CHAPTER 20: COMMUNITIES

We've been talking about "societies,"  which are A FAIRLY LARGE
NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE SAME TERRITORY, ARE RELATIVELY
INDEPENDENT OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE THEIR AREA,  AND PARTICIPATE IN A
COMMON CULTURE.  

Examples: The US, NIU, Dekalb, prisons (societies of citizens, students, 
residents, prisoners). COMMUNITY is a subcategory of societies..

a Community is: A SPATIAL OR TERRITORIAL  UNIT OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN 
WHICH PEOPLE HAVE A SENSE OF IDENTITY AND A FEELING OF BELONGING.

 "Societies" are generally distinguished  by abstract stuff and
  are broadly defined.  Communities are  more precise groups of
  people,  and we normally associate them with sharing a physical
 space where we live and co-exist together in daily life.   

Common examples include cities, towns,  or villages. 
Communities are places where we go about our day-to-day lives.

Early communities were SUBSTENCE-oriented.  That is, people did
the basic stuff for survival (hunting, shelter, child-rearing).

As life became more complex, so did cities.

DIVISION OF LABOR / PERMANENCE / CHANGE

As people became less dependent on nature and learned to cultivate herds 
and crops, communities became more perman ent. Beginning about 10,000 BC,  
permanent  settlements free f rom dependence on crop cultivation emerged, 
but they were not actually cities.  

PREINDUSTRIAL CITIES WERE SMALL. WHY?

   1. Relied on animal power as source of enery for economic production, 
      which limited ability to alter the environment    

   2. Modest levels of surplas kept population down (50-90 farmers
      required to support a SINGLE city resident

   3. Problems intransportation and food storage

   4. Hardships of migration to city...(long time to get there and
      not much to do once there)

   5. Dangers of cities (health, fire, etc)

Industrial cities--as manufacturing  grew,  centralization increased.  
With this, came secondary occupations--traders, cart and ship builders, 
artists, etc---cities could support more because of tech changes 
(food storage, plow, etc)

How did cities grow?? Various theories:

   1. Concentric zone theory (chicago school view)

   2.  Sector theory:  Build along transportation routes and grew
       outward---Concen. zone theory didn't really address this 
       Cities developed outward,   but not "concentrically," but rather 
       in "zones" of industry, housing, etc....

   3. Multiple-Nuclei theory: Not a central focal point from which
     growth radiates,  but multiple points (see chrt pp 507
     for graphic description).

Problems of contemporary cities:

    1. Unequal development 
    2. Continual need to replace infrastructure 
    3.  Over population (density) 4.  Health and care of population 
    5. "social disorganization" 
    6.  Congestion/need for more space (traffic, administration) 
    7. Urban/suburban and urban/rural split  
    8.  Increasing difficulty in  mediating competing groups

Are there solutions??

   1. Better planning 
   2.  Recogition of infrastructure needs (eg, Chicago) 
   3.  Recognition of interdependancy between cities and environment
       (ecology, non-cities, etc)

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