Population, Urbanization and

Environment

Daniel Gabaldón-Estevan

Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Valencia (ES)

December 8th, 2014

2

Population, Urbanization and Environment, (introduction and index) [Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 698]

Social change “Alteration in the basic

structures of a social group or society. Social

change is an ever present phenomenon in

social life, but has become especially intense

in the modern era. The origins of modern

sociology can be traced to attempts to

understand the dramatic changes shattering

the traditional world and promoting new forms

of social order” (p. 698).

Population growth

(concepts and theories)

Cities and urban spaces

(theories and trends)

Ecological crisis

(pollution, waste,

depletion of resources

and risk)

3

Population growth

http://www.asianoffbeat.com/OddNews/Tokyo-World-Biggest-Megacity-6.jpg

4

5

Crude birth rates: the number of live births per year per thousand of the population

Concepts

Population growth: demographic concepts[Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 602-609]

Fertility: the number of live-born children the average of women has (i.e. average number of births per thousand women of childbearing age

Fecundity: the potential number of children women are biologically capable of bearing

Crude death rates: the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year

Mortality: the number of deaths in a population

Infant mortality rates: the number of babies per thousand births in a year who die before reaching the age of one

Life expectancy: the number of years the average person can expect to live

Life span: the maximum number of years that an individual could live

6

Thomas Robert Malthus (1798)

Warren S. Thompson (1929) developed the Demographic Transition Model

Theories

Population growth: demographic theories[Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 602-609]

7

www.coolgeography.co.uk

8

"Population growth rate world 2005-2010 UN" by ClaudioMB - en.wikipedia. Via Wikimedia Commons -

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Population_growth_rate_world_2005-

2010_UN.PNG#mediaviewer/File:Population_growth_rate_world_2005-2010_UN.PNG

Population growth rate

9

Population density (I)

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Population density (II)

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Population

pyramid of the

Europe of

Twenty-Five,

1 January 2003

http://www.cairn-

int.info/article-

E_POPU_402_036

1--the-european-

union-at-the-time-

of-enlarg.htm

Population pyramids

12

Population ageing: Percentage of the population over 65 in Europe

13

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/ChicagovanafSearsTower.jpg

Cities and urban spaces

14

Urbanization: a global process

15

Deforestation

Urbanization density (I)

16

Urbanization density (II)

17

Cities and urban spaces:

Conurbations and megalopolis in USA

18http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/explore-interactive-maps/urban-atlas-for-europe

Cities and urban spaces in EU

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Robert E. Park

Urban ecology the siting of major urban settlements and the distribution of different types of neighbourhoods understood as species in the natural world by means of competition, invasion and succession.

The Chicago School

Cities and urban spaces: theories of urbanism[Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 573-579]

Ernest W. Burgess

http://cronodon.com/images/Burgess2.jpg

Amos Hawley, years latter,would rather talk about interdependence due to differentiation)

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Urbanism as a way of life urbanism is a form of social existence and it influences the nature of the wither social system, is not just a part of society. It is characterized by proximity but unknowingness (interactions as means to other ends) highly mobile but weak bonds, faster ‘peace of life’, and competition prevails over cooperation.

The Chicago School

Cities and urban spaces: theories of urbanism[Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 573-579]

Louis Wirth

Coit Tower Mural,

“City Life” By Victor Arnautoff

Photo: Harvey Smith

Criticism to Chicago School based mainly in observations of American cities not valid for all times and places. There are still communities inside cities and they might preclude subcultural diversity (Claude Fischer, 1984). Or the ‘harder shell to crack’ of the ‘urban egg’ (Edward Krupat, 1985: 36)

21

DavidHarvey

City as an integral part of processes of collective consumption. Lay-out and architectural features of cities and neighbourhoods express struggles and conflicts between different groups in society (symbolic and spatial manifestations of broader social forces) market forces, government and social movements.

Recent contributions

Cities and urban spaces: theories of urbanism[Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 573-579]

Manuel Castells

Created environment brought about by the spread of industrial capitalism that blurs the difference between rural and the urban. Space is continually restructured by (1) large firms, (2) the controls asserted by governments over land and industrial production, and (3) private investors buying and selling houses and land.

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Suburbanization: earlier in UK than USA. In USA ¾ of white front ¼ of African American live in suburbia in 1990 now changing to become a class issue.

Inner city decay: cycle of deterioration ‘flight to suburbs’ means a loss of local tax revenues, building stock becomes more run-down, crime rates and unemployment increase. More must therefore be spent on welfare services, schools, buildings, police and fire service.

Urban conflict: due to poverty; ethnic division and antagonism; crime; and the insecurities derived from the previous.

Urban renewal: revival of inner city areas and the sustainable development of outlying regions should happen because of technological revolution, ecological threats, and social transformation, and should include recycled land and building, improve the urban environment, excellence in managing local areas (democratic participation of citizens), delivering regeneration

Urban recycling: gentrification "the transformation of a working-class or vacant area of the central city to a middle class residential and/or commercial use”*

Cities and urban spaces: trends in Western urban development[Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 579-587]

*Lees, Loretta, Tom Slater, and Elvin K. Wyly. Gentrification.

New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2008.

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Economic implications: high relevance of informal economy that is untaxed ,unregulated and less productive than formal economy.

Environmental challenges: pollution, housing shortages, inadequate sanitation and unsafe water supplies. (“living in Mexico City is equivalent to smoke 40 cigarettes a day” pp. 589)

Social effects: overcrowded and under-resourced. Poverty widespread and demands for health care, family planning advice, education and training are not meet in a very young population whose access to schooling is restrained.

Cities and urban spaces: challenges in urbanization in the developing

world [Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp. 587-590]

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Global cities: as NY, London or Tokyo (Saskia Sassen) characterized by: being ‘command posts’ of the global economy; key locations for financial and specialized service firms; sites of production and innovation of these newly expanded industries; are also te markets where to buy, sell and dispose them.

The city and periphery: cities as they become more global they also disconnect from their outlying regions and nation

Inequality and the global city: “The growth sectors of the ‘new economy’ – financial services, marketing, high technology – are reaping profits far greater than any found within traditional economic sectors. As the salaries and bonuses of the very affluent continue to climb, the wages of those employed to clean and guard their offices are dropping”.

Cities and urban spaces: cities and globalization [Giddens, A. 2001Sociology, pp.

591-593]

25

Ecological crisis

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Ecological crisis: limits to growth

http://www.worldwatch.org/brain/features/timeline/timeline.htm

The Limits to Growth ”is a 1972 book about

the computer simulation of

exponential economic and population growth with finite

resource supplies commissioned by the Club of Rome.

The book used the World3 model to simulate the

consequence of interactions between the Earth's and

human systems.

Five variables were examined in the original

model: world population, industrialization, pollution,

food production, and resource depletion.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth

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Ecological crisis: sustainable development

Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland

Report, from the United Nations World Commission on

Environment and Development (WCED) was published

in 1987.

Its targets were multilateralism and interdependence of

nations in the search for a sustainable development

path (sought to recapture the spirit of the Stockholm

Conference - which had introduced environmental

concerns to the formal political development sphere).

Our Common Future placed environmental issues

firmly on the political agenda; it aimed to discuss the

environment and development as one single issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Common_Future

"development that meets the

needs of the present without

compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their

own needs"

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Ecological crisis: consumption, poverty and the environment

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Nitrogen

(agriculture)Biodiversity

(urbanization,

agriculture)

Ecological crisis: beyond the boundaries[Rockstrom et al., 2009. A safe operating space for humanity. Nature. 461, 472-475]

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(pollution and waste)

31Air pollution kills 60.000 people a year

Air pollution

32

Percentage of urban population resident in areas where pollutant concentrations are

higher than selected limit or target values, 2000-2012 (EU-28)

33

http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/aqtrnd95/images/image11b.gif

34

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/21/chinese-official-swim-polluted-river

Water pollution

35http://visual.merriam-webster.com/images/earth/environment/water-pollution.jpg

36

Solid waste

37http://www.terutalk.com/images/LA_County-waste_management_paradigm-lg.JPG

38

39

(depletion of resources)

40

Water

Water

41

Soil degradation and desertification

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Desertification

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Deforestation

Aerial view of deforestation on a vast scale

in the Dry Chaco region of Paraguay

44

45

(risk and the environment)

46

Global warming

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Global warming

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Genetically modified crops

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Global warming

Aitäh!!!

Daniel Gabaldón-Estevan | Tallinn 08/12/2014Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Valencia- Valencia (ES) - daniel.gabaldon@uv.es - www.uv.es/dagaes

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