Test 1 Flashcards
Understand the issues with defining “the city” and “urban”
“Ubran” relative term. Abstract. Cities look different geographically and chronologically.
Know what all “the city” includes
City proper, expanding circle that radiates out from city
Understand the processes that create urban areas
Enacted organizations
Why are sociologists interested in studying the city?
Social processes emerge.
What is “urban sociology” ultimately concerned with?
How processes, systems, institutional arrangements shape people
Why is the factor of space important?
How we live our day to day lives
What is the relationship of the city to culture?
Cities produce their own culture style, taste and attitude
Know Lynch’s Five Physical Elements of Urban Space
Paths, edges, districts, nodes, landmarks
Which term describes the degree to which people can take in a city conceptually?
imagability
Understand Lofland’s theory of privatized space: customers, patrons, and residents
safe space, customer becomes resident, home away from home.
Define cityphobes and cityphiles
Cityphobes- despise city. Cityphiles- love city
Understand how each generation criticizes cities
negative attitudes illegals, street gangs, diseases.
Understand the unity of city culture and identity
city reputations, sports teams, times of crisis. Common identity.
Understand human engineering and commercial interests utilizing urban space
Produce a kind of experience (french quarter, Disney)
Know why cities are ideal for political expression
Large number of like minded people, people take control of public space
Know the factors that came before the earliest cities
Permanent human settlement, tech advancement, development of agriculture.
What is the world’s oldest known city?
Tell Brak
Know the social developments associated with the rise of the earliest cities
Social organization, transformation of culture + experience, growth of political + economic power.
Which factor best explains the emergence of the earliest cities?
Agriculture theory- work projects.
What changes in social organization occurred in the earliest cities?
Highly specialized divison of labor
What factors contributed to the emergence of social stratification?
Concentrated population, need of specialist, wealth, hierarchy of unequal status groups.
The transformation of culture in the early cities included which development?
Trade routes
What effect did the emerging urban culture tend to have on ancient religion?
Stratified burial
Understand the hinterland
An area with non urban population that is nevertheless subject to the rule of the neighboring city.
Know the factors that led to the rise of the state in the ancient world
Agriculture, work, food
What was the oldest city of China?
Longshan
The first “true cities” in the Americas were built by who?
The maya
Why have some argued that the early cities of Mesoamerica were not ‘true cities’?
Wide populations spread out + ceremonial religious in nature.
According to Childe, what features marked the ancient period of urbanization?
Growth of tech, long distance trade= cultural diffusion
What were major obstacles in the urbanization of Europe?
Black plague
