Showing papers on "Urbanism published in 1976"

An Empirical Test of Size as a Measure of Urbanism

Abstract: Policy makers and academics have struggled with a definition of urbanism ever since the ancient philosophers pondered the question &dquo;What is a city?&dquo; Even then, this was not merely an academic question because policy considerations were clearly evident in the formulation of criteria by which to choose the ideal city size. Plato regarded 5,000 as the desirable city size, since &dquo;this was the number of people who could hear the voice of a single orator and so participate in the active political life of his day&dquo; (Mumford, 1966: 487). Aristotle too feared that citizens would lack intimate knowledge of their leaders in a large state. Today, modern scholars are not only concerned with the empirical consequences of urbanism, but are also still aware of the effects of population growth on the community’s &dquo;quality of life&dquo; (Wilcox, 1975). Louis Wirth (1938: 4), in his seminal essay on urbanism, cautioned against equating city size with urbanism:

Social Transition in Kendal and Westmorland, c. 1760–1860

Abstract: ALTHOUGH THE STUDY of urban history is now well established in Britain, the attention of students of urbanism has, on the whole, been directed to the great towns and cities. The country town and its hinterland have been neglected as subjects contributing to the investigation of the deeper complexities of social change and evolution.! Even a cursory survey will show that important sections of the newer middle-class groups subsisted and wielded power in small towns, or, after business success and the accumulation of wealth, moved out to the countryside or to rural suburbs in pursuit of more traditional ways of life and of landed and gentry status. This evolution, and the migrations were associated with another crucially important development, whereby local moneyed elites had to come to terms with the increasing complexities, imperatives and tensions of social leadership, control and local government. It is fairly clear that this experience both accompanied and assisted the development of political democracy in England. The present article is less a piece of local history per se, therefore, than a thematic case-study, whereby the formation of Westmorland middle-class leadership and control is examined in some illustrative, though far from exhaustive, detail. It grew out of the work of a social history research team assembled at the University of Lancaster,2 and it may be thought to demonstrate that a concerted attack on such a theme at several levels can yield valuable results. .

Urbanism and Its Expression in the African City

Abstract: In European cities there is a clear-cut separation between center and suburbs. During the Middle Ages mainly the dictates of military strategy brought about the crowding of the population inside a belt of ramparts. Periodically this corset of walls proved too narrow, and consequently suburbs grew up along the roads leading from the city. These suburbs were in turn incorporated into the city, to be protected by a new enclosure, causing the tolder walls to become circular avenues. Paris is a classic example; with its three successive lines of avenues surrounding concentric areas.

Las casas and the golden cities

Abstract: In the Apologetica Historia Sumaria written around 1560, Bartolom6 de Las Casas describes the region of northern Sonora as having large towns, a sophisticated social, political, and religious organization and an advanced technology. It is suggested here that Las Casas' information (most probably taken at least in part from either a lost account or from verbal information of Marcos de Niza) is substantially correct, and incipient urbanism, consider