Urban Geography:

How Geographers
Approach The City
An Introduction to Urban Geography!
Content Overview:
Here’s what we’ll discuss in the lecture

1. Urban geography and Urbanism

2. Meaning, scope, and nature of urban geography
3. Difference between Urbanization and Urbanism
4. Key Concepts of Urban Geography
5. Approaches and methods of urban geography
6. Meaning, scope, and nature of Urban Studies
 What is Urban Geography?
• Urban geography is the study of the development of cities and towns and the people in
them.
• Why cities were built, how they are connected, and how they have changed and will continue
to change
• It examines the factors that lead to the location and relative size of cities, and also the
complex processes that shape the nature of individual urban areas.

• An essential component of Urban Geography is the CITY!

What then is a “City”?
- A city is a collection of people, services, and infrastructure that can be a center for economy,
politics, and culture.
Principal Methods to Identify Urban
Places:
Population Size & Physical
01 Density 02 Characteristics
Urbans are very developed, meaning
Should have a population density there is a density of human structures
of at least 50, 000 in continuous such as houses, commercial buildings,
grid cells (1, 500 inhabitants per roads, bridges, and railways.
sq. mile)

Level of
Type of Economic
Infrastracture
03 Activity
There is usually no primary
04 Urban infrastructure consists of
drinking water, sanitation, sewage
systems, electricity and gas
industry. Economic activity is distribution, urban transport,
split into retail, commercial primary health services, and
and industrial. environmental regulation.
Nature of Urban Geography
Origin and evolution Patterns of distribution
01 of cities 04 of the cities over the
earth surface
Areal association of
02 activities within urban 05 Spatial interactions of
places one city with the other

03 Economic base of 06 Demographic makeup

cities and development
The Scope of Urban Geography
 LET’S
DISSECT!
Difference Between
Urbanization and
Urbanism
Urbanization

Urbanization refers to the

concentration of human populations
into discrete areas. This concentration
leads to the transformation of land for
residential, commercial, industrial and
transportation purposes
 Urbanism

Is the study of how inhabitants of urban

areas, such as towns and cities, interact
with the built environment.
 Urban Area and its types
1. Towns – An urban area that has a name, defined boundaries and local government, and
that is generally smaller than a city.

2. Conurbations or Suburbs - is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities,

large towns and other urban areas which through population growth and physical
expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area.

3. Cities – A city settlement of notable size. It can be defined as a permanent and

densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work
primarily on non-agricultural tasks.
 Did you know?

“Metropolis” and “Metropolitan” Metropolis

Are derived from two Greek Is the center of a metropolitan
words: meter, meaning area- the “mother city”
“mother”, and polis, meaning sorrounded by suburbs.
“city”.
 Key Concepts of Urban Geography
Location and
Movement

Envisioning and Sites and

Constructions
Experience Practices

Social and
Political
Institutions
 Location and Movement
transnational
centrality urbanism
The inward focus of the city A means of thinking through the
and urban city. ways in which cities are evermore
defined by all sorts of connections
to faraway places.

mobility
Global cities
Movement of people,
information, materials, goods, Globalization and control and
and waste. About the buzz of command centers.
movement in the city.
 CONSTRUCTIONS

nature infrastructure
The Natural Environment-
Roads, utilities, and structures
Landscapes

materiality architecture
the stuff (physical things, Buildings, structures, and
objects, and structures) of design
which the
urban environment consists.
 Envisioning and Experience
DIAGRA PHOTOGRAP VIRTUALI SURVEILLAN
HY BODY TY CE
MS

A pictorial and Visual images of cities The ways of moving, The imaginative virtual A range of recording
geography means of walking, resting, in an important element devices put in place by
describing touching, gesturing, of everyday urban governments,
sensing, experience, corporations and
feeling, and perceiving through literary private citizens spans
they afford us accounts, memories, the city.
dreams, and desires.
 Social and Political Organizations
Urban Politics
The structure of political
activity in cities

Segregation
The spatial issues of
income and race
Community
conjures up images of a
world in which things fit
together. It is something
that just about everyone is
in favor of
 Sites and Practices
Consumption
Public Space
Our behaviors of
consuming. The space used in
common by the public.

Media
TV, Radio, Newspapers, Blogs
—conveying information, Commemoration
perspective, Historical events,
and images. memories, and their
places.
 Approaches and
Methods in Urban
Geography
 Approaches of Urban Geography

01 02 03 04 05
Behavioral Post Modern
Structuralis Structural
Positivism and Theory
m Analysis
Humanistic
POSITIVISM
ETYMOLOGY:
• From the French word positivisme, derived from positif, in it’s philosophical sense of ‘imposed on
the mind by experienced’.

• A doctrine that states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that
knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through scientific methods,
refusing every form of metaphysics.
 CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF
POSITIVISM
The origin of positivism as a well established philosophy can be accredited to French philosopher
Auguste Comte in the 1830s.

- It emerged as a philosophical movement, characterized by an emphasis on science and scientific

method as the only source of knowledge (there’s a sharp distinction between the realm of fact
(data) and value (cultural).

- He had strong hostility towards religion and traditional philosophy, especially metaphysics, even
declaring that metaphysics is a useless branch of enquiry.

- He demanded a “sociocracy” ruled by scientists, for the unity, conformity, and progress of all
humanity.

- Comte argued that metaphysical philosophy was an ‘immature science’ and that It should be
replaced by scientifically dominant ‘positive’ outlook.

Comte opined that development of the society takes place in 3 stages:

1. Theological – when everything is described as God’s will.
2. Metaphysical – and;
3. Positive – when attempts are made to find out some sort of causal relations between the
observed phenomena.
 Two types of Positive Approach in
Urban Geography:
1. Ecological Approach. based upon the belief that human behavior is determined by ecological principles, namely that the most
powerful groups, would obtain the most advantageous positions in a given space, the best residential location for example.
Ex. Concentric zone, Sector Model of Land Use

2. Neo-classical Approach. were based on the belief that human behavior was motivated primarily by rationality. This means that each
decision was taken with the aim of minimizing the cost involved (in terms of time and money) and maximizing the benefits.
STRUCTURALISM
- Structuralism is an attempt to explain observed phenomena as the outcome of unobserved structures and relations.

- Causality operates at the structural level -- at a ‘deeper’ level below the surface of appearance and observation-- and may
not be directly observable.

- Structuralists consider the arrangement of components of a system to be explanatory. In a sense, "we understand the system
when we know how the parts of a system interact with and relate to each other. "

Ex. A system (any system) can be analogous to a jigsaw puzzle, and the puzzle is "solved" when we discover how the parts
fit together.

- To expound more, I would introduce you to another school of thought called "Functionalism", which is a theoretical
approach that considers a system to be "explained" when we discover what it does.

• For example, a functionalist explanation of a car is that it's a vehicle for moving people and materials from one place to
another.
• However, a structuralist explanation of a car would not deny that this is how a car, indeed, work. But it will solely
focus on how it's engine is connected to the drive train, the chassis, the body, the seats, etc. What these individual
components do is not directly self-explanatory (since some other structure could potentially fulfill the same function). We
understand it by breaking-down it’s components.
 BEHAVIORAL &
HUMANISTIC
• Were united in their belief that people, and the ways in which they made sense of their environment should be central to their
approach.

• Behaviorist approaches emphasizes the role of cognitive (subjective) and decision-making variables as mediating the
relationship between environment and spatial behavior. It represents a point of view, it focuses on the processes leading to
observed spatial patterns. It attempts to understand human activity in space, place, and environment by studying it at the level
of the individual person.

• The humanistic approaches brought techniques more associated with the humanities to understand people-environment
relationships.

For example: It allows us to search for answers to many interesting questions:

Why is there so much fighting in the Middle East?

How did English spread all over the world?

Why do people in poor countries have so many children?

What defines the American South?

Structural Analysis
• In urban geography structural analysis has been based primarily on the work of Karl Marx.

• According to him, political economy dictates the ownership of the means of production is the core of the relations of
production, and this determines a society's fundamental nature and the orientation of its development.

• Cities are viewed as an integral part of the capitalist mode of production by providing an environment favorable for
the fundamental capitalist goal of accumulation.

• This approach interpreted urban residential segregation primarily as a result of decisions by those with power in the
property market, including building society managers, estate agents, and local authority housing managers.
Postmodern Theory
• Postmodernism is ‘ philosophical stance which claims that it is impossible to take grand statements – meta-narratives
–about the structure of society or about historic causation because everything we perceive, express, and interpret is
influenced by our gender, class, and culture and no one interpretation is superior’.

• The postmodern perspective is characterized by a rejection of grand theory and an emphasis on human difference.

• In this philosophy, the world is impossible to strictly conceptualize, define, or understand

• The most visible impact of postmodern thinking on the city is in its architecture where the concrete functionalism of
the modern era is replaced by a diversity of styles.
Methods of Urban
Geography
 Methods Characteristics

Is central to geography’s concern for accurately

1. Observation of Phenomena and Events
representing the complexity of the real world.

2. Field work An intensive observation endeavor.

Detection and recording of electromagnetic radiation

3. Remote sensing
signals from the earth’s surface and atmosphere.

Is the traditional close association between geography

4. Cartography
and maps.

Use of concrete visual representations to make spatial

5. Geographic Visualization
contexts and problems visible.

Analysis of geographically referenced information poses

6. Spatial statistic
statistical challenges not faced in most other disciplines.

is a computer system that analyzes and displays

7. Geographic Information System
geographically referenced information.
 Observation of Phenomena and Events
& Fieldwork
1. Observation of phenomena and events is central to geography's concern for accurately representing the complexity of the
real world. The traditional and still widely practiced method of observation is through direct "on-the-ground" contact between
geographer and subject through field observation and exploration.
2. Fieldwork is an intensive observation endeavor. It can require substantial investments of human and financial resources,
particularly if carried out over extended periods of time.
 Remote sensing
• The detection and recording of electromagnetic radiation signals from the Earth's surface and atmosphere using
sensors placed aboard aircraft and satellites. These signals are usually recorded in digital form, where each "digit" denotes
one piece of information about an average property of a small area of the Earth.

• Geographers who study the Earth’s climate, for example, use satellites to collect data on atmospheric conditions for
monitoring and predicting change. Remotely sensed data also are very useful in creating and updating maps of physical,
biological, and cultural features at the Earth's surface.
 Cartography
• Is the traditional display and analysis to associate geography and maps appropriately given the
discipline’s concern with space and place.
 Geographic Visualization
• The use of concrete visual representations to make spatial contexts and problems visible, so as to engage the
most powerful human information processing abilities, those associated with vision
• Using the power of human vision to recognize patterns and synthesize spatial information increases the capacity
of geographic researchers to cope with this data volume.
 Spatial Statistics
• is all about analyzing data that has a spatial (location) characteristic to it. This type of analysis looks for patterns or
correlation in recorded observations of some process that occurs across a space
 Geographic Information Systems
• Were defined in 1992 by the U.S. Geological Survey as
"computer systems capable of assembling, storing,
manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced
information“
• GISs are also capable of more complicated operations such
as:
(1) Calculating new spatial datasets based on attributes of existing
data—for example, calculating slopes from elevations;
(2) Comparing two or more spatial datasets based on user-
specified criteria— for example, identifying toxic waste sites that
are situated on permeable soil;
(3) Delimiting areas that possess certain characteristics defined by
the user for example, delimiting locations of commercially zoned
land within 2 miles of an interstate highway; and
(4) Modeling the possible outcomes of alternative processes and
policies—for example, determining the impact of flooding along
the Mississippi River given the presence or absence of levees
 Meaning of
Urban Studies
 What is Urban Studies?
Urban studies is the examination of metropolitan life, processes, and
problems.

Urban studies examine urbanization and it’s associated social,

economic, and demographic processes.

Urban Studies is a broad umbrella term for academic programs and research
that focus on the social, political, economic, spatial, physical, historical,
cultural, and environmental dynamics of urban contexts
…urban studies have four basic themes
that cover the major issues of today’s
urban reality
THE SUSTAINABLE
THE SAFE CITY
CITY

THE MULTICULTURAL THE HEALTHY

CITY CITY
 Delineations of Urban Geography and
Urban Studies

Urban Geography Urban Studies

Urban geography is studying Focuses on the
of urban space. examination of
metropolitan life,
processes and
problems
Important things to remember:
● Urban geography is the study of the development of cities and towns and the people in them.
● A city is a collection of people, services, and infrastructure that can be a center for economy, politics, and
culture.You can list your reference websites or publications here
● Urbanization refers to the concentration of human populations into discrete areas.
● Urbanism is how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment.
● The type of urban areas are: Towns, Suburbs/ Conurbations, and Cities.
● Urban studies is the examination of metropolitan life, processes, and problems.
● The four principal identification of urban places are: Population size & density; Physical
characteristics; Type of Economic activity; and, Level of Infrastracture.
 Our team

Jhamae Rose
Daphny Abalos
Abulog

Joy Ann
Caryl Abaigar
Abayare