March 12th What is Urban?

Urban: many types and forms of definitions

1. Demographic: Some place that exceeds that some relative arbitrary, threshhold of population size/density( varies from country to country..) 2. Economic: The existence/absence of certain economic activities(If a lot of people employed in finance,education -> urban areas)

Examples: 1. Canada : >1000 persons, >400 persons/km^2 (If a place exceeds thsoe criteria, it is considered as a urban area) 2. US: >2500 persons, >1000 persons/mile^2 3. Botswana: >5000 persons, >75% economic activity in non agricultural 4.Japan : >50,000 persons, 60% living in a "built-up" area", and 60% engaged in urban economic activities such as manufacturing, trade,etc. 5. Norway,Iceland,Finland: >200 persons. URBANISM: -A social-cultural way of thinking about the city ( Recal: an urban way of life) URBAN MORPHOLOGY: -The physical form or the structure of the city(how is it layed out,organised) URBANIZATION: the process of becoming more urban (a country undergoing transformation where the ocuntry becomes more urbanized..inc proportional of people living in city. - KEY: proportion of the population living in cities - DE-urbanization: (local scale in canada in retirement community) URBAN GROWTH: numbers of people and/or size of land area( More people living in Toronto) WHAT IS THE DIFF? : One is talking bout proportion and another is talking about numbers [%Urban -> urbanization]

*****DIFF BETWEEN URBANIZATION AND URBAN GROWTH, tell explicity whats the diff, given data table]***** Urbanization: Changed in levels of urbanization: marks a significant social & cultural change - living in cities is fundamentally different than living in rural areas or the countrysid -Social and cultural transformation is undergoing( Canada and More developed World Vs China and Less Developed World..in less developed world, their culture is changing and they are rapidly developing) - Levels of urbanization vary from place to place - society to society. - What proportion of the world is urban? - Urbanized 1900- 15%, 1950-30%, 2007- 50% urban, 2030-60% ( Most of the mare driven by countries in less developed world) -Today: Africa and Asia: -Oceania,Europe,North & SouthAmerica(low level of urbanization) India - 30% in urban areas, China-50% urbanized. Canada,US, Brazil, Western Europe: >80% China,India, South E Asia + Africa: < 50% China: -1980:<20%, 200:40%, 2010:50% India: 1980: 25%, 2000:30%, 2010:30% LARGE CITIES & MEGA-CITIES: Recent urban Growth = More Large Cities -1950: 8 cities of > 5 million - 2015: 56 cities of > 5 million Projected Urban growth = More Mega-cities ( Tokyo,LA) - 1995: 14 cities of > 10 million - 2015: 22 cities of >10 million ORIGINS OF URBANIZATIONS

- Urbanization and variation- levels of econimuc development - More developed world urbanuzation - significant but recent - Region of first cities - Mesopotamia (land between 2 rivers) - Tigris & Euphrated Rivers (Birth place of urbanization) - Approx : 3500 BC - city of Ur - Turkey, Egypt, India-pakistan, China and later Europe & Central America What contributed to the emergence of cities: Agriculture The ( Agricultural) Surplus Theory: How cities emerge in the first place and how they prosper. - humans were Nomadic: hunter-gatherer societies, Migratory(folloe seasonal pattern os food sources) - Domentication of plants (crops) and animals(livestock) accidental: the ability to germinate seeds ..where we want them - Technology: Irrigation(need water sources and make canals),tools, domentication. - Permanent settlements & Agriculture surplus. - Labour surplus- Labour specialization inc non agricultural labour( people are no longer nomadic), surplus of food supplies -> exchange -Agglomeration of non-agricultural activities in ever-larger settlementseventually vilages,towns,cities,large cities. A SOCIAL/CULTURAL TRANSITION: - Agricultual revolution = urbanization = culture ADDITIONALS URBAN ORIGINS -Defensive settlements( develop walls) -Ceremonial/religious functions: -Econimoc.trading locations Last class: understanding of cities as a reflection of social/cultural change..