Download Lecture Two - School of Geography and Environmental Studies

Urban geography
The fundamental task of the
student of urban geography is to
make sense of the ways that
towns and cities have changed
and are changing with particular
reference to the differences both
between and within urban places
(Paul Knox).
Thinking about the urban
the geographical study of urban areas - as
spaces, places, regions, landscapes and
environments
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approach to this study are usually influenced
by paradigms fashionable at any one time:
a) environmental determinism
b) regional geography - chorology
c) positivism and quantification
d) structuralism
e) behaviourism
f) postmodernism/structuralism/colonialism
Note: planning has its own paradigmatic terms
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Placing the urban
The urban within a pre-existing environment
 Sites and components of sites - zones, flows and
boundaries, scale
 Subsets of the urban - inner, middle, outer, periurban
 The urban/the rural - in which the latter is a
divide?
 The urban/the regional - in which the latter is a
context?
 The national and the international
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Before the urban?
Questions of scale,
flow and boundary
Centre Zones
Madrid
The inner
The suburbs
The fringe
The national and
international
urban: related to towns and cities;
those places that exceed a population size
and/or density threshold
theatre and spectacle or corruption of the
human?
 urbanism: a way of life associated with
residence in an urban area
 urbanization: the process of becoming urban,
including:
(a) relative and absolute growth in towns and cities
within a defined area,
(b) increasing proportion of population in urban
areas and in largest urban area,
(c) structural change such as economies of scale,
concentration and centralization and
(d) behavioural and cultural change
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Planning seeks to regulate or
control the activity of
individuals and groups in such
a way as to minimise the bad
effects which may arise, and to
promote better ‘performance’
of the physical environment in
accordance with a set of broad
aims and more specific
objectives set out in a plan
(Brian McLoughlin).
planning
 setting
goals
 making projections
 assessing implications of
fulfilling goals on basis of
projections
 acting on goals
 evaluating actions
 restating goals on basis of
evaluation
planning is ...
… the making of an orderly sequence of
actions that will lead to the achievement of
a stated goal or goals. Its main techniques
will be written statements, supplemented
as appropriate by statistical projections,
mathematical representations, quantified
evaluations, and diagrams illustrating
relationships between different parts of the
plan. It may, but need not necessarily
include, exact physical blueprints of
objects (Peter Hall).
strategic planning
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strategy - the science or art of combing
and employing the means of war in
planning; skilful management in getting
the better of an adversary
expresses ‘community’ vision for future
urban development
identifies critical issues affecting that
development
advances key strategies and actions to
give effect to the vision
strategic planning should ...
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recognize and reconcile various
environmental, social and economic
interests
provide clear statements of values,
policy, and priorities with respect to
urban development
provide direction for land release and
staging of urban development within a
5-10 year time frame
and ...
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indicate and justify priorities for urban
infrastructure within that framework
provide the basis for coordinating the
actions and activities of government
and the commitment of resources
provide the context for the
development of statutory policy
enable effective community input into
policy making
statutory planning
 structure
planning
 development plans
 development assessment
facilities and services planning
 after
structure plan and amendment of
development plan
 detailed planning and proposals for human
services and community facilities as well as
for physical infrastructure
 community planning - quality of life issues
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space
– boundable expanse in which all objects
exist
place
– a part of space distinguishable because of
being imbued with meaning and
significance
region
– a part of space defined by people
according to unifying characteristics, and
areally differentiated from other regions
because of these
landscape
– a part of space that is place, and that is
viewed or constructed primarily for its
aesthetics
environment
– boundable expanse on which life depends