SOCI 390 Urban Sociology - Morrisville State Collegesociology.morrisville.edu/Class...

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SOCI 390

Urban Sociology Professor Kurt Reymers, Ph.D.

FALL 2012

D. The City in the Future

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4. The Future of Urban Studies A. The “Tragedy of the Commons” i. The civic culture of the U.S. centers around

“privatism”:

Privatism is the belief that government should restrict its role to helping the business community and seeking market solutions to social problems;

Privatism can diminish the public quality of life and lead to a phenomenon we call the “tragedy of the commons.”


4. The Future of Urban Studies

A. The “Tragedy of the Commons”

ii. Individual choice can lead to socially undesirable effects

The social institution of public authority (government) safeguards benefits to the many from the abuses of the few –

BUT, while doing so it restricts access to resources and challenges the freedoms of the individual.

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ii. Example 1: NYC rising crime rate in the 70s led to widespread dog ownership; piles of dog crap in the streets led to “pooper scooper law”;

Example 2: California anti-pollution laws; lost jobs, but cleaned up the smog




Who gets to

use the space?

Government

intervention creates

market regulation due

to competition for

public space.


4. The Future of Urban Studies What is the result of government support of

business rather than social needs? Economists use the term “Externalities”

B. Uneven Development i. Uneven development leads to the dilemma of

greater inequality and powerful special interests that go against our ethic of equality of opportunity.

– Shouldn’t all children in the U.S. receive the same quality

schooling? – Shouldn’t all Americans, as a right of citizenship, have equal

access to healthcare?

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B. Uneven Development

ii. All capitalist societies face the social costs of uneven development.

Social programs address these social ills to varying degrees.

Taxes on the most affluent pay for these services, redistributing wealth in the society.

iii. But, taxes are relatively low in the U.S. compared to most other industrial nations. This means the market must make up the difference in equalizing the resources that go to people.





iv. The U.S. is ambivalent about government intervention; taxes are low, but large corporate subsidies exist.

The urban renewal program of the 50s-70s is a case in point.

U.R. grew out of the 30s New Deal programs; Housing Acts passed 1937, 1949, ’51, ’61, ’68, ’70; all designed to support the real estate and construction industries.

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iv. Three separate phases of urban renewal efforts have taken place since 1950:

a. Support for Slum Renewal

b. Support for Economic Development

c. Support for Global Competition

Incentives to business include tax breaks, rent free land, local bond financing, or underwriting development costs of business start-ups.


Environmental Issues

While environmental problems have always existed in urban areas, the scale and intensity of the environmental costs of industrialization today are historically unprecedented.


Environmental Issues, cont.

Society has always put developmental desires above environmental concerns - the “modernist” idea of and faith in progress creates this value.

This raises an ethical question: should the rights of future urban residents take precedence over current economic interests?

What are the costs if we don’t act “sustainably”?

http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/video/mexico220.html

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Environmental Issues, cont.

C. Just as the social problems of the city are unevenly distributed, so are the physical environmental problems.

- There are social justice implications to environmental impact - they

are distributed inequitably across settlement space;

- So, there is a particular sociospatial dimension to this differential impact;

- "Time and again research shows that society continues to produce toxic pollution and that poor and minority communities are its victims."


Environmental Planning, cont.

D. Grassroots political movements are bringing awareness to the social injustice of environmental pollution:

- Activists raise the point that “If toxic dumps are unfair to any

community, why not design production operations to minimize environmental damage?”

- We produce ever-increasing amounts of garbage that becomes more and more difficult to place (ex: NYC garbage barge takes 3,000 mile journey).

see e.g., Environment and Society Institute, Univ. at Buffalo


The Future of Urban Studies

Uneven Development

iv. The U.S. is ambivalent about government intervention; taxes are low, but large corporate subsidies exist.

The urban renewal program of the 50s-70s is a case in point.

U.R. grew out of the 30s New Deal programs; Housing Acts passed 1937, 1949, ’51, ’61, ’68, ’70; all designed to support the real estate and construction industries.

http://povertycenter.cwru.edu/

http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/issues175.shtml

http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/issues175.shtml

http://www.newsoftheodd.com/article1018.html

http://www.newsoftheodd.com/article1018.html

http://wings.buffalo.edu/esi/

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Uneven Development

iv. Three separate phases of urban renewal efforts have taken place since 1950:

a. Support for Slum Renewal

b. Support for Economic Development

c. Support for Global Competition

Incentives to business include tax breaks, rent free land, local bond financing, or underwriting development costs of business start-ups.



Future Prospects of Cities i. Further “massification” of urban areas is expected,

similar to the changes that took place from WWII until today; or will we reach the end of suburbia? And have post-carbon cities?

ii. Increased technological interfacing in urban areas

will benefit a high-tech business minority; iii. Continued uneven development will further isolate

the classes and create more problems for the working poor.



The Disappearance of the Urban Form?

Mitchell’s Thesis: Traditional urban patterns cannot coexist with cyberspace.

Mitchell notes the loss of the importance of

Space, the change in the experience of Time, and the gain of “community without propinquity” (proximity)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHr8OzaloLM&mode=related&search=

http://postcarboncities.net/



http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=propinquity

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City of Bits: Mitchell’s E-topia

a. The Coming Digital Revolution (1993 – 2007 is just the beginning)

b. New Networks and Urban Transformation: “An old script replayed with new actors (silicon is the new steel and the Internet is the new railroad.)”

c. The “Big Pipes” (Super-Internet) “The more bits/sec you can push through communication channels, the more complex and sophisticated the interchanges and transactions that can take place over it.”


The Future of Urban Society?

It’s up to you.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/

SOCI 390 Urban Sociology - Morrisville State Collegesociology.morrisville.edu/Class...

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