Based on urbanization and the growth of cities, discuss the functionalist perspective as it relates to the ecological models

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Functionalists, in studying the growth of cities, emphasize the life cycle of

urban growth. Sociologist Robert Park based his analysis of the city on

human ecology—the study of the relationship between people and their

physical environment. Economic competition produces certain

regularities in land-use patterns and population distributions. Sociologist

Ernest Burgess developed the concentric zone model—a description of

the process of urban growth that views the city as a series of circular

areas or zones, each characterized by a different type of land use that

developed from a central core. Two important ecological processes are

involved:

(1) Invasion is the process by which a new category of people or type of land use arrives in

an area previously occupied by another group or type of land use.

(2) Succession is the process by which a new category of people or type of land use

gradually predominates in an area formerly dominated by another group or activity.

Gentrification is the process by which members of the middle and upper-middle classes,

especially whites, move into the central-city area and renovate existing properties. The

concentric zone model demonstrates how economic and political forces play an important

part in the location of groups and activities, and it shows how a large urban area can have

internal differentiation. Urban ecologist Homer Hoyt's sector model emphasizes the

significance of terrain and the importance of transportation routes in the layout of cities.

According to Hoyt, residence of a particular type and value tend to grow outward from the

center of the city in wedge-shaped sectors, with the more-expensive residential

neighborhoods located along the higher ground near lakes and rivers or along certain

streets that stretch in one direction or another from the downtown area.

According to the multiple nuclei model developed by urban ecologists Chauncey Harris and

Edward Ullman, cities do not have one center from which all growth radiates, but rather have

numerous centers of development based on specific urban needs or activities. As cities

began to grow rapidly, they annexed formerly outlying and independent townships that had

been communities in their own right. According to urban ecologist Amos Hawley, urban

areas are complex and expanding social systems in which growth patterns are based on

advances in transportation and communication. Social area analysis examines urban

populations in terms of economic status, family status, and ethnic classification.