Urban Development: A new Perspective

Although it has often been taken as a general definition of the city and urban culture (whence the commonsense notion that cities must fulfill commercial functions), Pirenne’s formulation was deficient because only the European medieval city and its burgher culture were taken as typical of the “true” city. Max Weber in The City (1921) provided another definition of the city, similar to Pirenne’s, when he contrasted “Occidental” with “Oriental” urbanism. According to Weber, five attributes define an urban community: it must posses (1) a fortification, (2) a market, (3) a law code and court system of its own, (4) an association of urban citizenry creating a sense of municipal corporateness, and (5) sufficient political autonomy for urban citizens to choose the city’s governors. Studying the cultural roles of cities must include not only the cultural beliefs and practices that emanate from cities but also the cultural forms that develop within the city as a result of the impact of the urban culture on it. In this way scholarship can bring forward a cross-culturally and historically valid conception of cities, their cultural forms, and the urban cultures in which they are set. As a country develops from primarily an agricultural to an industrial economy, large scale migration of rural residents to towns and cities takes place. During this process, the growth rate of urban areas is typically double of pace of overall population in crease. Some 29 per cent of the world population was living in urban areas in 1950; this figure was 43 per cent in 1990, and is projected to rise to about 50 per cent by the year 2000. In this book, an attempt has been made to discuss the Urban Development its concepts, and historical development. Thus, we hope, that it will be of immense important edition for all those concerned with discipline.