Sociological Theory & Urban Change

Patrick J. Kennealy

Urban Sociology• Social order of cities

– Poverty– Homeownership– Capital

• Human, Social, Financial, and Built

• Spatial inequalities– Who has access to what?– Gentrification?– Environmental Racism & Class struggle?– Segregation?

Functionalism• Society as a series of interrelated parts – like a

machine

• Neighborhoods, streets, homes, businesses, etc. “function” to serve the good of people

• Fails to explain oppression and exploitation – Or are they explained as functions?

Chicago School & Concentric Zones

• Park, Burgess, and McKenzie, in The City. Published 1925

• Ecological (functionalist?) explanation of urban development

Park, Burgess, and McKenzie. 1925. The City. Concentric Zones model. Downloaded 10/1/08 from: http://www.wps.prenhall.com/.../834339/Chicago_ecology.GIF

Hoyt, Homer. 1939. diagram Downloaded from: http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/landusemodels.html 10/1/08.

Harris and Ullman. 1945. Downloaded from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_nuclei_model 10/9/2008

Conflict Theory• Power is at the core of social relationships

• Constant struggle for scarce resources

• Those who have vs. those who don’t have

• Marxism often comes to mind– Economic determinism & division of labor

Conflict or Marxist Approach

• Conclusions about capital and condition of worker

– Capitalist exploits labor resources

– Economic Determinism• What you have determines what you get

– Eventually labor unites and revolts

– Communal system ensues

Marxism & Urban Change

• City is like a production system

– Renters as laborers

– David Harvey 1985 “The Urban Experience”

City as a “Growth Machine”

• Logan and Molotch in 1987 published “Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place” University of California Press

– Exchange & Use Value of place

– Entrepreneurs control city space

Interactionist• Micro

• Focus on individual perceptions

• Concept of “Self” and personal identity

Capital• Social

• Human

• Financial

• Built

• Cultural

More info & reference: Green, Gary Paul and Anna Haines. 2002. Asset

Building & Community Development. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Community Capacity

• Community ability to direct positive change

• Forms of capital… human, social, financial, built, etc.

• Low-income housing rehab & development

• Business development

More info & reference: Chaskin, Robert J., Prudence Brown, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Avis Vidal. 2001. Building

Community Capacity. New York: Aldine De Gruyter.

Capacity Building

• Develop affordable homeownership opportunities

• Develop & encourage community base stakeholders

• Homeownership education

• Address or eliminate public policy supportive of abusive & predatory lending

Habitat for Humanity• Local funding

• Local volunteers

• Local capital

• Good example of capacity building

Asset Based Development

• Kretzmann & McKnight in 1993 published “Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Mobilizing Community Assets” Northwestern University

– Emphasis on capacity development instead of sweeping government/private endeavors

Government, Planners, Developers, & Investors

Infrastructure Housing Commerce Transportation

Traditional Development

Government Commerce

Investors

Community Stakeholders & Residents

Community Centered Approach