URBAN STUDIES.ppt

URBAN STUDIES LECTURE 1 P. Adams Approaches Physical (urban biophysical) Human-environment (env. determinism or possibilism) Regional studies Spatial analysis Behaviorist Marxist Humanist Social theory Postmodern Tools Writing Mapping Mathematical modeling Spatial modeling GIS Topics of Recent Interest Urbanization and global cities Feminist urban geography Urban culture Urban history Locational analysis Focusing In Urban biophysical Urban micro-environment (fauna, flora, climate, groundwater, surface water, air) Feral cats, invasive species, wild species with new habits Neglected subject Human-Environment Determinism (Wittfogel, Semple) Possibilism (site issues and shifting definition of “resource”) Focusing In Regional Studies (descriptive, atheoretical) Spatial Analysis Location and distance are primary interests Diffusion is another interest Chauncy Harris, Edward Ullman, Walter Christaller, August L?sch prediction of the location and growth of cities (situation) interest in urban hierarchy prediction of the location of facilities within cities inter- and intra- urban pattern identification location optimization for planning and investment extraction of general principles and laws Focusing In Behaviorist urban studies incorporated psychological findings theories recognized perceived/experienced distance as more important than “map distance” sought most direct connection to human behavior Marxist urban studies questions the motivation behind the prevailing questions values intervention over explanation prediction addresses justice and equity issues previously ignored reveals contradictions (conflicts of interest and power relations) Focusing In Humanist urban studies emphasizes understanding rather than explanation or intervention looks at experience for its own sake, not as a cause of behavior Postmodernist urban studies opposes modernism anti-rational anti-bureaucratic opposed to “master narratives” (rejects attempt to find a single best way to understand th