype, but like other generalizations, it conceals as much as it reveals about a complex category of people

Columbia MD

- developed by James Rouse - intended to create a people-friendly social and physical environment that would simultaneously allow private venture capital to make a profit in land development and sale - employed a host of specialists during the planning phase - contains low to moderate income housing, and a racially integrated community (25% black) - set aside permanent open space for leisure and outdoor activity - ranked #2 out of the 100 "Best places to live in the US)

Radburn NY

- developed by architect and planner Clarence Stein - 20 miles west of NYC - direct attempt to adapt Ebenezer Howard's garden city to the US - laid out in "superblocks," each surrounded by a green space - attempted to separate pedestrian and automobile traffic completely - backs of houses faced the street while front faced on open green space with unhampered walking and biking paths - streets only for getting to and from the house, no playing or walking - ran into financial troubles and was not completed as originally planned - influential for planners and architects, concepts have been implemented elsewhere in the US

Bobos and Dinks

- dinks (dual income, no kids) service market professionals who move to cities and gentrify less affluent neighborhoods bobos: adults born into upper-middle-class households who blend the trappings of their economic success with socially responsible actions, new social class as a blend of the bourgeois and bohemians; work hard and emphasize their resume accomplishments, but they also are comfortable in relaxed, informal activities; also into environmentalism and health, favoring recycling, cycling, jogging, and working out, frequenting coffee shops over bars, and living well but not ostentatiously

Pruitt-Igoe (1951)

- failed national solution - proposed public housing project designed to improve the lives of thousands in a badly run down area of East St. Louis - residents fully occupied the apartments in 33 innovative high-rise building - became a community scandal as crime, dirt, and accidents were rampant; project became a concrete shell where anarchy prevailed - a concentration of poor, welfare dependent african american families (57% were female headed households with children) - population declined as more and more residents could not bear to remain

Golden Age of Athens

- fifth century B.C.E. - celebration of human possibilities :men come together in the city to live, they remain there in order to live the good life" - Aristotle - Pericles conveys essence of Athenian golden age by saying the Greek ideal begins with the principle of democracy "favors the many instead of the few" - fierce sense of independence - Solon establishes People's Council to allow free citizens a place in the city's governing body: The Assembly - political participation was mandatory for all citizens - primary cultural value was that all citizens should strive for refinement and pursue individual well-being - humanizing gods, served as models for human development; became a symbol of something nobler in human nature, within the reach of human endeavor - tripartite focus on body, mind, and spirit - kept more practical areas of life (politics/economics) in check, avoided materialism or power and control - Athens wealth and leisure rested on the goods and services of others - denied citizenship to foreigners robbing citizenry of potentially invigorating new ideas - ended with the Peloponnesian War in 431 B.C.E. between Athens and Sparta, athenians tried socrates and condemned him to death

Celebration FL

- good example of New Urbanism - construction began with the downtown - most notable is the art deco style movie complex and a cylindrical post office - oversized porches and verandas ecourage old-time neighborhood socializing - surrounded by a 4700 acre protected green belt with miles of walking paths - diversity of property values forms a social mix not often seen in such communities - an attempt to return to the per friendly, compactly build town of the past, as compared with the new urbanists describe as the car0dominated suburban sprawl of freeways, malls, and widely dispersed single family homes - critics call it a retreat to a dream world of the past that only appeals to a small segment of the population - mostly white, upper middle class community

The Arcology

- idea of Wright's students Paolo solar - accpeted central notion of organ architecture, rejected Broadacre city and sided with Le Corbusier - advocated a dense concentration of people in an urban area - completely self contained unit housing up to a half a million people in a megastructure 300 stories high nd occupying just the space of a few city blocks - called arcologies: architectural ecologies - environmentally safe, architecturally beautiful, and totally self efficient

radiocentric city

- importance of defense prompted preindustrial people to build cities in the form of a great container - radiate outward from a common center - because most people want to be located at the center, for convenience of travel, most cities radiate outward in sets of rings

Realities of urban planning

- in a free-market economy, urban planning rarely strays very far from the interests of business, either from expense or other financial troubles - local politics and interest groups contend with each other to achieve their various goals - the complexities of even small scale projects lead to challenges that intimidate elected officials who fear alienating voters -values also saturate, explicitly, or implicitly, the work of urban planners - city planning is not left up to the people - because most of us are deeply committed to the values of individuality and personal initiative, we are put off by all inclusive planning that seems to demand submission to the group - national governments have no overall plans or policies for their cities, because the residents don't want them

Toronto's two phases or urban planning

- in the 1950's and into the early 70s, urban planning reflected an all-out, pro-development attitude and adherence to the principles of modernist planning - approach emphasized intense specialization of land use, massive infrastructure (urban expressways), and redevelopment of older areas - officials identified districts as blighted and then obliterated them to make room for expressways, public housing projects, private high rise apartment developments, or an expansion of downtown's commercial functions - razed some of the city's architectural gems and destroyed communities - old neighborhoods seen as an inconvenience between two modernist sectors: the suburbs and a rapidly redeveloping central business district - exemplifies outcome of the modernist planning approach also found in many other NA cities - area became an isolated virtually impenetrable ghetto - reformers who disagreed with demolition pointed to the decay of US inner cities and argued that Toronto could avoid their mistakes if it remained people oriented and emphasized neighborhood preservation - cultural resistance played an important role in the introduction of the second phase of planning: postmodern inner city development - postmodern urbanism is a celebration of traditional urban form and of social and cultural heterogeneity - planners began emphasizing the benefits of a diversified, small grained urban texture and the importance of preserving older building - preservation and upgrading of the built environment led to the loss of its social diversity, as middle and upper income people displaced the working class and ethnic populations

Housing Act of 1949 and impact

- initiated the suburban boom that followed - encouraged new housing and home ownership outside the city to relieve the urban population pressure but did little to improve the cities' housing stock - urban renewal: provided federal financing for slum clearance and the building of huge public housing projects - rested on principle of eminent domain - developers sought profitable redevelopment , little of the new construction was affordable to the low-income residents who had previously occupied the neighborhoods

"City Beautiful" Movement

- inspired by Daniel Turnham's "White City"; which opposed the grimy, sooty, industrial city and proposed the construction around monumental civic centers built in a neoclassical style, with great public spaces and a network of parks al linked by spacious boulevards - cost of the movement led even advocates to scale back their plans - some private interests, especially businesses, resisted compromising their narrow objectives

ordered segmentation (Gerald Suttles)

- marked social order in Chicago's West Side slums - order based on race and ethnicity - divisiveness amongst races (italians, puerto ricans, mexicans, and blacks) allowed most people to establish community ties with those whom they did trust - by avoiding other races, the single ethnicity could form a sense of identity and community among themselves, thereby providing some defense against a hostile outside world

Canberra

- new town designed to be the core of a new urban region and home to the national government - located in the outback (isolated and rural), 180 miles from the seacoast metropolis of Sydney - was to be a new, inland city that would not only house the Australian government but also develop the Australian hinterland - far from normal trade routes, and it had no major resources to attract investors. gov and planners were in complete control - physically beautiful with a pop now exceeding 350,000 - lower unemployment rate and higher average weekly earnings than in the rest of Australia, home to 25,000 businesses, diverse economy, although oriented toward the service industries and public administration - essentially an upper and middle class city - bc of high cost of living, most low income families cannot afford to live there

New Towns Movements in different national contexts

- not a reference to new settlements - deals with the large-scale, holistic planning of a mixed use, self sufficient community - including physical design of streets and infrastructure' its provision of residential, commercial, educational, recreational, shopping, and service facilities' its center, squares, parks, lakes, and pathways; its blend of employment and leisure activities; and more British New Towns -1946 passed New Towns Act, providing for gov sponsorship of new urban communities to draw population away form London and other cities - limit London's increasing sprawl by surrounding the city with a green belt - success assured bc of deep gov involvement - second wave reflected gov concern that small cities of 30,000 were insufficient to alleviate population problems in the larger cities - too many small towns would consume too much land -sacrificed greenery for density and emphasized central shopping and rec facilities - eminently successful at providing decent housing and sufficient jobs - small number and limited size, were unable to have much impact on the large populations of Britain's major cities - socially cliquish towns, same ethnic and class prejudices - not willing to adapt to new plans

"New Urbanism" and limitations

- one of the most encouraging development in restoring the vitality of older cities - includes sociological principles in physical planning - brought about a rethinking of the entire city - response to the lack of community in sprawling suburbs - principles include walkability, connectivity, mixed use and diversity, mixed housing types, and a traditional neighborhood structure with public space at the center limitations 1. fewer low income housing units than before' displacement of the poor has also occurred in these redevelopment projects 2. weaving a housing project into the surrounding area is enormously difficult in the amidst of extensive, nightmarish ghettos 3. NU cannot address the extensive poverty that makes public housing such a problem in the first place

What are the problems facing urban education? evaluate possible solutions

- overcrowded schools, discipline and violence, high dropout rates, and issues of quality education and student learning outcomes - schools overall have become more racially segregated - cities attract large numbers of immigrant families and children with limited English proficiency and a greater concentration of low-income families - places a heavy burden on urban schools to educate, fully and effectively, the students they serve

Brasilia

- planned inland capital city in Brazil conceived in 1950 as a showcase for a modernizing brazil location helped develop the nation's interior, with the intent of siphoning off population from the country's older cities - artificial lake surrounds much of the city and separates it from the suburban towns to the north -utilizes north south axis - pop exceeds 2.3 million - people streamed into the city looking for construction jobs - abandoned or modified much of the original plans - evolved favelas (squatter shantytowns) as migrants unable to find adequate housing constructed their own shelters out of anything they could find - gov built houses 15 miles away to alleviate squatters

primate city

- principal cities that are extremely large compared to other cities in the country - dominate a great many countries in the developing world - a single city can be home to more than half of a country's urban population - ex: Mexico City, Cairo Egypt, Lagos Nigeria - grows in population and influence far beyond other cities in a nation or region - extent of dominance in its country can be shown using a primacy ratio, which is computed through dividing the primate city's population by the population of the second-largest city in the country

Yuppies/Buppies

- rapid growth of the service sector generated well-paying, professional positions that bought young, late twenties to early forties, urban professionals to the city not only to work but also to live - may be single or married, with or without children buppies - new group of black, urban professionals who entered work force as a large number of African American college grads entered the urban labor market

charter schools

- recent alternative to traditional public schools - private schools that operate with less state regulation o that teachers and administrators can try out new teaching strategies - held accountable for achieving educational results - receives greater autonomy to operate in return for greater accountability for student performance - smaller classes which allow more creativity with curriculum and time for individualized instruction - have created a more segregated teaching environment (57% white non-hispanics), despite being established to provide better schooling for minority students

Shantytown

- situated on the peripheral of urbanizing urban centers - locales of abject poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, and disease - a quiet determination, strong family ties, and steadfast hope are often their positive counterparts as the inhabitants cling to the edge of survival - constitute the worst side of urban life in the developing world - found word wide

Jane Addams

- suffragist, activist, and the first woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize - founded the Hull House in an old mansion in Chicago's West Side slums - refuge for displaced people to "aid in the solution of industrial and social problem which are engendered by the modern conditions of life in a great city" and also to help her neighbors "build responsible self-sufficient lives for themselves"

urban agglomeration

- the belief that more-developed countries were the locales of the world's largest metropolitan areas - is an extended city or town area comprising the built-up area of a central place (usually a municipality) and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area.

"truly disadvantaged"

- today's poor inner-city residents face social isolation - exodus of middle and working class, two parent black families removes essential role models and reduces community resources - outsiders avoid these neighborhoods, leaving them plagued by massive unemployment, crime, and schools that do not promote achievement - area residents - women and children on welfare, school dropouts, single mothers, and aggressive street criminals - live virtually cut off from the larger society - current social indicators offer little cause for optimism, as such problems have structural causes that society has yet to overcome

index of dissimilarity

- used to measure the relative separation or integration of groups across all neighborhoods, developed by Alma and Karl Taeuber's

urban homesteading

-city of Wilmington offered buildings it acquired through default of tax payments for a token fee of a few hundred dollars to people who agreed to rehabilitate them and stay there for a min of three years - encouraged many other cities to initiate their own homesteading programs, often transferring houses to people at the top of long waiting lists for Section 8 rental housing who were willing to become "urban homesteaders" - pioneers in rebuilding an urban area - limited in success, as too many abandoned homes were deteriorated and vandalized beyond rehabilitation; some not worth salvaging - both the cost of repairing the building to meet occupancy code standard and the difficulty of getting rehabilitation loans eliminated most of the urban poor from participating in urban homesteading

Urban Geography

-city's design reflects its physical environmengeography and climate provide the physical conditions to which urbanites must adapt. Certain physical characteristics usually determine whether an area even becomes a city at all: all but few major cities are located on waterways (seaport, accept, or on major rivers) -- stimulating trade

Everyone answers this question: Define "social construction of reality" and give examples of that re: race, ethnicity, gender, and class

-how we as a society assign certain values and expectations to genders, races, ethnicities, and classes - gender: dressing a child to fit their assigned gender, which is determined by genitalia at birth - society creates symbols to distinguish between genders, such as color and interests - race: a "sociohistorical process" that has created race through crucial events - characterization and identification by appearance and skin pigmentation - social construction results in and molds stereotypes that creates an assumptions society

absolute and relative poverty

-primary problem with crime lies in social structure, that the explanation for high crime rates lies in racial and economic inequalities -relative poverty breeds resentment and crime, as the city concentrates people of highly unequal incomes, and those with less than others may see themselves as being unjustly deprived -Absolute poverty was defined as: a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services. - the minority poor may engage in more crime as offenders - and suffer more as victims - because they are heavily represented among the economically deprived

Section 8 Program

-provides rent subsidies to low income tenants in private housing - assistance program enables tenants to choose where to live instead of forcing them into a public housing project - offers subsidies to developers to build or rehabilitate rental housing, set aside a certain portion of the units for low income families and in a subsidy contract with the gov receive 30% of the rent from the tenant and the rest from the gov - severely underfunded program, waiting list can run into the years, and many local housing authorities frequently close their waiting lists and stop accepting applications because their lists are too long

magnet schools

-schools offering special programs, originally to attract students from many districts to achieve integration - success in raising students' scholastic achievement gained them more popularity - critics charge that magnet schools are elitist in luring the best students and teachers, thereby relegating the majority of students to the mediocrity of ordinary city schools

3 traditional purposes of urban planning

1. to solve specific urban problems: underground sewage lines for health reasons, walls for protection, parks for leisure, thoroughfares to facilitate movement 2. to glorify those in power (serve the interests of hose with wealth and power): immortally rulers by buildings, parks, plazas, and innumerable statues 3. glorification of important cultural values: ex Ming Peking was not only a monument to the emperor but also a reminder to everyone of beliefs that were central to the Chinese way of life; recently financial and trade elements have been the center of values

Predatory Lending

Any of a number of fraudulent, deceptive, discriminatory, or unfavorable lending practices. Many of these practices are illegal, while others are legal but not in the best interest of the borrowers. Illegal and abusive lending practices such as refinancing without benefit to the borrower and making loans beyond borrower's ability to make the payments. Targeting loans to seniors, low-income and other people to take advantage of their financial status or lack of financial knowledge.

Ebenezer Howard

Came up with theory of "greenbelt" communities and the "Garden City" movement, where people live harmoniously together with nature. He disliked the way modern cities were being developed and thought people should live in places that should combine the best aspects of both cities and towns. Influenced Frederick Law Olmstead with his writings. Jackson in Crabgrass calls him "a turn-of-the-century visionary who was appalled as much by suburbs as he was by urban slums.

Comparison/contrast of "Chicago School" and "LA School" models of urban ecology

LA SCHOOL: POSTMODERNISM - emphasis on multi centered, dispersed patterns as the new reality or urban growth - used LA as model - believed the city's multiple realities and its decentralized structure represented the urban future - focused on socially and spatially fragmented patterns - rejected universal truths in favor of more limited interpretations of specific areas

3 Utopian Architectural Visionaries

Le Corbusier's "radiant city," Wright's "broader city," and Shimizu's "TRY-2004"

Urban ecology

Robert Parks' human ecology: focused on what he viewed as an orderly evolution of urban growth and development; forces within urban community which tend to bring about an orderly and typical grouping of its population and institution. evolutionary struggle for survival was evident in the everyday competition for scarce resources (food, clothing, shelter, land) - leads to different clusters of activity that park called natural areas: business districts, ethnic neighborhoods, skid rows, and rooming-house areas. urban competition is not only economic, it is also about power. also noted that large scale population movement also influence urban development. as immigrants/their descendants moved, the next group of poor people inhabited their old neighborhoods: invasion-succession. concentric zones

Please identify one of the major theoretical traditions and/or approaches to scholarship and practice in Urban Studies. Explain this theoretical tradition and/or approach, including a discussion of how it might help you understand the problems facing cities today.

THE EUROPEAN TRADITION 1846-1921 Marx and Engles - economic structure of society is the foundation upon which rests the nature of social, political, and spiritual aspects of life - economic system serves as the base on which the social institutions of family, religion, and the political system take form -societal transformation primarily results from conflict between those who control the process of economic production and those who supply the necessary labor -to argue that social problems are the fault of individuals is a form of false consciousness, flaws of capitalism are the real cause of these problems - rise of the city allows productive specialization which begins to free individuals to act on their own - rise of the city amounted to nothing less than the transition from barbarism to civilization Tönnies -gemeinschaft "community" characterized the small country village -gesellschaft "association" characterized the large city - within the village social life forums living organism, in which people have an essential unity and purpose - social life in the city is a mechanical aggregate, characterized by disunity, individualism, and selfishness; belief in the common good is rare Emile Durkheim - mechanical solidarity: social bonds based on likeness, on common belief and custom, ritual, and symbol - small towns and tribes are almost identical in major respects, are united almost automatically; self sufficient and able to meet all of life's needs without dependence on other groups - organic solidarity: social order based on the individual differences - modern society, especially cities - complex division of labor (like a body)people depend more on one another to meet various needs - possibility of greater freedom and choice for all of society's inhabitants - ultimate superiority of organic over mechanical Georg Simmel - personality would learn to accomaodate itself to the urban scene - individual lears to discriminate stimuli - urbanites become more sophisticated and intellectual, more rational and calculating - rational organization of time - breeds indifference Max Weber "full urban community" illustrates what Weber called an ideal type, a model constructed from real world ovsrevatxon that highlights the crucial elements of some social phenomenon - community depends upon trade or commercial relations - economic interdependence - urban community is relatively autonomous - city living must involve social relationships and organizations - cities are intimately linked to larger processes, to a particular economic or political orientation that varies across cultures Contributions - insistence tha the city is an important object of sociological study - something distinctive exists about the city and the way of life it creates; increasing human choice, emphasizing rationality, utilizing a complex division of labor, and creating a unique experience for its inhabitants

Poletown

Town took from residents and gave to General Motors; Courts said the taking was ok, but overruled itself years later

gridiron city

composed of straight streets crossing at right angles to create many city blocks. form is typical of cities built after the Industrial Revolution. Only then didi cities place such importance on economic aactivity, and a city gridiron plan facilitates the movement of people and products throughout the city -- also easier to divide land and sell it as real estate

de jure and de facto segregation

de facto: unequal treatment of people based on social customs and traditions (relates to hostility to labor unions in the North, where a dual society was created) de jure: unequal treatment established by law (in the south

Chain migration

reflection of a city's spatial structure and ethnic subcultures as immigrants arrive, and settle near friends and relatives - evolution of vibrant ethnic communities - with leaders, institutions and organizations, stores, clubs, and same language media - to help newcomers put down roots and "make it" - at the same time that this pluralism manifests itself, however, the forces of assimilation also take hold as immigrants seek to be a part of their adopted country

SES

socioeconomic status, refers to a composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequality - ranking results from comparison of how many status symbol possessions one accumulates, as as the phones of one's residence and the expensiveness of one's car, clothing, eating habits, and vacations - residence is particularly important, for the ability to live in a particular place, is an excellent illustration of social stratification

social stratification

the hierarchical ranking within a society of various social class groups according to wealth, power, and prestige - Marx and Weber argue that stratification causes social conflict -Weber viewed social class not in terms of two categories, but rather as a continuum ranging from high to low

hyperghetto and hypersegregation

urban neighborhoods with extreme levels of poverty and unemployment - more than 40% of residents live in poverty hypersegregation: extensive segregation existing on many dimensions simultaneously