Ch. 16: Population, Urbanization, and Environment

Ecosystem

A system composed of the interaction of all living organisms and their natural environment

Age-sex pyramid

Graphic representation of the age and sex of a population

Stage two (early industrial)

High birth rate and lowered death rate boosts population growth.

Stage one (preindustrial, agrarian)

High birth rates due to economic value of children and lack of birth control

Limits to growth

Humanity must implement policies to control growth of population, production and use resources to avoid environmental collapse.

Mortality

Incidence of death in a country's population -Crude death rate: Number of deaths/year for every for every 1,000 people

Changes to Rural Areas

Rural rebound in the 1990s: Migration from urban to rural areas. -Pattern faded between 2000 and 2010. -Typically older populations in rural areas -Becoming more socially diverse

Colonial settlement (1565-1800)

Started out as tiny villages in a vast wilderness -growth of us cities

Fertility

The incidence of childbearing in a society's population

Ecology

The study of the interaction of living organisms and the natural environment

Urban expansion (1800-1860)

Towns sprang up along transportation routes. -The Growth of U.S. Cities

Water pollution

U.S. rivers and streams absorb hundreds of millions pounds of toxic waste a year.

Megalopolis: The Regional City

Vast urban area containing a number of cities and surrounding suburbs

Ecologically sustainable culture

Way of life that meets needs of the current generation without threatening environmental legacy of future generations

Solid Waste: The Disposable Society

We consume more products than virtually any other nation. We generate about 1.4 billion pounds of solid waste every day Recycling becoming more common in U.S.

Georg Simmel: The Blasé Urbanite

"Tuning out" used as a strategy for social survival

Urban Political Economy

-Applies Karl Marx's analysis of conflict in the workplace to conflict in the city City life: Defined by people with power Capitalism: Key to understanding urban life; Transforms city to real estate traded for profit; Concentrates wealth and power in the hands of a few Evaluate: Political economy model over urban ecology fits current society. Both limit focus to limited historical period. Unlikely that any single model of cities can account for the full range of urban diversity.

Postindustrial Sunbelt Cities

-Began after urban decentralization -62% of U.S. population now lives in Sunbelt -Greater sprawl than Snowbelt cities ~Unplanned growth ~Traffic ~Poorly planned housing ~Schools overwhelmed

Edge Cities

-Business centers some distance from the old downtowns -Office buildings, malls, hotels, and entertainment complexes -Rural rebound: Migration from urban to rural areas

Suburbs and Urban Decline

-By 1999: Most Americans lived in the suburbs and shopped at local malls. -Snowbelt cities: Lost higher-income taxpayers to suburbs -Postindustrial sunbelt cities: Began after urban decentralization

Critical analysis

Progress can lead to unexpected problems; resources are finite. Long-range predictions are speculative.

The Rain Forests

Regions of dense forestation, most of which circles the globe near the equator

Urbanization

-Concentration of population into cities -Redistributes population within a society -Transforms many patterns of social life

Emile Durkheim: Mechanical and Organic Solidarity

-Durkheim saw difference in social organization Mechanical solidarity: Social bonds based on common sentiments and shared moral values Organic solidarity: Social bonds based on specialization and interdependence

The Evolution of Cities

-First city was Jericho, north of the Dead Sea. -Preindustrial European cities date back 5,000 years to the Greeks. -Industrial European cities began as the Middle Ages ended.

Urbanization in Poor Nations

-In 2008, for the first time in history, the world as a whole became mostly urban. -80% of people in industrial societies live in cities. -Extreme urban growth occurs in low-income nations. Many poor nations have entered the high-growth Stage 2 of the demographic transition. -Cities off more opportunities: No quick fix for problems of growing population and grinding poverty

Rates

-In-migration rate -Out-migration rate -Net migration rate

Biodiversity

-Provides a varied source of human food -Vital genetic resource -Beauty and complexity of environment are diminished by loss -Extinction of any species is irreversible and final

Urban Ecology

-Study of link between physical and social dimensions of cities -Social area analysis: Study of what people have in common -Minorities are now a majority of the population of this country's 100 largest cities; Loss of white population; Increase in immigration -Burgess: Concentric zones; Business districts, factories ringed by housing. -Berry and Rees: Analysis uses many of the previous theories -Hoyt: Wedge-shaped sectors; Industry forms along rail lines, fashionable areas next to old, fashionable areas. -Harris and Ullman: Multicentered model; Cities decentralize.

Demography: The Study of Population

-World population began to spike about 1750. -We add almost 90 million people to the planet each year. -Population in 2016: 7.5 billion

The low-growth north

-Zero population growth: Rate of reproduction that maintains population in a steady state -Underpopulation might be a problem

Air pollution

Air quality improved in final decade of the 20th century.

Life expectancy

Average life span of a country's population

Demographic Transition Theory

Democratic transition theory links population patterns to a society's level of technological development. -Evaluate: Proposes key to population control lies in technology. Critics say that without redistribution of global resources, planet will become increasingly divided into haves and have-nots.

Urban decentralization (1950-present)

Desertion of downtown areas for outlying suburbs

Voluntary migration

Due to economic push and pull factors

Natural environment

Earth's surface and atmosphere including living organisms, air, water, soil and other resources necessary to sustain life

Stage four (postindustrial)

Economic realities force drop in birth rates.

Metropolitan era (1860-1950)

Effects of Civil War boosted growth. Metropolis: A large city that socially and economically dominates an urban area

Environmental sexism

Environmental patterns that place girls and women at a disadvantage and threaten their well-being

Population Growth

Fertility, morality, and migration all affect the size of the population. Estimating population growth: Divide a society's population growth rate into the number 70. This yields the doubling time in years.

Involuntary migration

Forced migration due to war or other social conflict

Tönnies developed concepts

Gemeinschaft: Social organization in which people are closely tied by kinship and tradition Gesellschaft: Social organization; people together based on individual self-interest

Water supply

Less than 1% of Earth's water is suitable for drinking.

Malthusian Theory

Malthus: Predicted population increase would lead to social chaos; Predicted people would reproduce at rates exceeding their ability to produce sufficient food -Evaluate: Malthus's prediction was flawed. Limits included artificial birth control (morally wrong) or abstinence (unlikely). Role of social inequality in world abundance and famine was ignored.

Fecundity

Maximum possible childbearing; Sharply reduced by cultural norms, finances, and personal choice

Logic of growth

More powerful technology has improved our lives and discoveries will make the future better.

Immigration

Movement into a territory

Migration

Movement into and out of a specified territory

Emigration

Movement out of a territory

Demographic divide

Rich countries with low birth rates and aging populations separated from poor countries with high birth rates and very young populations.

Global warming

Rise in the earth's average temperature caused by an increasing concentration of carbon dioxide and other gasses in the atmosphere

Infant mortality rate

Number of deaths among infants under one for 1,000 live births in a year

Crude birth rate

Number of live births in a given year for every thousand people

Sex ratio

Number of males for every 100 females in a nation's population

The Chicago School: Robert Park and Louis Wirth

Park: Organized mosaic: Distinctive ethnic communities; Commercial centers; Industrial districts Wirth: Defined city as a setting with a large, dense, and socially diverse population. Results in impersonal, superficial, transitory way of life Theory overlooks effects of class, race, and gender. Cities intensify social differences. Tönnies and Wirth saw the decline of personal ties and traditional morality. Durkheim and Park emphasized urbanism's positive points such as greater autonomy and personal choice.

Environmental racism

Patterns of development that expose poor people, especially minorities, to environmental hazards

The high-growth south

Population is a critical problem in poor nations of the Southern Hemisphere.

Stage three (mature industrial)

Population surge drops as affluence transforms children into economic liability.

Environmental deficit

Profound and long-term harm to the natural environment caused by humanity's focus on short-term material affluence