Urban Soc

URBAN SOCIOLOGY
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• The sociological study of social life and human
interaction in metropolitan areas.
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
Study of social behaviour or society, including

its origins, development, organisation,
networks, and institutions
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• As normative discipline of sociology seeking
to study the structures, processes, changes
and problems of an urban area and by doing
so providing inputs for planning and policy
making.
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• As normative discipline of sociology seeking
to study the structures, processes, changes
and problems of an urban area and by doing
so providing inputs for planning and policy
making.
Based on what is considered

to be the usual or correct way
of doing something
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• Like most areas of sociology, urban sociologists
use statistical analysis, observation, social theory,
interviews, and other methods to study a range
of topics such us Migration, Demographic Trends,
Economics, Poverty and Race Relations
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• During the Industrial Revolution, sociologists such
as Max Weber and Emile Durkheim focused on
the increasing urbanization of social life and the
effects it had on people’s feelings of alienation
and anonymity.
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• Explains urbanization in terms of functionalism
and what the Chicago School understood to be
some of the causes of urban social problems at
that time
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• The Chicago School is a major influence in the
study of Urban Sociology.
• It combined sociological and anthropological

theories to understand the interrelation of urban
structures and micro-interactions in cities.
• It sought to provide subjective meaning to how
humans interact under structural, cultural and social
conditions.
URBAN SOCIOLOGY The Chicago School
• Scholars of the Chicago School originally focused around one
integral question:
How did an increase in urbanism during the time of the
Industrial Revolution contribute to the magnification of
then-contemporary social problems?
• Sociologists centered in Chicago due to its "tabula
rasa" state (people's minds before they receive
impressions gained from experience), having
expanded from a small town of 10,000 in 1860 to a
urban metropolis of two million in the next half
decade.
• Along with this expansion came many of the era's
emerging social problems, ranging from issues of
homelessness and poor living conditions to the low-
wage and long-hour work periods that many
European immigrants faced upon arrival in the city.
• Furthermore, unlike many other metropolitan areas,
Chicago did not expand outward at the edges as
predicted by early expansionist theorists, but instead
reformatted the space available in a concentric ring
pattern.
•As with many modern

cities the business district
that occupied the city
center was surrounded by
slums and blighted
neighborhoods, which
were further surrounded
by working class homes
and the early forms of the
modern suburbs.
•Urban theorists suggested that these spatially-
defined regions helped to solidify and isolate class
relations within the modern city, moving the middle
class away from the urban core and into the
privatized environment of the outer suburbs
•Sociologists Park, Burgess and McKenzie, professors

at the University of Chicago and three of the earliest
proponents of urban sociology, developed subcultural
theories, which helped to explain the role of local
institutions in the formation of ties.
• Subcultural theories popularized the idea that
segments of society, such as gangs and homeless
populations, had internal systems of value and
order. This theory was in contrast to the prevailing
belief that urbanization produced only social
disorganization and alienation.
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• Georg Simmel is widely considered to be the father
of urban sociology, as he pioneered studies of the
interrelation of space and social interaction.
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
•Urban sociology attempts to account for the
interrelation of subcultures in urban areas, as well as
the internal structures of segments of society.
URBAN SOCIOLOGY
• Like biological systems, urban subgroups are

dependent on one another for healthy functioning
and are also dynamic—that is, they flourish and
decline based on political, economic, and social tides.
TOPICS IN URBAN SOCIOLOGY
ACCESSIBILITY
ACCESSIBILITY
• A general term used to describe the degree to which a
product is accessible by as many people as possible.
• “Ability to Access” the functionality, and possible benefit, of
some system or entity
• Used to focus on people with disabilities and their right of
access to entities often through the use of assistive
technology.
ACCESSIBILITY
ACTIVE LIVING
• A way of life that integrates physical activity into
daily routines, like walking to the store or biking to
work.
• Brings together urban planners, architects,
transportation engineers, public health officials and
others to build places that encourage routine
activities. (e.g. Efforts to build sidewalks)
ACTIVE LIVING
• Compact, mixed – use development
o Residential areas are located close to stores, jobs
and recreational opportunities (parks, etc.)
o Efforts to encourage a more active lifstyle
ACTIVITY CENTRE
• A term used in urban planning and design for a
mixed – use urban area where there is a
concentration of commercial and other land
uses.
• Central Business Districts of Cities (CBD) are
known as Central Activity Districts in
recognition of the fact that commercial
functions are not the only things that do or
should occur there.
ADAPTIVE REUSE
• The process of adapting old structures for
purposes other than those originally intended.
• When the original use of a structure changes or
is no longer required, as with older buildings
from the industrial revolution, architects have
the opportunity to change the primary
function of the structure, while retaining some
of the existing architectural details that make
the building unique.
ADAPTIVE REUSE
• Denton House, dates back to 1795, when it was

constructed as a farm house by one Joseph
Denton, a descendent of the founder of the
village of Hempstead.
• In 1860, it was given a Georgian makeover,
complete with gingerbread ornamentation, and
throughout the 1900’s, found commercial use as
a funeral home and a series of restaurants.
•By 1986, it was abandoned and on the verge of
falling down.
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
New Hyde Park McDonald’s, Philadelphia
Converting old, usually historic buildings,

sections of, or entire districts to new uses
other than their original purpose.
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
ADAPTIVE REUSE
Conservation- a term used interchangeably with

preservation but having the rather more positive
connotation of adaptation of parts of buildings
while retaining the essential spirit of the original
Conservation area—an area containing a group of buildings
of special architectural or historical significance, which a
Local Authority may designate.
Rehabilitation - term used to describe the idea of

repairing, redecorating and in some cases converting,
existing structurally sound property to a standard
compatible with modern requirements of amenity and
health
COUNTER URBANIZATION
• A demographic and social process whereby
people move from urban areas to rural areas.
It first took place as a reaction to inner – city
deprivation and overcrowding.
• Involves moving of the population away from
urban areas such as towns and cities to a new
town, a new estate, a commuter town or
village.
• Can be government – initiated (encouraged by
the government), but is more often a choice of
middle class mobile people as per their own
prerogative.
• An effect of the improvement of inner city
transport infrastructure, and more sustainable
public transport. People no longer have to live
close to their work, and so they can easily
commute everyday.
• Effects:
– Housing density
– Housing prices
– Pollution levels (health afflictions)
– Crime levels
– Peaceful retirement
– Wish to improve quality of life
• Developments in rural electrification and rural
Internet bring to rural areas some of the
amenities of urbanity; thus eliminating one of
the obstacles preventing some people from
moving to a more rural setting.
CONCENTRIC RING MODEL (The Burgess Model)

• One of the earliest theoretical models to
explain urban social structures.
• The first to explain distribution of social groups
within urban areas.
• Depicts urban land use in concentric rings.
• CBD in the middle of the model, and the city
expands with different uses.
COPENHAGENIZATION
• Concept in Urban Planning & Design relating to
the implementation of Copenhagen – style
bicycle lanes in cities.
• Creating segregated bicycle facilities for utility
cycling.
FRAGMENTATION
• The absence or the underdevelopment of
connections between the society and the
groupings of some members of that society on
the lines of a common culture, nationality,
race, language, occupation, religion, income
level, or other common interests.
FRAGMENTATION
• The gap between the concerned group and the
rest might ne social, indicating poor
interrelationships among each other;
economical based on structure inequalities
institutional in terms of formal and specific
political, occupational, educative or associative
organizations and / or geographic implying
regional or residential concentration.
GENTRIFICATION (Urban Gentrification)
• The change in an urban area
associated with the movement of more
affluent individuals into a lower – class
area.
• improving the physical set-up and
consequently affecting the market for
previously run-down areas
Rural
• Areas referred to as “the countryside”
• Large and isolated areas of a country, often
with low population density.
SUBURBS
• Smaller residential communities lying
immediately outside a city.
SUBURBANIZATION
• The process of population movement from within
towns and cities to the rural – urban fringe.
• One of the many causes of the increase in urban
sprawl.
• Many residents of metropolitan areas no longer live
and work within the central urban area, choosing
instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs
and commute to work via automobile or mass
transit.
• Others have taken advantage of technological
advances to work from their homes, and chose to do
so in an environment they consider more pleasant
than the city.
SUBURBANIZATION
• PUSH FACTORS
o congestion and population density of cities
o Pollution caused by industry
o High levels of traffic
o General perception of a lower quality life in inner
city areas
SUBURBANIZATION
• PULL FACTORS
o More open spaces, a perception of being closer
to “nature”
o Lower suburban house prices and property taxes
in comparison to the city
o Increasing number of job opportunities in the
suburban areas
URBAN DECAY
• A process by which a city, or a part of the
city, falls into a state of disrepair
URBAN DECAY
• Characteristics
o Depopulation
o Economic restructuring
o Property abandonment
o High unemployment
o Fragmented families
o Political disenfranchisement
o Crime
o Desolate and unfriendly urban landscapes
URBAN DECAY
• Triggers:
o Urban planning decisions
o Tight rent control
o Poverty
o Development of freeways and railway lines
o Suburbanization
o Redlining
o Immigration restrictions
o Racial discrimination
URBAN RENEWAL
• a general term to describe the idea of
consciously renewing the outworn areas of
towns and cities; covers most aspects of renewal,
including both redevelopment and rehabilitation
• The process of cleaning slum areas which are
economically & physically beyond repair,
rehabilitation areas where houses &
neighborhood facilities can be restored to come
up to health, safety, & good living standards, &
protective measures in order to prevent
enrichment of undesirable influences
URBAN SPRAWL
• Sometimes “suburban sprawl”
• The spreading of a city and its suburbs over
rural land at the fringe of an urban area
• Residents of sprawling neighborhoods tend
to live in single – family homes and commute
by automobile to work.
• Indicator: Low population density
URBAN SPRAWL
• Urban planners emphasize the qualitative
aspects of sprawl such as the lack of
transportation options and pedestrian
friendly neighborhoods.
URBAN SPRAWL
• Negative connotations:
o Residents of sprawling neighborhoods tend to
emit more pollution per person and suffer more
traffic fatalities
o Sprawl is linked with obesity since walking and
bicycling are not viable commuting options
o Sprawl negatively impacts land and water
quantity and quality, and may be linked to a
decline in social capital
URBAN SPRAWL
• Characterized by several land use patterns
which usually occur in unison:
o SINGLE USE ZONING – commercial, residential and industrial
areas are separated from one another.
URBAN HEIRARCHY
URBAN DESIGN CONTROLS
Floor Area Ratio
-the proportions between the built area and the lot area
also referred to as ‘Plot Ratio’
Floor area ratio =

(total amount of usable floor area that a building has, zoning floor area) / (area of the plot)
FAR of 1.0 means that the

developer is allowed to build the
equivalent of a one-story building
over her entire lot, or a 2-story
over half the lot.
Floor Area Ratio
-the proportions between the built area and the lot area
also referred to as ‘Plot Ratio’
FAR of 2.0 means the developer is

allowed to build the equivalent of a
two-story building over her entire lot,
or a 4-story over half the lot.
An FAR of 0.5 means the developer is
allowed to build the equivalent of a
one-story building over half her entire
lot, or a 1-story over half the lot.
Floor Space Index (FSI)
-established by dividing the area of the total floor-space
of the buildings on any by the site area, including
half the area of any roads adjoining it
FSI Vs FAR
Being able to build 1.5 times or 150% of land area will give us
same result. But the difference is in denotation. When we say
‘FAR’ we have to say 1.5, However, when we want to say ‘FSI’
we have to say 150 or 150%.
Land Use Planning and Zoning
- Defined as the legal regulation of the use of land
- Allocating types of uses based on growth patterns
- An application of the police power for the protection
of the public health, welfare, and safety
Incentive Zoning
- allowing builders and developers more space if they
provide certain desirable features and amenities
such as plazas, arcades, and other open spaces
Cluster Zoning
- Creating special zoning policies and regulations for
medium to large sized controlled developments
Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP)
A technical document embodying specific proposals and

strategies for guiding, regulating growth and/or
development that is implemented through the Zoning
Ordinance.
The main components of the Comprehensive Land Use

Plan in this usage are the land use plan and sectoral
studies including Demography, Ecosystems Analysis
(Terrestrial and Coastal),and Special Area Studies such
as Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management, Ancestral Domain, Biodiversity,
Heritage Conservation and Green Urbanism.
Urban Design
Guidelines
- building heights
- setbacks
- building bulk
- Architectural
character
Environmental Impact Statement
- for large projects developers are required to outline
possible effects of the project on the environment.
The outline includes the following:
• Description of the project
• Description of existing environments (physical, social,
economic, historical, and aesthetic)
•Impact on the environment (conditions evaluated)
•Adverse environmental effects
•Alternatives to proposed action taken
•Long range impacts
•Irreversible and irretrievable communities of resources
•likely to result from implementation of proposed project
Environmental Preservation
- protecting the environment from urban growth by
restricting development in certain areas, especially
in sensitive areas such as wetlands, coastal areas,
and mountain environments
Invasion- a type of urban ecological process defined
as the entrance of a new population and / or
facilities in an already occupied area
Block-boosting- “forcing” the old population out of
the area because of social or racial differences
Centralization- an urban ecological process in city land

use patterning referring to an increase in population
at a certain geographic center
FAMOUS PLANNERS
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Abercrombie, Sir Leslie Patrick (1874- 1957)

- In 1913 he won a competition for the re-planning of Dublin
- In 1944 he published his Greater London Plan and founder of
the Town Planning Review
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Bacon, Edmund Norwood (1910-)

- Bacon’s Design of Cities (1967)
- Architect designer in Shanghai
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Garnier, Tony (1869-1948)

- Cité Industrielle, designed between 1898 and 1904
- Distinct functional zoning throughout
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Geddes, Sir Patrick (1854-1932)

- in planning circles, his indelible mark is made by his extensive
contribution to fresh thought on the shape and location of
contemporary human
communities
- the author of Cities in Evolution (1915)
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Gropius, Walter (1883-1969)

- Gropius owes his place in any account of the history of planning
to his invention of the residential layout in which slab blocks of flats
are placed laterally or obliquely to a street rather than parallel with
it
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Gruen, Victor (1903-)

- planner and author who has pioneered the
development in America of both regional and
city centre pedestrian shopping areas
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Jacobs, Jane (1916-)

- American author and former associate editor of
Architectural Forum whose book the Death and
Life of Great American Cities was published in 1962.
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Kahn, Louis (1901)

- American architect noted for his imaginative sequence of plans
for the redevelopment of Philadelphia, designed intermittently
between 1952 and 1961.
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Mayer, Albert
- Believed that housing developments should blend
in with the neighboring city to produce a change
of character, but not a shock
- Thus proposed the planning concept of
“differentiation without division”
- Conceptualized the original plan for Chandigarh
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Mumford, Lewis (1895-)

- An influential American writer on planning and sociology.
- His first book on planning, The Story of Utopias,
was published in 1922.
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Nash, John
- Believed in curving forms, rather than formal grid patterns
- Designer of London’s Park Crescent and Regent’s Park
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Tange, Kenzo
- Architect and planner who analyzed major cities of the
world’s industrialized countries, finding that
characteristically they comprise only about 15% of a
country’s population
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Vitruvius (1st Century B.C.)

- the 4th to 7th chapters of his first book are concerned
generally with town planning and embody fundamental principles
for the layout and form of whole towns
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Wood, John
- An early advocate of formalism in town planning highlighted by
simple curved buildings
- Designer of the Royal Circus and the Royal Crescent in Bath, England
FAMOUS PLANNERS
Wren, Christopher
- Credited for rebuilding London after the fire of 1966
- The stock exchange building was the symbolic
focal point of his plan, instead of the traditional
palace or cathedral

Urban Soc

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URBAN SOCIOLOGY

Study of social behaviour or society, including

Based on what is considered

• It combined sociological and anthropological

•As with many modern

•Sociologists Park, Burgess and McKenzie, professors

• Like biological systems, urban subgroups are

• Denton House, dates back to 1795, when it was

Converting old, usually historic buildings,

Conservation- a term used interchangeably with

Rehabilitation - term used to describe the idea of

CONCENTRIC RING MODEL (The Burgess Model)

Floor area ratio =

FAR of 1.0 means that the

FAR of 2.0 means the developer is

A technical document embodying specific proposals and

The main components of the Comprehensive Land Use

Centralization- an urban ecological process in city land

Abercrombie, Sir Leslie Patrick (1874- 1957)

Bacon, Edmund Norwood (1910-)

Garnier, Tony (1869-1948)

Geddes, Sir Patrick (1854-1932)

Gropius, Walter (1883-1969)

Gruen, Victor (1903-)

Jacobs, Jane (1916-)

Kahn, Louis (1901)

Mumford, Lewis (1895-)

Vitruvius (1st Century B.C.)

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