CHAPTER 21

Population, Urbanization and the Environment

Chapter Outline

People, Resources, and Urban Growth

The Urban Landscape Urban Communities Cities and Social

Change

Population Growth

The rate of population growth increased dramatically in the 20th century, giving rise to the often-used term population explosion.

The world’s population is currently estimated at 6.8 billion.

According to recent United Nations forecasts, it is likely to increase to about 8.8 billion by 2025.

Population Growth and Doubling Time

CountryPopulation(millions)

Growth Rate

Doubling Time

India 1,002.1 1.8 39

China 1,264.5 0.9 79

Brazil 170.1 1.5 45

Bangladesh 128.1 1.8 38

Nigeria 123.3 2.8 24

Population Growth and Doubling Time

CountryPopulation(millions)

Growth Rate

Doubling Time

Pakistan 150.6 2.8 25

Indonesia 212.2 1.6 44

Russia 145.2 -0.6 -

Mexico 99.6 20 36

United States 275.6 0.6 120

Thomas Malthus

Attempted to show that population size normally increases more rapidly than available food supplies.

The resulting disease, poverty, famine, war, and mass migrations act as natural checks on population growth.

Demographic Transition

Demographic Transition Progresses through Three Stages:

A stage of high birthrates and death rates (the high growth potential stage).

A stage of declining death rates (the transitional growth stage).

A stage of declining birthrates (the stage of incipient decline).

The Demographic Transition: Sweden, 1691–1963

The peaks in birth and death rates in the early 1800s were a result of social unrest and war.

The drop in deaths and simultaneous rise in births in the early 1700s were a result of peace, good crops, and the absence of plagues.

Demographic Transition and Development

Stage High Growth Potential

Type of society Most types of preindustrial societies.

Development Features

High death rates due to infant mortality and low life expectancy; high rates of

fertility; relatively low rates of increase.

Demographic Transition and Development

Stage Transitional Growth

Type of societyEarly stages of development where basic public health measures are

being introduced.

Development Features

Decreasing mortality rates; continuing high rates of fertility. High rates of

female illiteracy and limited protection of women’s rights.

Demographic Transition and Development

Stage Incipient Decline

Type of societyAdvanced stages of development

where people delay marriage and are likely to use birth control.

Development Features

Decreasing mortality and fertility rates, low or negative rates of increase. High

rates of female literacy and medical care for women.

Life Expectancy In Global Context

Life expectancy is defined as the number of years one can expect to live.

Societies with advanced health care and well developed public health systems have average life expectancies in the 70’s.

Societies in the earlier stages of industrialization and urbanization have lower average life expectancies.

Impoverished societies have life expectancies that are extremely low and may be declining, due to high rates of infant mortality.

Crude Birth and Death Rates: Singapore, 1930–1988

Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy, 2006

Country Infant MortalityLife

Expectancy

Angola 185.4 38.6

Australia 4.6 80.5

Canada 4.7 80.2

China 23.1 72.6

India 54.6 64.7

Kenya 59.3 48.9

Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy, 2006

CountryInfant

MortalityLife

Expectancy

Mexico 20.3 75.4

Russia 15.1 67.1

South Africa 60.7 42.7

Sweden 2.8 80.5

United States 6.4 77.8

Zimbabwe 51.7 39.3

Environmental Impact of Population

The U.S., with less than 5% of the earth’s population, consumes more than 20% of energy resources.

We put more than our share of pollutants and earth-warming gases into the atmosphere.

Much of this is related to automobiles: there are about 132 million private autos on the road, or 488 per 1,000 people.

Increase in Motor Vehicles, 1970–2010

World Capture FisheriesProduction

Urban Revolution

In 1800, only 3% of the world’s people lived in cities with populations of over 5,000.

By 1970, one-third of the world’s population lived in cities.

Populations of the World’s Largest Urbanized Areas

Thousands of Inhabitants

Urbanized Area 1950 1975 2000

Mexico City 3,050 11,610 25,820

Tokyo–Yokohama 6,736 17,668 24,172

São Paulo 2,760 10,290 23,970

Calcutta 4,520 8,250 16,530

Bombay 2,950 7,170 16,000

Urban Planning

Urban sociologists look at the relationship between planned and unplanned aspects of urban growth and the social groups that represent each aspect.

The poor and the immigrants represent unplanned additions to the city; the rich guide urban planning to suit their interests.

Models of Growth, Settlement and Land Use Within Cities

The Concentric-zone model claims expansion occurs through “Invasions” of successive zones surrounding the center of the city.

Satellite cities - cities that grow outside major cities.

Strip development model - the incorporation of smaller communities and towns into a larger metropolitan area.

The Concentric-Zone Model Applied to Chicago

Strip Development and Sprawl

The Los Angeles–Anaheim–Riverside Megalopolis

Urban Life

Ferdinand Tönnies and Émile Durkheim believed urban life produces impersonal social relationships.

Georg Simmel concluded that city dwellers adapt to the “psychic overload” created by urban stimuli by becoming emotionally distant.

According to Louis Wirth, the primary psychological effect of urban life is a weakening of the individual’s bonds to other people.

High-Poverty Tracts by Location

High-Poverty Tracts by Race and Ethnicity

Earthquakes of Magnitude 4.0 or Greater, 1960–1989

Environmental Racism

Pollution of the earth and water beneath these houses, caused by the criminal dumping of toxic wastes, forced residents to abandon their homes.

Sociologist Kai Erikson identified such disasters as a “new species of trouble” with profound consequences.

QUICK QUIZ

1. According to Malthus, our species is destined to have serious problems (i.e., famine, war, and disease) because

a. of mans' inhumanity to man.

b. human reproduction will invariably outstrip food production.

c. people are by nature only concerned about themselves and their own kind.

d. humans are only imperfect reproductions of God, they do not embody righteousness.

Answer: b

According to Malthus, our species is destined to have serious problems (i.e., famine, war, and disease) because human reproduction will invariably outstrip food production.

2. The world has experienced rapid population growth over the past century because

a. death rates have fallen sharply.

b. birth rates have sharply increased.

c. societies have experienced industrialization and urbanization.

d. the demographic transition has been completed in virtually all nations.

Answer: a

The world has experienced rapid population growth over the past century because death rates have fallen sharply.

3. According to demographic transition theory,

a. all nations have experienced completion of the transition.

b. industrialization has virtually nothing to do with changing attitudes toward childbearing.

c. the most developed nations of the world have been the least likely to complete the transition.

d. factors related to social and economic development are responsible for the sequence of mortality decline and then fertility decline.

Answer: d

According to demographic transition theory, factors related to social and economic development are responsible for the sequence of mortality decline and then fertility decline.

4. Which is false relative to the "concentric-zone model" of Park and Burgess?

a. It was based on the concept of "natural area."b. The outer zones are largely residential, rather

than commercial, in nature.c. With upward social mobility, people tend to

move toward the center of cities.d. Cities are structurally dynamic as each zone

tends to expand outward over time.

Answer: c

The following is false relative to the "concentric-zone model" of Park and Burgess: With upward social mobility, people tend to

move toward the center of cities.