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Urban sociology is the sociological study of social life and human interaction in metropolitan areas. It is a normative discipline of sociology seeking to study the structures, processes, changes and problems of an urban area and by doing so providing inputs for planning and policy making.
abandonment — accessibility — Active Living — activity centre — adaptive reuse — Administration for Children and Families — Acid Rain Program(EPA) — achievement gap in the United States — affirmative action — African American — Aid to Families with Dependent Children(AFDC) — air quality(indoor) — Air Pollution Index — air quality index — alienation — amalgamation — annexation — anomie — arcology — arson — asset-based community development — Asian American — Athens Charter — automobile — automobile dependency — autonomy
bureaucracy — birth rate — block grant — budget — bus — business cycle — business park
capitalism — capital improvement plan — carpool — carsharing — central business district — central place theory — charter school — City Beautiful movement — City of Light Development — city rhythm — civil rights — class stratification — clean air act — communal garden — Communities Directory — community development — community land trust — community of place — Community Reinvestment Act — commuting — complete streets — concentric zone model — conservation easement — Context Sensitive Solutions — context theory — Copenhagenization (bicycling) — core frame model — corporation — cost of living(U.S.) — counter urbanization — crime — criminal justice — cultural bias — culture of poverty -The Coons Effect
de facto segregation — de jure segregation — death rate — decentralization — devolution — disability — disinvestment — division of labour
economic development — economic growth — elitism — emission standard — employment — empowerment zone — enterprise zone — entertainment center — entrepôt — ethnic enclave
gang — gentrification — globalization — government — Great Depression — gridlock — growth management
habitability — highway — Hispanic Americans — historic preservation — Home Mortgage Disclosure Act — homelessness — homeowners' association — Housing Act of 1937 — Housing Act of 1949 — Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 — HOPE VI — human ecology — Department of Housing and Urban Development(H.U.D.) — hyperghettoization
immigration — inclusionary zoning — income — indoor air pollution in developing nations — industrial ecology — industrialization — inequality — infrastructure — interest group
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magnet school — methanol — middle class — migration — modernization — Moving to Opportunity — multiple nuclei model
National Ambient Air Quality Standards — neighborhood — Neo-Marxism — nuclear family
parochialism — Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act — Phase I Environmental Site Assessment — polarization — police brutality — pollution — poverty — poverty line — privatization — public transport — psychological stress — public housing — public school — public transport
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racial discrimination — racial integration — racism — rail system — recycling — regime theory — revenue sharing — rural
savings and loan crisis — scholarship — segregation — single parent — smart growth — social complexity — social disorganization theory — social housing — social solidarity — social work — social welfare provision — Socialism — solidarity — Soviet Union — steam engine — streetcar — street children — suburbanization — suburb — sun belt
taxes — technology — Times Square Red, Times Square Blue —TANF — third world
underemployment — underground economy — unemployment — Uniform Crime Report — unionization — urban decay — Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 — urban renewal — urban sprawl — urbanization
Wage — war on poverty — waste disposal — water supply — welfare — welfare reform — white flight — white collar crime — workfare
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List of U.S. metropolitan areas with large African-American populations
Flanagan, William G. (2001). Urban Sociology : Images and Structure, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-205-33532-2
Keiser, R. Lincoln. (1969). The Vice Lords: Warriors of the Streets, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, ISBN 0-03-080361-6
Shannon, Thomas R. (2001). Urban Problems in Sociological Perspective, Waveland Press Inc, ISBN 1-57766-195-8
Spradley, James P. (1999). You Owe Yourself a Drunk: An Ethnography of Urban Nomad, Waveland Press Inc, ISBN 1-57766-085-4
Vargas, Joao H. Costa. (2006). Catching Hell in the City of Angels: Life And Meanings of Blackness in South Central Los Angeles, University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 0-8166-4169-2
Williams, Terry. (1992). Crackhouse: Notes from the End of the Line, Penguin Group(USA), ISBN 0-14-023251-6
Urbanization is the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It can also mean population growth in urban areas instead of rural ones. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas.
In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a single use, they may combine several compatible activities by use, or in the case of form-based zoning, the differing regulations may govern the density, size and shape of allowed buildings whatever their use. The planning rules for each zone determine whether planning permission for a given development may be granted. Zoning may specify a variety of outright and conditional uses of land. It may indicate the size and dimensions of lots that land may be subdivided into, or the form and scale of buildings. These guidelines are set in order to guide urban growth and development.
A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other areas of the city. Versions of such restricted areas have been found across the world, each with their own names, classifications, and groupings of people.
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inhabited by impoverished people. Although slums are usually located in urban areas, in some countries they can be located in suburban areas where housing quality is low and living conditions are poor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, law enforcement, and other basic services. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings which, because of poor-quality construction or lack of basic maintenance, have deteriorated.
Urban sociology is the sociological study of cities and urban life. One of the field’s oldest sub-disciplines, urban sociology studies and examines the social, historical, political, cultural, economic, and environmental forces that have shaped urban environments. Like most areas of sociology, urban sociologists use statistical analysis, observation, archival research, census data, social theory, interviews, and other methods to study a range of topics, including poverty, racial residential segregation, economic development, migration and demographic trends, gentrification, homelessness, blight and crime, urban decline, and neighborhood changes and revitalization. Urban sociological analysis provides critical insights that shape and guide urban planning and policy-making.
Urban geography is the subdiscipline of geography that derives from a study of cities and urban processes. Urban geographers and urbanists examine various aspects of urban life and the built environment. Scholars, activists, and the public have participated in, studied, and critiqued flows of economic and natural resources, human and non-human bodies, patterns of development and infrastructure, political and institutional activities, governance, decay and renewal, and notions of socio-spatial inclusions, exclusions, and everyday life. Urban geography includes different other fields in geography such as the physical, social, and economic aspects of urban geography. The physical geography of urban environments is essential to understand why a town is placed in a specific area, and how the conditions in the environment play an important role with regards to whether or not the city successfully develops. Social geography examines societal and cultural values, diversity, and other conditions that relate to people in the cities. Economic geography is important to examine the economic and job flow within the urban population. These various aspects involved in studying urban geography are necessary to better understand the layout and planning involved in the development of urban environments worldwide.
The Chicago school refers to a school of thought in sociology and criminology originating at the University of Chicago whose work was influential in the early 20th century.
Land use planning or Land-use regulation is the process of regulating the use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient use of resources. More specifically, the goals of modern land use planning often include environmental conservation, restraint of urban sprawl, minimization of transport costs, prevention of land use conflicts, and a reduction in exposure to pollutants. In the pursuit of these goals, planners assume that regulating the use of land will change the patterns of human behavior, and that these changes are beneficial. The first assumption, that regulating land use changes the patterns of human behavior is widely accepted. However, the second assumption - that these changes are beneficial - is contested, and depends on the location and regulations being discussed.
Urban sprawl is defined as "the spreading of urban developments on undeveloped land near a more or less densely populated city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growth in many urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for very dense urban planning. Sometimes the urban areas described as the most "sprawling" are the most densely populated. In addition to describing a special form of urbanization, the term also relates to the social and environmental consequences associated with this development. In modern times some suburban areas described as "sprawl" have less detached housing and higher density than the nearby core city. Medieval suburbs suffered from the loss of protection of city walls, before the advent of industrial warfare. Modern disadvantages and costs include increased travel time, transport costs, pollution, and destruction of the countryside. The revenue for building and maintaining urban infrastructure in these areas are gained mostly through property and sales taxes. Most jobs in the US are now located in suburbs generating much of the revenue, although a lack of growth will require higher tax rates.
The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. This group is usually considered cut off from the rest of the society.
This is an index of sociology articles. For a shorter list, see List of basic sociology topics.
Racial steering refers to the practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race. The term is used in the context of de facto residential segregation in the United States, and is often divided into two broad classes of conduct:
Zoning is a law that divides a jurisdiction's land into districts, or zones, and limits how land in each district can be used. In the United States, zoning includes various land use laws enforced through the police power rights of state governments and local governments to exercise authority over privately owned real property.
Residential segregation is the physical separation of two or more groups into different neighborhoods—a form of segregation that "sorts population groups into various neighborhood contexts and shapes the living environment at the neighborhood level". While it has traditionally been associated with racial segregation, it generally refers to the separation of populations based on some criteria.
In the United States, housing segregation is the practice of denying African Americans and other minority groups equal access to housing through the process of misinformation, denial of realty and financing services, and racial steering. Housing policy in the United States has influenced housing segregation trends throughout history. Key legislation include the National Housing Act of 1934, the G.I. Bill, and the Fair Housing Act. Factors such as socioeconomic status, spatial assimilation, and immigration contribute to perpetuating housing segregation. The effects of housing segregation include relocation, unequal living standards, and poverty. However, there have been initiatives to combat housing segregation, such as the Section 8 housing program.
Exclusionary zoning is the use of zoning ordinances to exclude certain types of land uses from a given community, especially to regulate racial and economic diversity. In the United States, exclusionary zoning ordinances are standard in almost all communities. Exclusionary zoning was introduced in the early 1900s, typically to prevent racial and ethnic minorities from moving into middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. Municipalities use zoning to limit the supply of available housing units, such as by prohibiting multi-family residential dwellings or setting minimum lot size requirements. These ordinances raise costs, making it less likely that lower-income groups will move in. Development fees for variance, a building permit, a certificate of occupancy, a filing (legal) cost, special permits and planned-unit development applications for new housing also raise prices to levels inaccessible for lower income people.
Housing discrimination in the United States refers to the historical and current barriers, policies, and biases that prevent equitable access to housing. Housing discrimination became more pronounced after the abolition of slavery in 1865, typically as part of Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. The federal government didn't begin to take action against these laws until 1917, when the Supreme Court struck down ordinances prohibiting African-Americans from occupying or owning buildings in majority-white neighborhoods in Buchanan v. Warley. However, the federal government as well as local governments continued to be directly responsible for housing discrimination through redlining and race-restricted covenants until the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Technical aspects of urban planning involve the technical processes, considerations and features that are involved in planning for land use, urban design, natural resources, transportation, and infrastructure.
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning in specific contexts, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks, and their accessibility. Traditionally, urban planning followed a top-down approach in master planning the physical layout of human settlements. The primary concern was the public welfare, which included considerations of efficiency, sanitation, protection and use of the environment, as well as effects of the master plans on the social and economic activities. Over time, urban planning has adopted a focus on the social and environmental bottom lines that focus on planning as a tool to improve the health and well-being of people, maintaining sustainability standards. Similarly, in the early 21st century, Jane Jacobs's writings on legal and political perspectives to emphasize the interests of residents, businesses and communities effectively influenced urban planners to take into broader consideration of resident experiences and needs while planning.
Mexico City has massively been expanding its urban fabric and population density, becoming the sixth largest city in the world. A combination of neoliberal policies, complex geographic location, socio-economic disparities and inefficient strategies have influenced the process of gentrification en la city. The combination of numerous megaprojects, inefficient city-planning strategies, and remote work after the COVID-19 pandemic have led to dysfunctions in circulation, community allocation and equal access to resources. In consequence, middle and low-income communities have been directly or indirectly alienated and challenged to adapt to a complex and evolving urban environment, and the culture erasure that comes with the process of gentrification.