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Defining the City

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Defining the City In Ronan Paddison (editor) HANDBOOK OF URBAN STUDIES. London: Sage Publications, pp. 14 - 35 . 2 Defining the City WILLIAM H. FREY AND ZACHARY ZIMMER The concept of urban and the phenomenon of In order to place the city of today into c.ontext, urbanization are somewhat new to human popu­ the fo.llowing chapter is divided into two discus­ lations. In fact, compared to the entire history of sions. First, we examine past, present and future human evolution, it has only been fairly recently trends in urban growth. To do this, we begin with that people have begun to live in relatively dense a brief review of the history of urban formation. urban agglomerations. None the less, the speed at Following that, we examine trends in urban which societies have become urbanized is striking, growth, and in specific cities, in the recent past and the extent to which societies of today are and into the near future using population projec­ urbanized and the size of present day agglomera­ tions. In the second part of the chapter, we elabo­ tions is unprecedented. Davis (1969) notes that rate on a number of concepts concerning the before 1850, no society could be described as meaning of the term 'urban'. We begin by being fundamentally urban in nature. Today, all defining the city of today in terms of several industrial nations, and many of the less developed criteria, such as function and space. We then go countries, could be described as being urban soci­ on to concentrate on a single example, the eties. Moreover, the world is overall becoming United States, to further clarify the evolution of more and more urban with the passage of time, as the city definition. We conclude by suggesting a those living in less developed societies move new definition of the city that better defines toward the urban living patterns that have been today's agglomerations, the' Functional Commu­ common in more advanced societies for some nity Area'. while. Despite this rapid transformation of societies from primarily rural to primarily urban, and the importance of this evolution for the study of URBAN GROWTH, PAST, PRESENT AND human populations, the notion of urban remains FUTURE fleeting, changing from time to time, differing across political boundaries, and being modified A Brief History of Urban Growth depending upon the purpose that the definition of urban would serve. At times, urban populations There is evidence that cities emerged in the world are defined in terms of administrative boundaries. as early as 5,500 years ago, the first of which were at times in terms of functional boundaries, and at in Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, the Indus times they are defined in terms of ecological Valley and the Hoang-ho Valley. There were factors such as density and population size. several organizational factors that may have Although many of today's social problems precipitated the formation of these early cities, involve living in very large urban agglomerations, including commercial and trade, religious and these divergences in defining the notion of urban political factors. Chandler and Fox (1974) docu­ has made it ditTicult to conduct comparative ment relatively large agglomerations existing in studies on urban populations across time and Babylon (250,000), Patna (350,000) and Rome across borders. In a sense, then, the ditTiculties (650,000) between about 400 Be and AD 100. The encountered in defining 'urban' create barriers to number of cities increased during medieval times, understanding the phenomenon completely and although, according to Davis (1969), they finding solutions to a host of social problems that remained small. Populations, in general, remained involve the urban population. rural and were overwhelmingly involved in : \ . Defining the City 15 agricultural production. In fact, the proportion of craft industry to urban factories. The industrial people living in urban areas fluctuated between 4 transformation has also been credited with the per cent and 7 per cent throughout history, until nucleation and mobilization of the family, two about 1850 (Lowry, 1991). changes that go hand in hand. The real change in population distributions Most point to Europe as being the area that and urban living patterns occurred with the precipitated the modern urban centre. Europe industrial revolution in the nineteenth century, was generally an agrarian society up until the which made it possible for large numbers of industrial transformation. Only 1.6 per cent of people to live in urban centres. A number of the total population was living in urban areas in factors are often cited as creating a favourable AD 1600, which increased to only 2.2 per cent by environment for urban growth. They include, the beginning of the nineteenth century. Propor­ first, the mechanization in rural areas which tions living in urban areas began to double increased agricultural production and yields per rapidly, however, from that point on. In England acre, creating the surplus needed to sustain large and Wales, for instance, the proportion living in urban populations that were not involved in agri­ cities doubled twice between 1800 and 1900. cultural production; secondly, the development of Davis (1969) also points out the later a country mass production in manufacturing and industry became industrialized, the faster was the pace of which made obsolete pre-industrial handicrafts; urbanization. The change from 10 per cent to 30 and thirdly, sophistication of transportation and per cent living in an urban area with a population communication systems, brought about in part by size of 100,000 or more occurred over 79 years in the steam engine and railway system, which liber­ England and Wales, among the first countries to alized trade between places, making urban loca­ industrialize, but required only 36 years in Japan, tions centres of mercantilism. In turn, industries one of the last of the present day modern were no longer tied to locations near energy societies. sources and could establish themselves in central­ It is important to note how the growth in city ized locales (McVey and Kalbach, 1995). Central­ population during this period occurred. In the ized, diversified economies, made possible by early phases of industrialization, urban areas mass production, generated jobs for those who were characterized by unhealthy living conditions were no longer able to find employment in agri­ and had excess mortality. Indeed, the adverse culture. In the end, although the city was conditions faced by the working class in London dependent upon rural areas for food production. led to a series of writings from both Friedrich higher production capacity and diversification of Engels and Karl Marx, which have become production allowed cities to contribute to the among the must influential works in the social economy while improved transportation and sciences. Birth rates in urban areas also tended to communication created international trade be lower than in the countryside. Hence, the routes. New forms of organization in industry growth in the urban popUlation could only have allowed for the absorption of substantial occurred through mass rural to urban migration. numbers of individuals. Considering the adverse Jiving conditions faced The industrial revolution was accompanied by by migrants, the urban area grew by offering more than just changes in industry. In fact, revo­ advantages to the rural inhabitant in the form of lutions occurred in such diverse areas as philos­ demand for employment and increases in wages ophy, science, government, technology, education, from those found in the rural areas. administration, politics and the military. This Modern urban development patterns in the created the need for interdependence. Urban more industrialized world have taken on newer areas began to thrive on specialization. Multiple forms as a consequence of improvements in the functions needed to be conducted within close transportation, the communications revolution proximity, creating high population densities. and the increasing connectedness of places in a Indeed, even today, it is the diversity of functions world economy (Castells, 1985; Champion, 1989; that often demarcates between urban and rural Frey, 1993; Frey and Speare, 1988; Sassen, 1991 areas. and this volume). Individual urban areas are now The implications of urban development were more polarized in their growth tendencies, juxta­ far reaching, impacting not merely on the posing at extremes: the corporate headquarters­ economy, but on the social and ecological order centred 'world cities' as contrasted to low-level within the city (McVey and Kalbach, 1995). manufacturing areas specializing in less than Changes to the city included the emergence of a competitive industries. New urban areas are now middle class, an emphasis on social reform, the being developed in a 'low-density mode', development of world trade, the founding of following a different model than that offered by financial institutions, the centralization of the single-core/hinterland development experi­ industry, the decentralization of the upper class, ences around older cities. Since the Second World and the shift away from family operated handi­ War there has been an extensive suburbanization \ . 16 Handbook of Urban Studies and, more recently, 'exurbanization' which has this nature poses problems for government, further blurred the distinction between urban and draining the economy of resources, which are rural areas, especially as the latter have come to used for the increasing transportation burden, rely less on farming and extractive activities and water supply and other infrastructures. Countries more on new production, service and recreation which face resource limitations have ditTiculty industries. Finally, international migration has distributing wealth to rural areas and smaller become an increasingly important source of urban centres. Some would then argue that urban population growth in selected urban areas in migration of this sort is, therefore, an effective developed countries, in many cases supplanting method of redistributing resources and the more traditional rural-to-urban flows contributing to economic development (GugJer, (Champion, 1994; Frey, 19%).
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