The Dictionary of Human Geography

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A central theme of urban social movements

is activism against or seeking a response from

the state, which is held responsible for uneven

provision of public services (Fincher, 1987).

Castells (1983) identified urban social move-

ments with very different grievances, directed

at or limited by their focus on the state.

Claims relating to collective consumption

were exemplified by activism in France over

provision of housing (Castells, 1983). Other

urban social movements incorporated claims

such as those around identity politics.

Activists in San Francisco, for example,

sought legitimation and social rights requiring

state action. Castells (1983, p. 171) found

these latter movements to be limited in their

membership and scope, because of their

adoption of social categories (identities) that

defined and divided groups according to state

administrative frameworks. Nonetheless, urban

social movements in general could achieve

some success, which may have contributed

to their institutionalization, and a decline of

the movements themselves (Castells, 1983;

Fincher, 1987).

More recent scholarship has tended to

examine social movements as a whole, with

urban social movements viewed simply as ter-

ritorial manifestations of broader identity,

classandsocial justiceconflicts (McAdam,

Tarrow and Tilly, 2001). Activists inthird

world cities continue to seek redress for

inequalities in urban service delivery, illustrat-

ing the salience of concerns oriented to collect-

ive consumption (Mitlin and Satterthwaite,

2004). Many challenges to state service

provision, however, are occurring on a multi-

national, multi-scalelevel, as part of broader

anti-globalizationefforts. dgm

Suggested reading

Mitlin and Satterthwaite (2004); Pickvance

(2003).

urban system A set of interlinked cities and

towns set within a specific territory (e.g. the

nation or the globe). The concept owes its

origins tocentral place theoryandsystems

analysis approaches to economic functions,

and functionaldivisions of labour, within

national territories (Berry, 1964). While the

evolution and contemporary characteristics

of national urban systems remains a focus

of research, a great deal of urban systems-

oriented scholarship now focuses on the global

scale. Contemporaryglobal citiesorworld

citiesresearch seeks to understand how a

networkof cities, stretched unevenly across

the world, organizes the spaces of the global

economy (Taylor, 2004). em

Suggested reading

Taylor (2003).

urban village A concept developed by

Gans (1962) in his ethnography of an

Italian immigrantneighbourhoodin central

Boston. He identified elements of a coherent

local, or ‘village-like’, social world – including

ethnicity, kinship, friendship and values –

that reflected and bolstered residents’ identity

and helped maintain it over time. Spatially,

this social world is located in a clearly defined

urban neighbourhood where much of the

population has long-standing ties – an urban

village. This argument was set against the

understanding, within urban ecology,of

urbanism as leading to individuals’ with-

drawal from intimate social interactions. em

Suggested reading

Gans (1962).

urbanism Three common definitions for

this highly contested term can be dis-

tinguished:

(1) The typical way of life of people who live in a

city or town. In this first sense, the con-

cept is usually traced back to Louis Wirth

(1938), achicago schoolsociologist

who witnessed and describedurbaniza-

tionin Chicago in the early twentieth

century as a process of change to the

moral order and the decline ofcommu-

nity. The division of labour and

sociocultural and socio-economic diver-

sification lead to both fragmentation of

individuals’ lives in cities and to the nor-

mal expectation of living in the proximity

of ‘unknown others’. Using the criteria of

size, density and heterogeneity, Wirth

claimed the specificity of ‘urbanism as a

way of life’. Often, this quality of urban-

ism is confused with the notion of urban-

ity, which ascribes characteristics such as

sophistication, refinement and courtesy

to individuals or communities.

(2) The study of life in cities and towns. In this

second sense, urbanism combines a sci-

entific method of urban enquiry and an

often linked practice of socio-spatial en-

gineering (planning) typical of complex

modern societies.

(3) Urbanism now often refers to the way people

live more generally. Magnusson (2005) is

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_U Final Proof page 791 31.3.2009 9:34pm

URBANISM