Post-industrialized cities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Post-industrialized cities - Essay Example The Chicago School asserted that cities do not develop randomly but instead they develop according to favourable conditions in the environment. One example of this is the way in which large urban areas are found predominantly along shores of rivers or on fertile plains, as those features have been advantageous to their development. The School was influenced by the processes which were seen to occur in nature such as the effects which competition in an area has on the distribution of the various species of animal in an ecosystem. This became part of the theory which asserted that cities become ordered into 'natural areas' through processes such as competition, invasion and succession. It was theorised that patterns of location, movement and relocation in cities follow similar patterns to those observed in any ecosystem (Giddens 06). Lewis Wirth claimed that urbanism was a way of life. He noted that there were distinct differences between the way which people lived their lives in urban areas and in rural areas. Wirth highlighted the heterogenous nature of the people in the urban area as the predominant reason for this difference. In rural areas, people in any particular area live similar lives, with similar cultures, beliefs and ideals. In comparison, those in urban areas are diverse in cultures, beliefs and ideals, which Wirth theorised could drive the division of the urban area to naturally divide into neighbourhoods in which these characteristics were shared (Wirth 64). While this may be true, Wirth neglected to note that there were internal factors which were present in urban areas and not in rural areas. For example different occupational factors and class factors were present in the urban areas at the time compared to the rural areas, and these may also have been driving forces in separation of the urban n eighbourhoods. Robert Park asserted that the city was a social organism which was formed of distinct parts joined together by internal processes. Park theorised that the 'web of life' ensured that competitiveness was present between inhabitants of any urban area and that this led to natural structuring of urban areas. This was a result of comparing the nature of urban areas to Darwinian struggle present in any ecological system. The model put forth by Park also has several criticisms. For example the comments which he makes toward natural processes and the structuring of society are oversimplified. There are many differences between humans and other creatures in nature such as technological advances. These ensure that humans are not dependent on the natural habitat in the same ways as other animals although there are still benefits to be derived from natural features. Park also fails to take account of other factors such as government regulations. While there are critiques to be applied to the Chicago School of urban ecology, I do generally agree that this is a simplified but accurate view of early cities. I feel however that cities have developed in the modern day past the theories put forward in this school. Paper 2 Cities and urban areas began to move from industrialised areas to post-industrial areas during the 20th Century, when manufacturing industries began to close down and were no longer the focus of these cities. The cities began to develop