Urban geography

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The urban geography , and urban geography , is a traditional part of geography . As a geographical cross-section discipline is closely linked with other disciplines of geography, for example, the population geography , the economic geography and transport geography . There are also interdependencies with other sciences, such as sociology , local science, urban planning and spatial planning , town planning / history , folklore and architecture . That is why urban geography is understood as part of interdisciplinary urban research .

In urban geography, on the one hand, internal settlement structures and the underlying processes are examined, on the other hand, relationships between cities or towns and smaller settlements (see e.g. suburbanization ) as well as urban development and its problems. For this reason, urban geography is originally assigned to settlement geography .

Features of the city

From a certain size, cities have an internal structure , a division into sub-areas with different characteristics. This breakdown can be based on the long-term genesis (planned urban layout such as e.g. in absolutism or unplanned growth), the cultural area or, as in most cities of the industrialized countries, on the rather short-term segregation of functions after (partly also before) the Industrialization and the introduction of mass transportation.

In a geographical sense, the city is a settlement with special functional, socio-geographical ( social geography ) and physiognomic features:

  1. The city is characterized by a certain size, a high density of buildings (and thus largely artificial environmental design) and a closed shape.
  2. There is a core-edge divide in relation to, for example, the density of living and working places, rent and living costs, etc. Ä.
  3. Another characteristic is the employment structure of the urban population. The majority of the population “does not” have an agricultural activity, but rather activities in the secondary (industry and craft) or tertiary sector (trade and services) .
  4. The city is divided functionally and socially.
  5. Cities have an excess of importance compared to rural settlements , i. H. urban facilities are also used by residents of the surrounding area. This excess of importance (compare centrality ) and the shared use of urban facilities by the residents of the surrounding area result in a bundling of traffic and high market value of the city.
  6. Cities are characterized by a special population structure. Above-average proportions of one-person households and small families with only one child are typical features of (European and North American) cities.

On the basis of these characteristics, so-called city ​​models were developed by various geographers , which should give precise information about the typical structure of a city for a certain space or a certain time or show plans for a future, ideal city.

Main research directions

From the late 19th century onwards, seven research areas were established in the field of general urban geography.

Morphogenetic urban geography

From the turn of the 20th century, this oldest direction in urban geography emerged, which is also known as urban morphology . The subject of your research is on the one hand the analysis of the city structure, i.e. the external appearance of a city, as well as its development. Among other things, the ground plan and elevation design of the city as well as historical phenomena of the city's development are considered.

Functional urban geography

This approach deals with the functions of a city within a larger area as well as the functional spatial units within a city (such as residential areas, industrial and commercial areas, “city”). Functional urban geography includes, for example, settlement system research or centrality research. A well-known representative of this research direction is the German geographer Walter Christaller with his theory of central places .

Cultural genetic urban geography

The cultural-genetic urban geography finds its roots in the period between the world wars, but did not develop into a significant direction until the 1950s. This area examines the impact of cultural or historical differences on the development of a city.

Socio-geographical urban research

This area developed in the 1950s from the socio-geographical orientation of anthropogeography. The socio-geographical urban research deals with the influences of social groups and societies on the processes in urban space. It was significantly shaped by the work of the Munich School of Social Geography from the end of the 1960s, which among other things dealt with the basic functions of existence and their fulfillment within urban spaces. More recently, the study of urban lifestyles has become a new focus of socio-geographical urban research. The process of gentrification is also related to this . With regard to the functional and socio-spatial structure of (large) cities, urban geography is still based today on the research approaches of the Chicago School, which are particularly linked to Ernest W. Burgess .

In the English-speaking world, on the other hand, social geography or urban social geography deals primarily with current social problems in cities, such as poverty, ghetto formation or racial conflicts.

Quantitative urban geography

The quantitative or theoretical urban geography is characterized by a high degree of mathematization. This young part of urban research uses statistical methods (e.g. cluster and factor analyzes ) or geographic information systems to review theories and models .

Behavioral urban geography

Behavioral urban geography has been concerned with the perception and assessment of urban structures by the population since the early 1970s. The connections between perception and evaluation should also be analyzed. Studies deal, for example, with shopping and leisure behavior.

Applied urban geography

Since the 1970s, planning and practice-oriented research directions have increasingly developed within urban geography. In order to counter the problems of the city, an exchange between theoretical and practical work directions should arise. Possible fields of activity are, for example, urban renewal or the improvement of the living environment . The instruments of city ​​marketing or spatial planning are influenced by the applied urban geography.

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