Urban studies
Urban studies or pre-urban planning education is based on the study of the
History
The study of cities has changed dramatically from the 1800s over time, with new frames of analysis being applied to the development of urban areas. The first college programs were created to observe how cities were developed based on anthropological research of ghetto communities.[6] In the mid-1900s, urban study programs expanded beyond just looking at the current and historical impacts of city design and began studying how those designs impacted the future interactions of people and how to improve city development through architecture, open spaces, the interactions of people, and different types of capital that forms a community.[4]
Urban history plays an important role in this field of study because it reveals how cities have developed previously.[7] History plays a large role in determining how cities will change in the future. Such areas change continuously as part of larger processes and create new histories that researchers study on both large-scale and individual levels.[8]
Overall, three different themes[9]: 7 have influenced how researchers have and will continue to study urban areas:
- Spatial structures: Reflect how the city is physically organized
- Processes that support spatial structure: Question how the city's structure operates
- Normative Analysis: Construct opinions supported by facts to promote better urban planning methods
Scholars have also researched how cities outside of the United Kingdom and the United States have developed, but only to a limited degree. Urban history previously focused mostly on how European and American cities developed over time, instead of focusing on how non-European cities developed.[10] Additional geographic areas researched in this field include South Africa,[11] Australia,[12] Latin America, and India.[7] This is changing as more research is performed in developing economies, leading to more contextual urban and infrastructural development in various parts of the world.[13][14]
The racial segregation of urban residents in the United States has played an important role in developing this field. One program founded to research African-American urban residents, the Harvard-MIT Joint Center for Urban Studies, was founded in 1959 to study residential segregation and to support affected communities.[15] More recently, studies related to race and urban life started to focus on ethnographic methods to study how individuals lived in relation to the city and their respective systems as a whole.[9]
Areas of research
This field is
Criticism
Researchers struggle how to define basic terms precisely, such as how a city is defined, due to how the roles of cities change.[22] Researchers must be careful in how they describe urban areas, as their work can be manipulated as positive elements for city boosters wanting to promote a specific city.[23]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0415862875.
- ^ ISBN 978-0415862875.
- ^ S2CID 114665427.
- ^ ISBN 9780813349718.
- ^ OCLC 701015428.
- ISBN 9780761930297.
- ^ S2CID 17156871.
- S2CID 143993067.
- ^ ISBN 9780803976955.
- S2CID 126794836. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
- S2CID 154978833.
- .
- ISBN 978-3-030-29672-8.
- .
- ISBN 9780812247312.
- ^ OCLC 925426390.
- .
- ISBN 9780803976955.
- ISBN 9780803976955.
- ISBN 9780803976955.
- ISBN 9780803976955.
- ISBN 9780803976955.
- S2CID 145634362.
External links
- Princeton University Library. "Urban Studies Research Basecamp". LibGuides. New Jersey: Princeton University.
- Guide to the University of Chicago Center for Urban Studies Records 1967-1968 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center