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CHAPTER 21
Population, Urbanization and the Environment
Chapter Outline
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People, Resources, and
Urban Growth
The Urban Landscape
Urban Communities
Cities and Social
Change
Population Growth
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The rate of population growth increased
dramatically in the 20th century, giving rise to
the often-used term population explosion.
The world’s population is currently estimated
at 6.8 billion.
According to recent United Nations forecasts,
it is likely to increase to about 8.8 billion by
2025.
Population Growth and Doubling
Time
Country
Population
(millions)
Growth
Rate
Doubling
Time
India
1,002.1
1.8
39
China
1,264.5
0.9
79
Brazil
170.1
1.5
45
Bangladesh
128.1
1.8
38
Nigeria
123.3
2.8
24
Population Growth and Doubling
Time
Country
Population
(millions)
Growth
Rate
Doubling
Time
Pakistan
150.6
2.8
25
Indonesia
212.2
1.6
44
Russia
145.2
-0.6
-
Mexico
99.6
20
36
United States
275.6
0.6
120
Thomas Malthus
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Attempted to show that population size
normally increases more rapidly than available
food supplies.
The resulting disease, poverty, famine, war,
and mass migrations act as natural checks on
population growth.
Demographic Transition
Demographic Transition Progresses through
Three Stages:
 A stage of high birthrates and death rates (the
high growth potential stage).
 A stage of declining death rates (the
transitional growth stage).
 A stage of declining birthrates (the stage of
incipient decline).
The Demographic Transition:
Sweden, 1691–1963
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The peaks in birth and
death rates in the early
1800s were a result of
social unrest and war.
The drop in deaths and
simultaneous rise in
births in the early 1700s
were a result of peace,
good crops, and the
absence of plagues.
Demographic Transition and
Development
Stage
High Growth Potential
Type of society
Most types of preindustrial societies.
Development
Features
High death rates due to infant mortality
and low life expectancy; high rates of
fertility; relatively low rates of increase.
Demographic Transition and
Development
Stage
Transitional Growth
Type of society
Early stages of development where
basic public health measures are
being introduced.
Development
Features
Decreasing mortality rates; continuing
high rates of fertility. High rates of
female illiteracy and limited protection
of women’s rights.
Demographic Transition and
Development
Stage
Incipient Decline
Type of society
Advanced stages of development
where people delay marriage and are
likely to use birth control.
Development
Features
Decreasing mortality and fertility rates,
low or negative rates of increase. High
rates of female literacy and medical
care for women.
Life Expectancy In Global Context
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Life expectancy is defined as the number of years one
can expect to live.
Societies with advanced health care and well developed
public health systems have average life expectancies in
the 70’s.
Societies in the earlier stages of industrialization and
urbanization have lower average life expectancies.
Impoverished societies have life expectancies that are
extremely low and may be declining, due to high rates of
infant mortality.
Crude Birth and Death Rates:
Singapore, 1930–1988
Infant Mortality and Life
Expectancy, 2006
Country
Infant Mortality
Life
Expectancy
Angola
185.4
38.6
Australia
4.6
80.5
Canada
4.7
80.2
China
23.1
72.6
India
54.6
64.7
Kenya
59.3
48.9
Infant Mortality and Life
Expectancy, 2006
Country
Infant
Mortality
Life
Expectancy
Mexico
20.3
75.4
Russia
15.1
67.1
South Africa
60.7
42.7
Sweden
2.8
80.5
United States
6.4
77.8
Zimbabwe
51.7
39.3
Environmental Impact of Population
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The U.S., with less than 5% of the earth’s
population, consumes more than 20% of
energy resources.
We put more than our share of pollutants and
earth-warming gases into the atmosphere.
Much of this is related to automobiles: there
are about 132 million private autos on the
road, or 488 per 1,000 people.
Increase in Motor Vehicles, 1970–2010
World Capture Fisheries
Production
Urban Revolution
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In 1800, only 3% of the world’s people lived in
cities with populations of over 5,000.
By 1970, one-third of the world’s population
lived in cities.
Populations of the World’s
Largest Urbanized Areas
Thousands of Inhabitants
Urbanized Area
1950
1975
2000
Mexico City
3,050
11,610
25,820
Tokyo–Yokohama
6,736
17,668
24,172
São Paulo
2,760
10,290
23,970
Calcutta
4,520
8,250
16,530
Bombay
2,950
7,170
16,000
Urban Planning
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Urban sociologists look
at the relationship
between planned and
unplanned aspects of
urban growth and the
social groups that
represent each aspect.
The poor and the
immigrants represent
unplanned additions to
the city; the rich guide
urban planning to suit
their interests.
Models of Growth, Settlement and
Land Use Within Cities
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The Concentric-zone model claims
expansion occurs through “Invasions” of
successive zones surrounding the center of
the city.
Satellite cities - cities that grow outside major
cities.
Strip development model - the incorporation
of smaller communities and towns into a larger
metropolitan area.
The Concentric-Zone Model
Applied to Chicago
Strip Development and Sprawl
The Los Angeles–Anaheim–Riverside
Megalopolis
Urban Life
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Ferdinand Tönnies and Émile Durkheim believed urban
life produces impersonal social relationships.
Georg Simmel concluded that city dwellers adapt to the
“psychic overload” created by urban stimuli by becoming
emotionally distant.
According to Louis Wirth, the primary psychological
effect of urban life is a weakening of the individual’s
bonds to other people.
High-Poverty Tracts by Location
High-Poverty Tracts by Race and
Ethnicity
Earthquakes of Magnitude 4.0 or
Greater, 1960–1989
Environmental Racism
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Pollution of the earth
and water beneath
these houses, caused
by the criminal dumping
of toxic wastes, forced
residents to abandon
their homes.
Sociologist Kai Erikson
identified such disasters
as a “new species of
trouble” with profound
consequences.
QUICK QUIZ
1. According to Malthus, our species is destined
to have serious problems (i.e., famine, war, and
disease) because
a.
b.
c.
d.
of mans' inhumanity to man.
human reproduction will invariably outstrip food
production.
people are by nature only concerned about
themselves and their own kind.
humans are only imperfect reproductions of God,
they do not embody righteousness.
Answer: b

According to Malthus, our species is destined
to have serious problems (i.e., famine, war,
and disease) because human reproduction
will invariably outstrip food production.
2. The world has experienced rapid population
growth over the past century because
a.
b.
c.
d.
death rates have fallen sharply.
birth rates have sharply increased.
societies have experienced industrialization and
urbanization.
the demographic transition has been completed in
virtually all nations.
Answer: a
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The world has experienced rapid population
growth over the past century because death
rates have fallen sharply.
3. According to demographic transition theory,
a. all nations have experienced completion of
the transition.
b. industrialization has virtually nothing to do
with changing attitudes toward childbearing.
c. the most developed nations of the world have
been the least likely to complete the
transition.
d. factors related to social and economic
development are responsible for the
sequence of mortality decline and then fertility
decline.
Answer: d

According to demographic transition theory,
factors related to social and economic
development are responsible for the
sequence of mortality decline and then
fertility decline.
4. Which is false relative to the "concentriczone model" of Park and Burgess?
a.
b.
c.
d.
It was based on the concept of "natural area."
The outer zones are largely residential, rather
than commercial, in nature.
With upward social mobility, people tend to
move toward the center of cities.
Cities are structurally dynamic as each zone
tends to expand outward over time.
Answer: c
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The following is false relative to the
"concentric-zone model" of Park and
Burgess:
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With upward social mobility, people tend to
move toward the center of cities.