A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE URBAN COMMUNITY
The task of compiling a bibliography on the city which is to be of use
to the sociologist involves many difficulties. The materials are
scattered over many fields of investigation ranging all the way from the
various branches of the natural and social sciences to the practical
arts and crafts. Much of the material is highly technical and abstract,
while the rest is popular and full of human interest. If one attempts to
survey the whole field he is likely to be led into tempting bypaths
which lead far afield and in the end arrive nowhere. Moreover, the
bibliographer has neither chart nor compass to guide him in his search,
for the sociologist himself is not yet certain of the meaning of the
concept “city” and of the relationship of his science to the phenomenon.
Specialization has gone so far that no one can hope to become an expert
in more than one field in a lifetime. The sanitary engineer, interested
in urban sanitation, is mainly concerned with drainage systems, pumps,
sewer pipes, and incinerators; but the accountant, the political
scientist, and the sociologist are not primarily interested in these
matters. At first glance the sociologist might be tempted to pass over
such material as lying outside his province, while he would be less
likely to pass over materials relating to parks, playgrounds, schools,
infant mortality, city-planning, and non-voting, because these
institutions and processes have traditionally held the sociologist’s
interest. And yet it is within the realm of possibility that such a
question as that of the type of sewer pipe that is to be employed in a
city drainage system may become one with which the sociologist is as
legitimately concerned as the question of city-planning or juvenile
delinquency.
The problem of deciding what is pertinent and what is extraneous is,
then, obviously an important one. While the sociologist may be intensely
interested in a subject matter pertaining to another science or craft,
he has his own distinctive point of view, methodology, and objective,
and since he cannot be an expert engineer, city manager, and sociologist
all at the same time, he must accept the data of these other specialists
when they happen to form the subject matter of his investigation. The
sociologist is no more a housing specialist or a zoning specialist or a
social case worker in a metropolitan social agency than he is an urban
engineer or health officer, but he may have an important contribution to
make to all of these activities, and may in turn acquire from these
technicians a body of materials which shed light on his own problems and
yield to sociological analysis. What is to be included or excluded from
a sociological bibliography of the city depends upon the sociological
definition of the city.
Although the literature on the city extends as far back as the city
itself, the subject is now being studied with renewed interest and with
a new point of view. If we were compiling a complete bibliography we
would most likely begin with the classical discussion of Socrates in the
second book of Plato’s _Republic_ and follow the increasingly complex
and scattered writings up to the present day, when we can scarcely find
a science that does not have something to contribute to the subject. But
this is not the aim of this bibliography. The attempt is here made to
note just that part of the literature which has something to offer to
the sociologist in the way of source material, point of view, method,
and interpretation. A great deal, no doubt, has been included which is
of little value. At the same time much has been necessarily omitted
which is important. Some effort was made to avoid excessive duplication,
but this attempt has not been wholly successful. The list of books and
articles includes many works which were inaccessible at the time the
bibliography was compiled, and whose contents could therefore not be
examined. They are included because either the titles were suggestive or
else the reputation of the authors merited attention.
The contribution which a bibliography is able to make to the study of
any subject lies probably as much in the viewpoint it incorporates and
the method of presentation it uses as in the references it presents. The
scheme of classification here employed may lay claim to offering a
rather new approach to the study of the city. It will probably have to
be modified as new material is discovered and as the sociologists
themselves continue to make their own distinctive contributions. It
ought to offer an index to the aspects of the city that promise most in
the way of results from research. At the same time it may be of
assistance in organizing and funding the rapidly increasing body of
knowledge concerning the sociology of the city.
A TENTATIVE SCHEME FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE LITERATURE OF THE
SOCIOLOGY OF THE CITY[74]
I. The City Defined
1. Geographically: by site, situation, topography, density
2. Historically: by political status, title, law
3. Statistically: by census
4. As an economic unit
5. Sociologically
II. The Natural History of the City
1. Ancient cities: Asia, Egypt, Greece, Rome
2. The medieval city
3. The modern city
III. Types of Cities
1. Historical types
2. Location types: sea coast, inland, river, lake
3. Site types: plain, valley, mountain, hill, harbor, island
4. Functional types: capital, railroad, port, commercial,
industrial, resort, cultural
5. The town, the city, and the metropolis
6. Structural types: the natural city and the planned city
IV. The City and Its Hinterland
1. The trade area
2. The commuting area: the metropolitan area
3. The administrative city
4. The city and its satellites
5. The city and its cultural periphery
6. The city and world economy
V. The Ecological Organization of the City
1. Natural areas
2. The neighborhood
3. The local community
4. Zones and zoning
5. The city plan
VI. The City as a Physical Mechanism
1. Public utilities: water, gas, electricity
2. Means of communication: telephone, mails, telegraph, street-car,
busses, automobile
3. Streets and sewers
4. Public safety and welfare: fire, police, health departments,
social agencies
5. Schools, theaters, museums, parks, churches, settlements
6. Recreation
7. City government: the city manager, the boss
8. Food supply, stores (department and chain stores)
9. Steel construction: the skyscraper
10. Housing and land values
VII. The Growth of the City
1. Expansion
2. Allocation and distribution of population: “city-building”
3. Population statistics: natural growth and migration
4. Mobility and metabolism in city life
5. Social organization and disorganization and city growth
VIII. Eugenics of the City
1. Birth, death, and marriage rates: the span of life
2. Sex and age groups
3. Fecundity
IX. Human Nature and City Life
1. The division of labor: professions and specialization of
occupations
2. The mentality of city life
3. Communication: contacts, public opinion, morale, _ésprit de
corps_
4. City types
X. The City and the Country
1. Conflicts of interest
2. Comparison of social organization and social processes
3. Differences in personality types
XI. The Study of the City
1. Systematic studies of cities
2. The technique of the community survey
3. Periodicals on the city
I. THE CITY DEFINED
Differences in standpoint and method in the various sciences show
graphically in the definitions that each formulates of the same object.
This is strikingly illustrated by a comparison of the definitions held
by various scientific groups of the phenomenon of the city.
1. The city has been regarded by geographers as an integral part of the
landscape. From this standpoint the city is an elevation, rising from
the ground like a mountain. Such observations as changes in wind
velocity and atmospheric conditions produced by the city regarded as an
obstruction of the landscape have been noted. Human geography has lately
come to regard the city as the most significant human transformation of
the natural environment, and as part of the general product arising out
of man’s relation with the natural environment. Urban geography has
recently been gaining ground as a phase of regional geography. The
location, physical structure, size, density, and economic function of
cities are the chief factors emphasized. A substantial literature has
grown up which has a direct bearing on the Sociological study of the
city.
Aurousseau, M. “Recent Contributions to Urban Geography,” _Geog.
Rev._, XIV (July, 1924), 444–55.
A concise statement of the geographical approach to the city, with a
bibliography of the most authoritative and recent literature. Points
out the recency of the study of urban geography and the difficulties
involved in the methods. (II, 3; III.)
Barrows, Harlan H. “Geography as Human Ecology,” _Annals of the
Association of American Geographers_, Vol. XIII (March, 1923), No.
1.
While not specifically concerned with the city, defines the
viewpoint and method of the geographer.
Blanchard, Raoul. “Une méthode de géographie urbaine,” _La Vie
Urbaine_, IV (1922) 301–19.
An exposition of the principles and methods of urban geography by
one of the leading authorities. (III, 2, 3, 4, 6.)
Chisholm, G. G. “Generalizations in Geography, Especially in Human
Geography,” _Scott. Geog. Mag._, XXXII (1916), 507–19. (III, 2, 3,
4.)
Hassert, Kurt. _Die Städte geographisch betrachtet_ (Leipzig, 1907).
One of the early outlines of urban geography. (III, 2, 3, 4, 6.)
——. “Über Aufgaben der Städtekunde,” _Petermann’s Mitteilungen_, LVI
(Part II, 1910), 289–94. (III.)
Jefferson, M. “Anthropography of Some Great Cities: A Study in
Distribution of Population.” _Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc._, XLI (1909),
537–66.
Argues the need for a geographical definition of the city and
suggests one based on density of population. (I, 3, 4; III; VII, 2.)
Schrader, F. “The Growth of the Industrial City,” _Scott. Geog. Mag._,
XXXIII (1917), 348–52.
An extensive review of an article by Professor Schrader printed in
_Annales de Géographie_, January, 1917. A statement of the forces
responsible for the emergence of the geographical entity “the city,”
especially of the industrial city. (I, 4; III, 2, 3, 4; IV, 1, 6; V,
5; VII, 1.)
Smith, J. Russell. “The Elements of Geography and the Geographic
Unit,” _School and Society_, Vol. XVII, No. 441. (III, 2, 3, 4.)
2. The rise of the city introduced an entirely novel element into the
historical process. As a result we find the historians among the first
to study this phenomenon of human aggregation which culminated in the
city. The historian is mainly interested in tracing the development of
this new form of social life from the standpoint of structure and formal
organization. The origin of the city has been traced, the ancient cities
have been described, the Greek city-state, Rome, the rise of the
medieval city, and its transformation into the modern city have found an
important place in historical literature. The earlier studies are mainly
political in nature. Only recently have historians devoted themselves to
describing the new modes of life to which the city gave rise, and the
interrelations between city and country. The city has been regarded
chiefly as a political unit. The name “city” was given to a settlement
because it had achieved a certain degree of political autonomy from the
central government, or as an honorary title conferred for service
rendered to a superior political entity, or, finally, as a result of
incorporation or legal enactment.
Bücher, Karl. “Die Grossstädte in Gegenwart und Vergangenheit,” in the
volume, _Die Grossstadt_, edited by Th. Petermann, Dresden, 1903.
(I, 4; II; III; IV.)
Cunningham, William. _Western Civilization_ (Cambridge, 1898–1900).
Has many references to the changing historical conceptions of the
city. (I, 4; II. 2, 3.)
_The Encyclopedia Americana_, 1918 edition, Vol. VI, article, “City.”
(II; IV, 3.)
_The Encyclopedia Brittanica_, 1911 edition, article, “City.” (II; IV,
3.)
Schäfer, D. “Die politische und militärische Bedeutung der
Grossstädte,” in the volume _Die Grossstadt_, edited by Th.
Petermann, Dresden, 1903.
A summary of the city as a political unit, together with its
function from the military standpoint. (II; III, 1, 2, 3, 4; IV, 5.)
3. The statisticians have at various times been forced to define a city
because census-taking and interpreting presupposes the existence of
definite statistical units. The principal statistical methods of
defining the city are: (1) by extent of the area of settlement, and (2)
by number of inhabitants. In the history of the United States Census the
city has been variously defined as an incorporated community of 8,000
inhabitants or more, then of 4,000, and at the present time of 2,500
inhabitants.
Blankenburg, R. “What Is a City?” _Independent_, XXCV (January 17,
1916), 84–85.
Meuriot, P. M. G. “Du criterium adopté pour la définition de la
population urbaine,” _Soc. de Statist. de Paris_, LV (October,
1914), 418–30.
Reuter, E. B. _Population Problems_ (Philadelphia and London, 1924).
Shows the changing statistical definitions of the city adopted at
various times by the United States Census. Contains a great deal of
other material relating to urban population. (VII, 2, 3; VIII, 1,
2.)
4. The economists have been interested in tracing the development of the
city as an economic unit. The city, from this standpoint, may be
regarded as typical of a certain stage in economic development. The rise
of the city is intimately associated with the transition from handicraft
to machine industry, the division of labor, the market, and exchange.
Besides the great number of economic histories which trace the general
movement toward urban economy there are many monographs of special
cities whose economic history has been studied, and some instances of
present-day developments in metropolitan economy.
Below, George von. “Die Entstehung des modernen Kapitalismus und die
Hauptstädte,” _Schmollers Jahrbuch_, XLIII (1919), 811–28. (III,
4; IV, 1, 4, 6.)
Cheney, Edward Potts. _Industrial and Social History of England_ (New
York, 1910). (II, 2, 3; IV, 6.)
Day, Clive. _History of Commerce_ (New York, 1920). (II; III, 4; IV,
6.)
Dillen, Johannes Gerard van. _Het Economisch karakter der
Middeleeuwsche Stad._ I. _De Theorie der gesloten
Stad-Huishanding_ (Amsterdam, 1914). (II, 2; III, 4, 5; IV, 6.)
Gras, Norman S. B. _An Introduction to Economic History_ (New York,
1922).
Considerable material on the rise of the city as an economic unit.
(II, 2, 3; III, 4, 5; IV, 1, 2, 6; X, 1.)
Sombart, Werner. _The Quintessence of Capitalism: A Study of the
History and Psychology of the Modern Business Man._ Translated by
M. Epstein (New York, 1915). (II, 3; IV, 6; IX; X; 3.)
Waentig, H. “Die wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Grossstädte,” in the
volume, _Die Grossstadt_, edited by Th. Petermann, Dresden, 1903.
A thorough study of the increasing significance of the city as an
economic unit. (III, 4; IV, 6.)
5. A sociological definition of the city must recognize that such a
complex phenomenon cannot be adequately characterized in terms of any
one single distinguishing mark or any set of formal and arbitrary
characteristics. The city is, to be sure, a human group occupying a
definite area, with a set of technical devices, institutions,
administrative machinery, and organization which distinguish it from
other groupings. But in this conglomeration of buildings, streets, and
people the sociologist discovers a psychophysical mechanism. For him the
city is a set of practices, of common habits, sentiments and traditions
which have grown up through several generations of life and are
characteristic of a typical cultural unit. Within this larger entity
which is called the city he sees many other groupings of people and
areas which are the result of growth and of a continuous process of
sifting and allocation, each one of which areas has a character of its
own and produces its special type of inhabitant. He sees a number of
occupational and cultural groups whose interests and characteristics
mark them off one from the other, but who, nevertheless, are conscious
of their membership in some common larger group known as the city, and
who participate in its life.
From another point of view the city is an institution which has arisen
and maintains itself to some extent independently of the population
because it satisfies certain fundamental wants, not only of the local
inhabitants, but also of a larger area which has become dependent upon
what the city has to give.
The city, finally, may be regarded as the product of three fundamental
processes: the ecological, the economic, and the cultural, which operate
in the urban area to produce groupings and behavior which distinguish
that area from its rural periphery.
Izoulet, Jean. _La Cité moderne et la métaphysique de la sociologie_
(_Paris_, 1894).
Maunier, René. “The Definition of the City.” Translated by L. L.
Bernard, _Amer. Jour. Sociol._, XV, 536–48.
A critical examination of the existing definitions of the city in
the light of sociological theory. (I, 1, 2, 3, 4.)
Almost every textbook in the field of sociology has some sort of a
working definition of the city. In addition there are available the
various conceptions of the city underlying the social surveys.
II. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CITY
The history of the city is almost synonymous with the history of
civilization. The sociologist is interested in the natural history of
the city as a phase of social evolution. Unlike the historian, he is not
aiming to get the concrete facts of the rise and the decay of any
particular city, but rather seeks to find in the study of the history of
various cities the genesis of the typical city as a basis for the
classification of types of cities and of social processes, irrespective
of time and place.
1. Most of our ideas as to the origin of the city we owe to the findings
of the archeologists. Exactly when cities began to appear in the story
of mankind is still a doubtful question. We hear of cave cities in the
paleolithic age. When we come down to historic times we find numerous
cities whose main purpose was defense. The ancient cities of Memphis,
Thebes, Babylon, and several others were already imposing aggregations
of human beings and were centers of administration and of culture. Such
a vast literature exists on the Greek city-state and on Rome, that is
available in almost any library, that only a few references need be
cited here.
Clerget, Pierre. “Urbanism: A Historic, Geographic, and Economic
Study,” _Smithsonian Institution Annual Report, 1912_ (Washington,
D.C., 1913), pp. 653–67. (II, 2, 3; III; V, 1, 2, 3; VI; VII;
VIII.)
Coulanges, Fustel de. _The Ancient City: A Study of the Religion,
Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome_ (Boston, 1894).
Translated by Willard Small.
Davis, W. S. _A Day in Old Athens: A Picture of Athenian Life_ (New
York, 1914).
Fowler, W. W. _The City-State of the Greeks and Romans_ (London and
New York, 1895). (I, 2.)
Friedländer, L. _Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire._
Authorized translation by L. A. Magnus from the 7th rev. ed. of
the _Sittengeschichte Roms_ (London, 1908–13), 4 vols. (III, 4.)
Rostovtzeff, Michael. “Cities in the Ancient World,” in volume _Urban
Land Economics_, edited by R. T. Ely, Institute for Research in
Land Economics, Ann Arbor, 1922.
Zimmern, Alfred E. _The Greek Commonwealth: Politics and Economics in
Fifth-Century Athens_ (2d rev. edition; Oxford, 1915).
2. Historians are still doubtful whether the medieval city was the
product of a continuous growth starting with Rome or whether, around the
year 1000, the city was born anew after some centuries of reversion to a
simpler form of social life. There is little doubt, however, that the
medieval city not only had a different structure but also played a
decidedly different rôle than the Greek or the Roman city. The typical
medieval city was fortified and had achieved a certain degree of
political autonomy from the central government. It played its leading
rôle, however, as the center of trade and commerce and the home of the
guilds. With the sixteenth century there came an important change over
the urban life of Europe. New inventions, such as that of gunpowder,
made the city wall obsolete. The beginnings of industry spelled the doom
of the narrow guild system. In the light of this new order of things the
medieval city of a former day—which was really a town—either had to
adapt itself to the new forces that had become operative and join the
ranks of growing cities or else become sterile and sink into decay.
Bax, E. B. _German Culture, Past and Present_ (London, 1915).
Traces the development of the medieval German city. (II, 3).
Benson, E. _Life in a Medieval City, Illustrated by York in the
Fifteenth Century_ (London, 1920).
Consentius, Ernst. _Alt-Berlin, Anno 1740_ (2d ed.; Berlin, 1911).
One of a great number of special studies in the early history of
German towns and cities. (III, 6.)
Coulton, George Gordon. _Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to
the Reformation_ (Cambridge, 1918).
Green, Alice S. A. (Mrs. J. R.) _Town Life in the Fifteenth Century_
(2 vols., New York, 1894). (III, 5.)
Pirenne, Henry. _Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of
Trade._ (Princeton, N.J., 1925).
Traces the growth of cities and their institutions in relation to
the revival of trade. (I, 4; III, 4; IV, 4; VII, 1.)
Preuss, Hugo. _Die Entwicklung des Deutschen Städtewesens_ (Leipzig,
1906).
A standard history of the development of the German city. (I, 2; II,
3; IV, 3; VI, 7; VII, 1.)
Stow, John. _The Survey of London_ (1598) (London and New York, 1908).
3. The modern city marks the advent of a new epoch in civilization. Its
rise has been accompanied by, and, in turn, is the result of a profound
revolution in economic, political, intellectual, and social life. The
modern man is to so great an extent a product of the modern city that in
order to grasp the full significance of the transformation the city has
wrought we must get a view of its origins and development. The city, as
we find it today, is by no means a finished product. Its growth is so
rapid and its energy so great that it changes its complexion almost
daily, and with it the character of mankind itself.
Baily, W. L. “Twentieth Century City,” _Amer. City_, XXXI (August,
1924), 142–43.
Beard, C. A. “Awakening of Japanese Cities,” _Review of Reviews_, LXIX
(May, 1924), 523–27.
Bücher, Karl. _Industrial Evolution._ Translated by S. M. Wickett
(London and New York, 1901).
The modern city from the standpoint of industrial society. (II, 1,
2; III, 4, 5; IV, 6; VII, 1; IX, 1.)
_Die Stadt Danzig: ihre geschichtliche Entwickelung und ihre
öffentlichen Einrichtungen_ (Danzig, 1904).
Shows the development of a modern city and its characteristic
institutions. (III, 1, 2, 3; VI.)
Ebeling, Martin. “Grossstadtsozialismus.” Vol. XLIV of
_Grossstadtdokumente_, edited by Hans Ostwald (Berlin, 1905).
A cross-section of the modern city from the standpoint of the
workingman. (IV, 3, 6; V, 2, 3; VI; VII, 2, 5; VIII, 1.)
Ende, A. von. _New York_ (Berlin, 1909).
Typical of a great number of descriptions of cities by travelers and
writers of tourists’ guidebooks. The best known are those of
Baedeker, of Leipzig, covering every important European city.
George, M. Dorothy. _London life in the XVIIIth Century_ (New York,
1925).
Contains an excellent selected bibliography on the city of London. A
cross-section of London life on the threshold of the modern era.
(III; VII, 1, 2.)
Hare, Augustus J. C. _Paris_ (London, 1900).
One of a series of books of various European cities, being intended
as a guide for tourists.
Hessel, J. F. _The Destiny of the American City._ Champaign, Illinois,
1922.
The trend of American city growth and its problems.
Howe, Frederic C. _The Modern City and Its Problems_ (New York, 1915).
A short outline of the development of the modern city, a statement
of the implications of city civilization, a discussion of the city
as a physical mechanism, and suggestions for an extension of the
principle of municipal ownership and management, city-planning, and
co-operation. (III, 5; IV, 2, 3; V, 4, 5; VI; VII, 1, 2; IX, 3.)
Irwin, Will. _The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco_ (New
York, 1906).
Johnson, Clarence Richard (editor). _Constantinople Today, or, the
Pathfinder Survey of Constantinople: A Study in Oriental Social
Life_ (New York and London, 1923). (III, 2; V; VI; VII; VIII; IX,
1, 3.)
Kirk, William (editor). _A Modern City: Providence, Rhode Island, and
Its Activities_ (Chicago, 1909). (III, 4; VI; VII.)
“London: A Geographical Synthesis,” _Geog. Rev._, XIV (1924), 310–12.
A summary of the co-ordinated geographical study of a modern city.
(III; IV; V; VI, 3.)
Pollock, H. M., and Morgan, W. S. _Modern Cities_ (New York, 1913).
A general study of American cities and their problems. (III, 6; V,
5; VI.)
Strong, Josiah. _The Twentieth Century City_ (New York, 1898).
Zueblin, Charles. _American Municipal Progress_ (new and revised
edition; New York, 1916).
Attempts to formulate a science of “municipal sociology.” (VI; VII;
VIII, 1.)
Almost every modern city has several histories of its recent
development, and the current magazines contain a great deal of general
information about particular cities. The list of typical works on the
modern city might be extended indefinitely, but the numerous
bibliographies already available make this task unnecessary. There are
published bibliographies of some of the more important European and
American cities. Books on London, for instance, are so numerous that
there exists in the city of London a library devoted exclusively to
works on that city. A similar volume of literature is available about
Paris, Rome, and other centers of culture around which there has grown
up an historical tradition which gives to the locality a world-wide
human interest. There are a number of books on such cities as Moscow,
the city of churches, which emphasize the fact that this metropolis has
occupied a position of dominance in Russian life because of its
spiritual leadership, which expresses itself institutionally in its
magnificent cathedrals. There are other Meccas of this sort, the
literature on which would occupy many pages.
The inclusion of such books as Augustus Hare’s _Paris_ and von Ende’s
_New York_ in this list might well raise the question as to why these
two rather unimportant works were included and others of a similar
nature excluded. Their pertinence in this connection was thought to lie
in the fact that they are typical of books on many cities which are
intended as guides to tourists or represent accounts of travelers, which
are not included in this bibliography, but which might prove of interest
to the student dealing with the individualities and eccentricities of
individual cities.
There has grown up in recent years a renewed interest in the variety and
diversity of American cities. Many such books have appeared, often in
series including several cities, which give more than a traveler’s
account, and actually succeed in entering into the spirit of the city.
Grace King’s volume on New Orleans is perhaps the best, if not the most
representative, of these American volumes.
III. TYPES OF CITIES
Each city, like every other object in nature, is, in a sense, unique. A
scientific study of the city presupposes, however, that a study of a
number of cities will reveal certain classes or types, the members of
which have certain common characteristics which mark them off from other
types. There are, obviously, many criteria, on the basis of any one of
which cities might be classified and distinguished from each other.
Certain fundamental types appear in the literature of the subject of
which the sociologist may profitably take note.
1. One of the very first characteristics that we observe about a city is
its age. The difference between European and American cities in this
respect is so obvious as to be inescapable. The cities of Western
Europe, when compared with some of those of the Orient, again show their
relative youth. A detailed study of the city reveals this important
conservative influence of the early experiences of a city. Streets,
walls, names, and the tradition that has grown up through centuries of
existence leave their indelible impress upon the city as we find it
today. Experienced observers are able to distinguish cities belonging to
one historical period from those of another by their appearance, just as
they are able to differentiate between the cities of adjoining
countries. These differences show themselves not only in a dominant type
of architecture, but also in general atmosphere, the mode of life of the
inhabitants, and the activities that find expression in the life of the
people.
Fleure, Herbert John. “Some Types of Cities in Temperate Europe,”
_Geog. Rev._, X, No. 6 (1920), 357–74.
Traces the historical influences on the character of cities. (II;
III, 2, 3, 5, 6.)
——. _Human Geography in Western Europe: A Study in Appreciation_
(London, 1919). (III.)
Fraser, E. “Our Foreign Cities,” _Sat. Eve. Post_, CXCVI (August 25,
1923), 14–15.
The background of its inhabitants gives the city its dominant
atmosphere. (V, 3; VII, 2, 3.)
Gamble, Sidney D. _Peking: A Social Study_ (New York, 1921).
A survey of an oriental city. Incidentally reveals a strange variety
of the modern city. (II; III, 4, 6; IV, 3; V; VI; VII; VIII; IX, 3.)
Hanslik, Erwin. _Biala: eine deutsche Stadt in Galizien_ (Wien:
Teschen und Leipzig, 1909).
The persistence of a historical type in a changing environment.
(III, 6.)
Homburg, F. “Names of Cities,” _Jour. Geog._, XV (September, 1916),
17–23.
Rhodes, Harrison. _American Towns and People_ (New York, 1920).
Uhde-Bernays, Herman. _Rothenburg of der Tauber_ (Leipzig, 1922).
One of a series of volumes on “cities of culture.” The persistence
of the historical influences on the atmosphere of cities. (III, 6.)
2. The means of communication that are in use at any given period in
history determine the location of human settlements. For this reason the
dominant location of the ancient and medieval city was on the seacoast
or near a navigable body of water. The founding and the development of
cities still depends on their location with reference to the means of
communication in use and the consequent accessibility of the region. The
coming of the railroads made large inland cities possible. Settlements
located favorably along the seacoast or along an important river or lake
enjoy a natural advantage which has an important bearing on their
growth. Location is an important competitive element which produces
fundamental types.
Faris, J. T. “The Heart of the Middle West,” _Travel_, XLII (December,
1923), 30–34.
Geddes, Patrick. “Cities, and the Soils They Grow From.” _Survey
Graphic_ (April, 1925), pp. 40–44.
A rather philosophical conception of the city as related to the
natural environment. Suggestions concerning geotechnics,
afforestation, and regional development. (III, 2, 3; V, 5.)
Jefferson, Mark. “Some Considerations on the Geographical Provinces of
the United States,” _Ann. of the Ass. of Amer. Geographers_, VII
(1917), 3–15.
Develops the theory that the country as a whole can be divided into
provinces according to location on seacoast, inland lake, river,
etc., and that the cities of each province are characterized by
factors arising out of their location. (III, 3, 4; IV, 1, 6.)
Mercier, Marcel. _La Civilisation Urbaine au Mzab: Étude de Sociologie
Africaine_ (Alger, 1922).
The study of an African city in a desert region, whose immediate
site is determined by water supply and transportation routes. The
directions and the limitation of the social activities of the
community are dictated by the environment. (III, 1, 6; IV, 1, 6; V,
1; VI; VII, 2; IX, 1.)
Ratzel, Friedrich. “Die geographische Lage der grossen Städte,” in
volume “_Die Grossstadt_,” edited by Th. Petermann, Dresden, 1903.
A thoroughgoing consideration of the location types of cities by one
of the earliest and most competent students of the subject. Offers
the theory, also held by Cooley (C. H. Cooley, _The Theory of
Transportation_) that cities arise at the end of a route of
transportation, or at a juncture of several such routes, or at the
point where one route of transportation joins another; where, for
instance, a land transportation route ends and a waterway begins.
Ratzel also gives one of the earliest and soundest geographical
definitions of the city: “A permanent condensation (or dense
settlement) of human beings and human habitations covering a
considerable area and situated in the midst (or at the juncture) of
several routes of transportation.” (I; II; III, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6; IV,
1; V, 5; VII, 2.)
Ridgley, Douglas C. “Geographic Principles in the Study of Cities,”
_Jour. of Geog._, XXIV (February, 1925), 66–78.
A reiteration of Cooley’s theory: “Population and wealth tend to
collect wherever there is a break in transportation.” (I, 1; VII, 1,
2.)
Wright, Henry C. _The American City: An Outline of Its Development and
Functions_ (Chicago, 1916).
Chapter i outlines the location of cities and classifies them
according to their purpose. The rest of the book is taken up with
government, finance, administrative problems, such as health,
police, education, housing, zoning, and the effect of the city on
the citizens. (III, 3, 4; V, 4, 5; VI; VII, 2; IX.)
3. A classification in use especially among the geographers is that
arising from differences in site. It is important to distinguish between
the general situation of a city, i.e., its location with reference to
the surrounding territory and the means of communication with other
centers of population and resources, and its immediate local setting
which influences its structure and growth and brings with it certain
other more deep-seated consequences.
Biermann, Charles. “Situation et Site de Lausanne,” _Bull. Soc.
Neuchateloise de Geog._, XXV (1916), 122–49. Reviewed in _Geog.
Rev._, VI (1918), 285.
Distinguishes between general location and immediate site as factors
determining the character of the city. Emphasizes the limitations
imposed on the modern city by its medieval defensive system. (III,
1, 2; VI, 3.)
Brunhes, Jean. _Human Geography: An Attempt at a Positive
Classification, Principles and Examples._ Translated by T. C.
LeCompte (Chicago and New York, 1920).
The most comprehensive and basic work in human geography at the
present time available. Discusses the city as a form of occupation
of the soil. Describes the principles and gives many illustrations
of the effect of location on the growth and the character of cities.
(I, 1; II, 2, 3; III; IV; VII, 1, 2.)
King, C. F. “Striking Characteristics of Certain Cities,” _Jour.
School Geog._, IV (1900), 201–7, 301–8, 370–91. (III, 1, 2, 4, 6.)
Semple, Ellen C. “Some Geographical Causes Determining the Location of
Cities,” _Jour. School Geog._, I (1897), 225–31.
Smith, Joseph Russell. _Human Geography: Teachers’ Manual_
(Philadelphia and Chicago, 1922).
4. Cities may be classified according to the functions they
characteristically perform in national or world economy. The competitive
process tends to operate between cities as well as within cities, so as
to give each city a rôle defining its status in the world-community. The
capital city has certain features which distinguish it from a commercial
and industrial city. The railroad city is fundamentally different from a
resort city, from the religious Mecca, the university seat, and the
international port. Even within these classes we find further
specialization. Thus, we have a steel city, a film city, an automobile
city, a rubber city, and a tool city. The ecological process on a
national and world-wide scale is not sufficiently well known at the
present time to permit of any definite system of classification, but
that there is a strong tendency toward functional specialization between
cities as entities is no longer open to doubt.
Cornish, Vaughan. _The Great Capitals: An Historical Geography_
(London, 1922).
A study of the variations within the type of city serving as a
political center. A work which has given a great deal of impetus to
the study of functional types of cities. (III, 1.)
“F.O.B. Detroit,” _Outlook_, III (1915), 980–86.
A sample of the industrial type of city which is built around the
production of a single product—the automobile. (IV, 6; IX, 1.)
Homburg, F. “Capital Cities,” _Jour. Geog._, XIX (January, 1920),
8–15.
Kellogg, Paul U. (editor). _The Pittsburgh District_ (New York, 1914).
Introductory volume of the Pittsburgh Survey, one of the most
comprehensive studies of an industrial, urban area. Contains
material bearing on many phases of city structure and city life. (V;
VI; VII; VIII; IX, 1, 3.).
Kenngott, George F. _The Record of a City: A Social Survey of Lowell,
Massachusetts_ (New York, 1912).
A cross-section of a typical manufacturing city. (V; VI; VII; VIII;
IX, 1, 3.)
McLean, Francis H., Todd, Robert E., and Sanborn, Frank B. _The Report
of the Lawrence Survey_ (Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1917). (V; VI;
VII; VIII; IX, 1, 3.)
“The Right of the Community to Exist,” _Living Age_, CIII (October 4,
1919), 46–48.
Roberts, Peter. _Anthracite Coal Communities_ (New York, 1904).
A study of mining communities in the United States. (V; VI; VII;
VIII; IX, 1, 3.)
Steele, Rufus. “In the Sun-Spot,” _Sunset_, XXXIV (1915), 690–99.
A study of Los Angeles, the city of moving pictures. (IV, 6; IX, 1.)
Semple, Ellen. “Some Geographical Causes Determining the Location of
Cities,” _Jour. School Geog._, I (1897), 225–31.
——. _Influences of Geographic Environment, on the Basis of Ratzel’s
System of Anthropogeography_ (New York, 1911).
A comprehensive work dealing with the factors in the natural
environment in relation to the settlement and the activity of man.
(III, 2, 3.)
Tower, W. S. “Geography of American Cities,” _Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc._,
XXXVII (1905), 577–88.
Distinguishes between industrial, commercial, political, and social
centers and suggests that cities might combine several of these
functions. Gives examples of each type, pointing out their
distinctive characteristics. (III, 2, 3.)
Wood, Arthur Evans. _Some Unsolved Problems of a University Town_
(Philadelphia, 1920.)
A study of housing, public health, and dependency in Princeton, New
Jersey. (VI, 10; VII, 5.)
In the current periodical literature one can find numerous articles
dealing with the various functional types of cities of the present day.
The _National Geographic Magazine_ has many numbers which are devoted to
individual cities from this standpoint.
5. The town, the city, and the metropolis are genetically related
concepts which represent three successive stages of an ever widening
zone of interrelationships and influences. The town represents a local
aggregation which is intimately bound up with a rather narrow
surrounding rural periphery. It is the product of limited means of
communication and constitutes a more or less self-sustaining economic
unit. The city is a more highly specialized unit and, as a result, is a
part of a wider interrelated area, while the metropolis tends to become
a cosmopolitan unit based upon a relatively high degree of development
of the means of communication. The differences between these three urban
types is not only expressed in terms of number of inhabitants and area
of occupation, but also in social organization and in attitudes. There
is a tendency to divide the United States up into provinces according to
the zone of influence of the greater metropolitan units dominating the
surrounding territory and dependent upon it.
Cottrell, E. A. “Limited Town-Meetings in Massachusetts,” _Nat. Mun.
Rev._, II (July, 1918), 433–34.
While dealing primarily with an administrative problem, points out
one of the essential differences between town and city. (V, 3; VI,
7; IX, 3.)
Febvre, Lucien. _A Geographical Introduction to History._ Translated
by E. G. Mountsford and T. H. Paxton (New York, 1925).
Contains a clear statement of the problems of human geography. Part
III, chap. iii, on towns is suggestive. (I, 1; II; III.)
Gide, Charles. “L’habitation hors la ville,” _Revue Economique
Internationale_ (January, 1925), 141–57.
Gilbert, Bernard. _Old England: A God’s-Eye-View of a Village_
(Boston, 1922).
A cross-section of village life and economy.
Gras, Norman S. B. “The Development of Metropolitan Economy in Europe
and America,” _Amer. Hist. Rev._, XXVII (1921–22), 695–708.
Differentiates clearly between manorial, village, town, city, and
metropolitan economy. (I, 4; II; III, 1; IV, 1, 2, 6; X, 1, 2.)
Lasker, B. “Unwalled Towns,” _Survey_, XLIII (March 6, 1920), 675–80.
Lohman, K. B. “Small Town Problems,” _Amer. City_, XXIII (July, 1920),
81.
Maine, Sir H. S. _Village Communities in the East and West_ (7th ed.;
London, 1913).
The most authoritative English study of the village. (II, 1, 2; III,
1; IV, 3; VI, 7; X, 2.)
McVey, Frank L. _The Making of a Town_ (Chicago, 1913). (IV, 1, 2, 3;
V, 4, 5; VI; VII, 1.)
Shine, Mary L. “Urban Land in the Middle Ages,” in volume, _Urban Land
Economics_, Institute for Research in Land Economics (Ann Arbor,
Michigan, 1922).
Shows the transition from town to city life. Contains valuable
collection of material on the medieval city. (I, 2, 4; II, 2, 3;
III; V, 4, 5; VI; VII, 2, 5; IX, 1; X, 1, 2.)
Sims, Newell Leroy. _The Rural Community, Ancient and Modern_ (New
York, 1920). (II, 1, 2; III, 1, 6; IV, 1; V, 3.)
Slosson, P. “Small-Townism,” _Independent_, CVI (July 9, 1921), 106–7.
(X, 2, 3.)
Wilson, Warren H. _Quaker Hill: A Sociological Study_ (New York,
1907).
A picture of a community held together by religious and social
bonds. Shows the transition from a primary to a secondary type of
contact. (V, 3; VII, 2; IX, 3.)
6. The city may be the unplanned product of the interaction of
successive generations with the environment, or it may be the result of
intentional activity with a specific end in view. We hear of ancient
cities springing up at the will of an emperor bent on glorifying his
name. There are cities in America that are the premeditated product of
individuals or corporations bent on creating an adjunct to a factory.
There are capital cities in America owing their existence to the
decisions of a legislature. The planned city differs from the “natural”
city not only in its structural form but in its functional aspects and
its capacity for growth. Probably no planned city can grow into a
metropolis if it does not somehow find for itself an important function
in world-economy and earn its place in the competitive process.
Aurousseau, M. “Urban Geography: A Study of German Towns,” _Geog.
Rev._, XI (October, 1921), 614–16.
A review of a German work (Geisler, Walter, “Beiträge zur
Stadtgeographie.” _Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde_, Nos.
8–10 [Berlin, 1920], 274–96). Shows the influence of the old town
plan on the development of the modern city. (II, 2, 3; III.)
Bodine, H. E. “Study of Local History Teaches Value of City-Planning,”
_American City_, XXV (September, 1921), 241–45.
Cushing, C. P. “Rambler on the Standardized City,” _Travel_, XXIX
(July, 1917), 40.
Ely, Richard T. “Pullman: A Social Study,” _Harper’s New Monthly
Magazine_, LXX (December, 1884), 453–65.
While more of a general survey than a special study of the influence
of the city plan upon the actual growth of the city, it does show
some disharmonies arising out of the attempt to control a planned
urban project in the face of growth and unexpected complications.
(IV, 4; VII, 3; IX, 1.)
Ormiston, E. “Public Control of the Location of Towns,” _Econ. Jour._,
XXVIII (December, 1918), 374–85.
Shows some of the abortive attempts to establish towns in
unfavorably situated environments. Suggests public control as a
possible preventive measure, if based on thorough study of all
factors involved in the possibilities for growth and development.
(III, 2, 3, 4; IV, 6.)
Whitbeck, R. H. “Selected Cities of the United States,” _Jour. Geog._,
XXI (September, 1922), 205–42.
Contains several maps showing city structure.
The city-planning literature contains many instances of comparisons
between planned cities and natural cities as well as examples of the
effects of the city plan on the actual development of the city, and the
opposite phenomenon—the effect of the natural development of the city on
the city plan.
IV. THE CITY AND ITS HINTERLAND
Far from being an arbitrary clustering of people and buildings, the city
is the nucleus of a wider zone of activity from which it draws its
resources and over which it exerts its influence. The city and its
hinterland represent two phases of the same mechanism which may be
analyzed from various points of view.
1. Just as Galpin, in his _Social Anatomy of a Rural Community_, was
able to determine the limits of the community by means of the area over
which its trade routes extend, so the city may be delimited by the
extent of its trading area. From the simpler area around it the city
gathers the raw materials, part of which are essential to sustain the
life of its inhabitants, and another part of which are transformed by
the technique of the city population into finished products which flow
out again to the surrounding territory, sometimes over a relatively
larger expanse than the region of their origin. From another point of
view the city sends out its tentacles to the remotest corners of the
world to gather those sources of supply which are not available in the
immediate vicinity, only to retail them to its own population and the
rural region about it. Again, the city might be regarded as the
distributor of wealth, an important economic rôle which has become
institutionalized in a complex financial system.
Chisholm, George G. “The Geographical Relation of the Market to the
Seats of Industry,” _Scott. Geog. Mag., April, 1910_.
Galpin, C. J. “The Social Anatomy of an Agricultural Community,”
Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Wisconsin,
_Research Bulletin 34_ (Madison, Wisconsin, 1915).
Deals primarily with trade routes of an agricultural area, but
throws considerable light on the urban trade area. (V, 2; X, 2.)
Levainville, Jacques. “Caen: Notes sur l’évolution de la fonction
urbaine,” _La Vie Urbaine_, V (1923), 223–78.
Through its emphasis on the economic functions of the city this
study makes clear the significance of the trade areas.
Newspapers, business houses, and mail-order houses in particular have
published numerous discussions and graphic statements of their
circulation or their trade relations with the surrounding territory.
Such documents are to be found in numerous specialized trade and
commercial journals. In addition there are government reports and
publications of chambers of commerce bearing on this question.
2. One of the outstanding prerequisites of any city is a local
transportation system which makes possible ready access of the
population living in diverse sections to their places of work, the
centers of trade, of culture, and of other social activities. The city
consists of not merely a continuous densely populated and built up area,
but of suburbs and outlying regions which by means of rapid transit are
within easy reach of urban activities. This area has been termed the
commuting area. Although the inhabitants of this larger area of
settlement may not be under the same taxing, policing, and governing
authorities as the inhabitants of the city proper, they think of
themselves as part of the same metropolis and actively participate in
its life.
Edel, Edmund. _Neu Berlin_, volume L in “Grossstadt Dokumente Series,”
edited by Hans Ostwald, Berlin, 1905.
Discusses the changes brought about by recent growth in the city of
Berlin, with emphasis on the recently built-up suburbs. (VII, 1, 2,
4.)
Lueken, E. “Vorstadtprobleme,” _Schmollers Jahrb._, XXXIX (1915),
1911–20.
Discussion of the governmental and technical problems brought about
by the rise of the suburbs. (IV, 3; V, 1; VI.)
Wright, Henry C. “Rapid Transit in Relation to the Housing Problem,”
in _Proceedings of the Second National Conference on City
Planning_ (Rochester, 1910), pp. 125–35.
Considers the possibility of distributing the urban population in
the suburbs by building up a rapid transit system. (VI, 2, 3, 10.)
3. That part of the inhabitants of a given metropolitan area who
actually are under the same administrative machinery may constitute only
a relatively small part of the inhabitants of the metropolitan district
as a whole. The size of the administrative unit tends to lag behind the
size of the metropolis proper. Suburbs are incorporated gradually, and
changes in charters and legal organization often do not keep pace with
the rapid expansion of the district. The city of London proper is only a
relatively small part of metropolitan London. As a result of such
anomalous situations many difficulties occur in interpreting statistical
data compiled by governmental agencies.
Gross, Charles. _Bibliography of British Municipal History_ (New York,
1897). (I, 2; VI, 7.)
Howe, Frederic C. _European Cities at Work_ (New York, 1913).
A general survey of the structure and the government of the European
city. (II, 3; VI; VII, 1.)
——. _The British City: The Beginnings of Democracy_ (New York, 1907).
(II, 2, 3; VI.)
Kales, Albert M. _Unpopular Government in the United States_ (Chicago,
1914).
A discussion of the administrative problems of the city, emphasizing
the anomalous situations brought about by legal restrictions in the
face of urban development. (VI, 7; X, 1, 2.)
Maxey, C. C. “Political Integration of Metropolitan Communities,”
_National Munic. Rev._, XI (August, 1922), 229–53. (IV, 2; VI, 7.)
Wilcox, Delos F. _The American City: A Problem in Democracy_ (New
York, 1906).
A work dealing mainly with the administration of the city. Chapter
i, “Democracy and City Life in America,” chapter ii on “The Street,”
and v on “The Control of Leisure” are suggestive. (VI; VII, 5.)
4. One of the latest phases of city growth is the development of
satellite cities. These are generally industrial units growing up
outside the boundaries of the administrative city, which, however, are
dependent upon the city proper for their existence. Often they become
incorporated into the city proper after the city has inundated them, and
thus lose their identity. The location of such satellites may exert a
determining influence upon the direction of the city’s growth. These
satellites become culturally a part of the city long before they are
actually incorporated into it.
Taylor, Graham Romeyn. _Satellite Cities: A Study of Industrial
Suburbs_ (New York and London, 1915).
The most comprehensive study of its kind. (III, 4; VII, 2; IX, 1.)
Wright, R. “Satellite Cities,” _Bellman_, XXV (November 16, 1918),
551–52.
5. The city has come to be recognized as the center of culture.
Innovations in social life and in ideas gravitate from the city to the
country. Through its newspapers, theaters, schools, and museums, through
its traveling salesmen and mail-order houses, through its large
representation in the legislatures, and through many other points of
contact with the inhabitants of the rural periphery about it, the city
diffuses its culture over a large area. The city is in this respect an
important civilizing agent.
Desmond, S. “America’s City Civilization: The Natural Divisions of the
United States,” _Century_, CVIII (August, 1924), 548–55.
Holds that America is creating a new type of city civilization of a
decentralized type. Several outstanding American cities are
described as cultural entities and as exerting a dominating
influence over a large rural area, thus suggesting the emergence of
cultural provinces. (III, 1, 2, 3; IX, 2.)
Petermann, Theodor. “Die geistige Bedeutung der Grossstädte,” in the
volume, _Die Grossstadt_ (Dresden, 1903).
One of the best concise statements on the cultural significance of
the city from the standpoint of the rural periphery. (IV, 6; IX, 1,
2; X, 1, 2, 3.)
Wells, Joseph. _Oxford and Oxford Life_ (London, 1899).
An example of a cultural type of city from the functional
standpoint, and its influence. (II, 2, 3; III, 4.)
There are a number of studies of cities as cultural centers. The city of
Moscow has often been described as the city of churches, for instance,
and as such has exercised an influence over the life of Russia all out
of proportion to its function in other respects. Similar studies are
available of Rome, Venice, Dresden, and a number of others.
6. With the advent of modern methods of communication the whole world
has been transformed into a single mechanism of which a country or a
city is merely an integral part. The specialization of function, which
has been a concomitant of city growth, has created a state of
interdependence of world-wide proportions. Fluctuations in the price of
wheat on the Chicago Grain Exchange reverberate to the remotest part of
the globe, and a new invention anywhere will soon have to be reckoned
with at points far from its origin. The city has become a highly
sensitive unit in this complex mechanism, and in turn acts as a
transmitter of such stimulation as it receives to a local area. This is
as true of economic and political as it is of social and intellectual
life.
Baer, M. _Der internationale Mädchenhandel_, Vol. XXXVII in
“Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
Shows that the large city is the center of the world white-slave
traffic. (III, 4; VII, 5; IX, 4.)
Bernhard, Georg. _Berliner Banken_, Vol. VIII in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
While primarily a study of Berlin banks, shows the large city as the
center of the economic life of the world. (III, 4; V, 1; IX, 1, 4.)
Jefferson, Mark. “Distribution of British Cities and the Empire,”
_Geog. Rev._, IV (November, 1917), 387–94.
“English cities are unique in that they have taken the whole world
for their countryside.... The conception of the British empire as
the direct result of English trade in English manufactures, which in
turn are largely a response to English treasures in coal and iron,
is strongly reenforced by the distribution of her great cities.”
(III, 4; VI, 8.)
Olden, Balder. _Der Hamburger Hafen_, Vol. XLVI in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
The influence of world-commerce on the city. (III, 3, 4; IV, 4; V,
1; IX, 1, 4.)
Penck, Albrecht. _Der Hafen von New York_, Vol. IV of the collection,
“Meereskunde” (Berlin, 1910).
An excellent view of the traffic in the harbor of New York. (III, 2,
3, 4.)
Zimmern, Helen. _Hansa Towns_ (New York, 1895).
An historical example of a typical function of cities in
world-economy. (I, 2; II, 2.)
V. THE ECOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE CITY
Just as the city as a whole is influenced in its position, function, and
growth by competitive factors which are not the result of the design of
anyone, so the city has an internal organization which may be termed an
ecological organization, by which we mean the spatial distribution of
population and institutions and the temporal sequence of structure and
function following from the operation of selective, distributive, and
competitive forces tending to produce typical results wherever they are
at work. Every city tends to take on a structural and functional pattern
determined by the ecological factors that are operative. The internal
ecological organization of a city permits of more intensive study and
accurate analysis than the ecology of the city from the external
standpoint. For the latter phase of the subject we will have to rely on
further investigations of the economists, the geographers, and the
statisticians. The facts of the local groupings of the population that
arise as a result of ecological factors are, however, readily accessible
to the sociologist.
I. Plant ecologists have been accustomed to use the expression “natural
area” to refer to well-defined spatial units having their own peculiar
characteristics. In human ecology the term “natural area” is just as
applicable to groupings according to selective and cultural
characteristics. Land values are an important index to the boundaries of
these local areas. Streets, rivers, railroad properties, street-car
lines, and other distinctive marks or barriers tend to serve as dividing
lines between the natural areas within the city.
Addams, Jane. _A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil_ (New York, 1912).
A discussion of vice and the vice district in Chicago. (V, 4; VI,
6.)
Anderson, Nels. _The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man_
(Chicago, 1923).
The study of a typical deteriorated area in the city where the
homeless men congregate. (VII, 5; IX, 4.)
Bab, Julius. _Die Berliner Bohème_, Vol. II in “Grossstadt Dokumente”
(Berlin, 1905).
An intimate study of a natural area which has developed an exotic
atmosphere as a result of the social isolation of its members and
their peculiar personalities. At the same time furnishes an
excellent history of a local community and is a unique contribution
to the mentality of city life. (V, 3; VII, 2; IX, 2, 3, 4.)
Booth, Charles. _Life and Labor of the People of London_ (London,
1892).
The most comprehensive study of London in existence. Especially
interesting in this connection for its description of the natural
areas of that city. Volume V, on East London, offers a wealth of
insight into city life. These volumes cover almost every phase of
city life and should be cross-referenced with most of the categories
suggested in this outline.
Brown, Junius Henri. _The Great Metropolis: A mirror of New York_
(Hartford, 1869).
Gives a view of New York at about the middle of the nineteenth
century. Is of interest for a comparative study of the city then,
and now from the point of view of its natural divisions. (VII, 2;
IX, 1.)
Denison, John Hopkins. _Beside the Bowery_ (New York, 1914). (VII, 2.)
Dietrich, Richard. _Lebeweltnächte der Friedrichstadt_, Vol. XXX in
“Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A view of Berlin’s bright-light area. (VI, 6; VII, 2, 5; IX.)
Goldmark, Pauline. _West-Side Studies_ (New York, 1914).
Historical and social investigations of local urban areas,
especially from the point of view of social welfare and pathology.
(V, 2, 3; VI; VII, 2, 5; VIII; IX, 1.)
Harper, Charles George. _Queer Things about London; Strange Nooks and
Corners of the Greatest City in the World_ (Philadelphia, 1924).
(II, 3; V, 2, 3; VI, 3, 5, 8, 10.)
Kirwan, Daniel Joseph. _Palace and Hovel, or Phases of London Life;
Being Personal Observations of an American in London_ (Hartford,
1870). (II, 3; VI; VII, 2; IX, 1, 4.)
Ostwald, Hans O. A. _Dunkle Winkel in Berlin_, Vol. I in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A description of the more obscure areas in Berlin, particularly
those of the underworld. (II, 3; VII, 2; IX, 2, 3, 4.)
Scharrelmann, Heinrich. _Die Grossstadt; Spaziergänge in die
Grossstadt Hamburg_, 1921.
Sketches of city areas encountered in a walk about the city.
Seligman, Edwin R. A. (editor). _The Social Evil, with Special
Reference to Conditions Existing in the City of New York_ (New
York and London, 1912).
The vice area of a large city. Typical of a number of surveys of
moral areas in the larger cities of the United States. Compare, for
instance, with the report of the Illinois investigation, _The Social
Evil in Chicago_. (VII, 2, 5; IX, 1.)
Smith, F. Berkley. _The Real Latin Quarter_ (New York, 1901). (V, 3;
VII, 2; IX, 2, 3, 4.)
Strunsky, Simeon. _Belzhazzar Court, or, Village Life in New York
City_ (New York, 1914). (V, 2, 3; VII, 2; IX, 2, 3, 4.)
Timbs, John. _Curiosities of London_ (London, 1868). (IX, 1, 4.)
Werthauer, Johannes. _Moabitrium_, Vol. XXXI of the “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A report of a personal investigation of the rooming-house area of
Berlin. (VII, 2, 4; IX, 2, 3, 4.)
Woods, Robert A. _The City Wilderness: A Settlement Study of South
End, Boston_ (Boston and New York, 1898).
One of a number of similar studies viewing the city and its slums
from the standpoint of the settlement worker. (V, 2, 3; VI; VII, 5.)
Young, Erle Fiske. “The Social Base Map,” _Jour. App. Sociol._, IX
(January-February, 1925) 202–6.
A graphic device for the study of natural areas. (VII, 2.)
2. The neighborhood is typically the product of the village and the
small town. Its distinguishing characteristics are close proximity,
co-operation, intimate social contact, and strong feeling of social
consciousness. While in the modern city we still find people living in
close physical proximity to each other, there is neither close
co-operation nor intimate contact, acquaintanceship, and group
consciousness accompanying this spatial nearness. The neighborhood has
come to mean a small, homogeneous geographic section of the city, rather
than a self-sufficing, co-operative, and self-conscious group of the
population.
Daniels, John. _America via the Neighborhood_ (New York, 1920). (V, 3;
IX, 3.)
Felton, Ralph E. _Serving the Neighborhood_ (New York, 1920). (V, 3;
VI, 4.)
Jones, Thomas Jesse. _The Sociology of a New York City Block_,
“Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and Public
Law,” Vol. XXI (New York, 1904).
A minute cross-section of a congested urban block. (VI; VII, 2, 4,
5; VIII; IX, i, 3.)
McKenzie, R. D. _The Neighborhood: A Study of Local Life in Columbus,
Ohio_ (Chicago, 1923).
An excellent study of local groupings. (V, 1, 3; VII, 1, 2, 4, 5.)
Perry, Clarence A. “The Relation of Neighborhood Forces to the Larger
Community: Planning a City Neighborhood from the Social Point of
View,” _Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Work_
(Chicago, 1924), pp. 415–21. (V, 2, 3; VII, 5.)
White, Bouck. _The Free City: A Book of Neighborhood_ (New York,
1919).
A fantastic, sentimental picture of what city life might become if
the author’s views of social organization were a reality. (V, 3, 5;
IX, 1, 2, 3.)
Williams, James M. _Our Rural Heritage; the Social Psychology of Rural
Development_ (New York, 1925).
A book which has as its subject matter the analysis of rural life in
New York State up to about the middle of the last century. Chapter
iii deals with the distinction between neighborhood and community.
(V, 3; X, 1, 2, 3.)
3. The local community and the neighborhood in a simple form of society
are synonymous terms. In the city, however, where specialization has
gone very far, the grouping of the population is more nearly by
occupation and income than by kinship or common tradition. Nevertheless,
in the large American city, in particular, we find many local
communities made up of immigrant groups which retain a more or less
strong sense of unity, expressing itself in close proximity and, what is
more important, in separate and common social institutions and highly
effective communal control. These communities may live in relative
isolation from each other or from the native communities. The location
of these communities is determined by competition, which can finally be
expressed in terms of land values and rentals. But these immigrant
communities, too, are in a constant process of change, as the economic
condition of the inhabitants changes or as the areas in which they are
located change.
Besant, Walter. _East London_ (London, 1912).
A remarkable account of an isolated community in a metropolis. (V,
1; VII, 2; IX, 1, 2, 3, 4.)
Buchner, Eberhard. _Sekten und Sektierer in Berlin_, Vol. VI in
“Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1904).
An intimate account of the habitat of the many obscure religious
sects that congregate in local communities in the large city. (VII,
2; IX, 2, 3, 4.)
Burke, Thomas. _Twinkletoes: A Tale of Chinatown_ (London, 1917).
A romantic account of London’s Chinatown. (VII, 2.)
Daniels, John. _In Freedom’s Birthplace_ (Boston and New York, 1914).
The Negro community in Boston. (VII, 2.)
Dreiser, Theodore. _The Color of a Great City_ (New York, 1923).
The various aspects of city life by an observer with keen insight
and rare literary genius. (IX, 2, 4)
Dunn, Arthur W. _The Community and the Citizen_ (Boston, 1909).
An elementary textbook in civics. Gives a simple presentation of the
concept community. (V, 3, 2; I, 4; II, 3; IV, 3; VI.)
Eldridge, Seba. _Problems of Community Life: An Outline of Applied
Sociology_ (New York, 1915).
A sociological textbook dealing with the various phases of community
organization and disorganization. (V, 2, 4, 5; VI; VII, 5; VIII; IX,
3.)
Hebble, Charles Ray, and Goodwin, Frank P. _The Citizens Book_
(Cincinnati, 1916).
Discusses the foundations of community life, its cultural
activities, business interests, governmental activities, and gives
suggestions on the future city. (VI, 7; IX, 3.)
Jenks, A. E. “Ethnic Census in Minneapolis,” _Amer. Jour. Sociol._,
XVII (1912), 776–82.
The ethnic groupings in a large city.
_Jewish Community of New York City: The Jewish Communal Register of
New York City_ (New York, 1917–18).
A collection of studies on the organization, size, distribution,
history, and activities of the New York Jewish Community. (VII, 2,
3, 4, 5; IX, 3, 4.)
Katcher, Leopold (pseudonym, “Spektator”). _Berliner Klubs_, Vol. XXV
in “Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
An inside view of club life in Berlin. (VI, 6; IX, 1, 2, 3, 4.)
Lucas, Edw. V. _The Friendly Town: A Little Book for the Urbane_ (New
York, 1906). (V, 1; IX, 2, 3.)
Maciver, R. M. _Community; a Sociological Study, Being an Attempt to
Set Out the Nature and Fundamental Laws of Social Life_ (London,
1917).
Distinguishes between natural areas and communities, showing how
occupational and cultural groupings enter into the political
process. (IV, 3; V, 1, 2, 4; VI, 7.)
Maurice, Arthur Bartlett. _The New York of the Novelists_ (New York,
1916).
The New York as seen through the eyes of literary men.
Park, Robert E., and Miller, H. A. _Old-World Traits Transplanted_
(New York, 1921).
A study of immigrant communities. (VII, 2, 5; IX, 3, 4.)
Sears, C. H. “The Clash of Contending Forces in Great Cities,”
_Biblical World_, XLVIII (October, 1916), 224–31. (VII, 5; IX, 1,
3.)
Symposium, “The Greatest Negro Community in the World,” _Survey
Graphic_, LIII (March 1, 1925), No. 11.
A collection of articles on the Negro community in Harlem, New York.
(VII, 2, 3; IX, 1, 3, 4; X, 1.)
Williams, Fred V. _The Hop-Heads: Personal Experiences among the Users
of “Dope” in the San Francisco Underworld_ (San Francisco, 1920).
(VII, 2; IX, 3, 4.)
4. The city may be graphically depicted in terms of a series of
concentric circles, representing the different zones or typical areas of
settlement. At the center we find the business district, where land
values are high. Surrounding this there is an area of deterioration,
where the slums tend to locate themselves. Then follows an area of
workmen’s homes, followed in turn by the middle-class apartment section,
and finally by the upper-class residential area. Land values, general
appearance, and function divide these areas off from each other. These
differences in structure and use get themselves incorporated in law in
the form of zoning ordinances. This is an attempt, in the face of the
growth of the city, to control the ecological forces that are at work.
Cheney, C. H. “Removing Social Barriers by Zoning,” _Survey_, XLIV
(May, 1922), 275–78. (V, 1, 5; VII, 2.)
Eberstadt, Rudolph. _Handbuch des Wohnungswesens und der
Wohnungsfrage_ (4th ed.; Jena, 1910).
An encyclopedic work on housing, city-zoning, and planning. (VI, 1,
2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; VII.)
Kern, Robert R. _The Supercity: A Planned Physical Equipment for City
Life_ (Washington, D.C., 1924).
A planned model city with co-operative services of many sorts, with
zoning as an important feature. (V, 5; VI.)
Wuttke, R. _Die deutschen Städte_ (2 vols.; Leipzig, 1904).
A collection of articles on various technical phases of city life.
Article 4, “Die Baupolizei,” by Oberbaukommissar Gruner, is a
discussion of the public regulation of buildings and the function of
zoning and building codes in the modern city. (VI; VII, 3; VII, 1,
2.)
In addition there are available reports of zoning commissions of the
various cities and numerous articles in magazines dealing with the
administrative aspects of city life, such as _The American City_, in
which digests, criticisms, and discussions of these zoning devices may
be found.
5. The needs of communal life impose upon the city a certain degree of
order which sometimes expresses itself in a city plan which is an
attempt to predict and to guide the physical structure of the city. The
older European cities appear more like haphazard, unplanned products of
individualistic enterprise than the American cities with their
checkerboard form. And yet, most European cities were built according to
some preconceived plan which attempted to take account of the needs of
the community and the limitations of the environment. There is a
tendency, however, for the city to run counter to the plan which was
laid out for it, as is seen, for instance, in the problems of
city-planning of the city of Washington. The fact is that the city is a
dynamic mechanism which cannot be controlled in advance unless the
conditions entering into its genesis and its growth are fully known.
City-planning, which has grown into a highly technical profession, is
coming to be more concerned with studying the problems of a changing
institution, with city growth, and the forces operating in city life
than with the creation of artistic schemes of city structure. On the one
hand the importance of devising a scheme of wholesome, orderly existence
in the city is being recognized, on the other hand, the limitations of
any attempt to make the city conform to an artificial plan impresses
itself upon the experience of the technicians engaged in this work.
Agache, Auburtin and Redont. _Comment reconstruire nos cités
destruites_, reviewed in _Scott. Geog. Mag._, XXXIII, 348–52, and
_Annales de Geog._, January, 1917, by F. Schrader.
A criticism of suggested plans for the reconstruction of cities in
the French devastated area. (III, 6.)
American Institute of Architects. _City-Planning Progress in the
United States_ (New York, 1917).
Bartlett, Dana W. _The Better City: A Sociological Study of a Modern
City_ (Los Angeles, 1907). (III, 6.)
_English Catalogue_, “International Cities and Town-Planning
Exhibition, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1923.”
A comprehensive summary of the town-planning movement. A work to be
consulted by all students of the subject. (II, 3; V, 4.)
Geddes, P. _Cities in Evolution: An Introduction to the Town-Planning
Movement and the Study of Civics_ (London, 1915).
An introductory statement by the foremost authority in England. (II;
III; IV, 2; V, 4; VI, 3, 5, 6, 9; VII, 1, 2.)
Haverfield, F. J. _Ancient Town Planning_ (Oxford, 1913). (II, 1; III,
6.)
Hughes, W. R. _New Town: A Proposal in Agricultural, Industrial,
Educational, Civic, and Social Reconstruction_ (London, 1919).
Lewis, Nelson P. _The Planning of the Modern City: A Review of the
Principles Governing City-Planning_ (New York, 1916).
Mulvihill, F. J. “Distribution of Population Graphically Represented
as a Basis for City-Planning,” _American City_, XX (February,
1919), 159–61. (VII, 2.)
Purdom, C. B. _The Garden City_ (London, 1913). (IV, 6.)
Roberts, Kate L. _The City Beautiful: A Study of Town-Planning and
Municipal Art_ (New York, 1916). (VI, 3, 5, 6.)
Sennett, A. R. _Garden Cities in Theory and Practice_ (2 vols.;
London, 1905). (III, 6.)
Stote, A. “Ideal American City,” _McBride’s_, XCVII (April, 1916),
89–99.
Symposium. “Regional Planning,” _Survey Graphic_, May 1, 1925.
Contains a series of suggestive articles on various aspects of city
growth and city-planning. (V, 5; VII, 1, 2, 3; III, 6.)
Tout, T. F. _Medieval Town-Planning_ (London, 1907). (II, 2; III, 6.)
Triggs, H. Inigo. _Town Planning_ (London, 1909).
VI. THE CITY AS A PHYSICAL MECHANISM
The aggregation of large numbers of human beings within a restricted
area, as is represented by the modern city, makes possible, and at the
same time makes imperative, the communal effort to satisfy certain
essential needs of all the inhabitants. The manner in which these needs
are met has become institutionalized. The facilities which have been
created to meet these needs make up the physical structure of the city
as a social mechanism.
1. The need for uninterrupted water supply, fuel, and light have brought
it about that the means of satisfying these wants are either in the
hands of the city as a corporate body, or, if in private hands, are
controlled and regulated by the city government. These public utilities
are of interest to the sociologist only in so far as they have a bearing
on group life and call forth attitudes, sentiments, and behavior which
influences the group. These factors may have an important relation to
the ecological organization of the city, and may furnish indexes to the
selective and distributive processes which result in the grouping of the
population. The lighting of the city may have a direct bearing on the
crime of the city, the water supply, on the health, etc. The regulation
of public utilities may become issues at elections and call forth
factionalism, thus bringing into play the social groupings in the
community.
Fassett, Charles M. _Assets of the Ideal City_ (New York, 1922).
A brief statement of various structural aspects of the city, with a
bibliography. (V, 4, 5; VI.)
Grahn, E. “Die städtischen Wasserwerke,” in Wuttke, _Die Deutschen
Städte_ (Leipzig, 1904), pp. 301–44.
A statement of the water-supply problem in German cities.
Höffner, C. “Die Gaswerke,” in Wuttke, _Die Deutschen Städte_
(Leipzig, 1904), pp. 198–238.
A statement of the evolution and present status of the technique of
gas supply in the modern city.
Jephson, H. L. _The Sanitary Evolution of London_ (London, 1907).
(VI.)
Kübler, Wilhelm. “Über städtische Elektrizitätswerke,” in Wuttke, _Die
Deutschen Städte_, pp. 239–300.
An account of the municipal electricity works in German cities.
Most books on the modern city contain a chapter on public utilities, and
a great many technical journals and municipal reports are accessible
giving detailed accounts of various aspects of both the technical, the
administrative, and the functional sides of the public utility
situation.
2. One of the most characteristic features of city life is the high
degree of intercommunication. This is made possible by technical
devices, such as the telephone, street cars, and the automobile. While
the sociologist has no intrinsic interest in these technical devices,
they become an object of study as factors entering, for instance, into
the problem of mobility of the city population.
D’Avenel, G. le Vicomte. _Le Mécanisme de la Vie moderne_ (3 vols.;
Paris, 1922).
Among many other aspects of the city as a physical mechanism, has a
chapter on publicity, urban transportation, and communication. This
work has gone through many editions and is written in a popular
style. (VI; IX, 1.)
Harris, Emerson Pitt. _The Community Newspaper_ (New York, 1923). (IX,
3.)
Kingsbury, J. E. _The Telephone and Telephone Exchanges: Their
Invention and Development_ (London and New York, 1915).
Lewis, H. M., and Goodrich, E. P. _Highway Traffic in New York and Its
Environs_ (New York, 1924).
The results of a study embodied in a report for the Committee on a
Regional Plan for New York and its Environs. (IV, 2; V, 4, 5; VI, 2;
VII, 2, 4.)
Park, Robert E. _The Immigrant Press and Its Control_ (New York,
1922).
A study of the organization and the influence of the press in the
immigrant communities of the large city (IX, 3.)
The municipal transportation and communication question has developed a
large literature which is to be found in many separate works on the
telephone, telegraph, radio, street-car systems, busses, automobile,
mail service, newspaper, and railways as well as in municipal reports,
technical and administrative journals, and textbooks on the city.
3. The existence of streets, pavement, alleys, sewers, and other devices
of the same sort that characterize the city as a physical mechanism
influence the behavior of the person and the group, and as such are of
interest to the sociologist.
Hirschfeld, Magnus. _Die Gurgel Berlins_, Vol. XLI in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A study of the main street of Berlin from the standpoint of its
effect on the individual and as a revelation of city life. (VI, 2;
VII, 2, 4.)
Quaife, Milo Milton. _Chicago’s Highways, Old and New_ (Chicago,
1923).
The changes wrought in the character of the city as viewed from the
point of view of the streets. (VI, 2; VII, 1, 2.)
Whipple, G. C. “Economical and Sanitary Problems of American Cities,”
_American City_ (February, 1921), p. 112. (VI.)
4. The many devices in the realm of public safety and welfare which are
the characteristic product of the city, such as fire department, police,
health inspection, and the manifold activities of the social agencies
concern the sociologist as typical expressions of group life in the city
environment.
Addams, Jane. _Twenty Years at Hull House; With Autobiographical
Notes_ (New York, 1910).
City life as seen in a typical social agency—the social settlement.
(V, 2, 3; VII, 5.)
Assessor (pseudonym). _Die Berliner Polizei_, Vol. XXXIV in
“Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A personal account of the police force of the modern city. (IX, 1.)
Anonymous. _Berliner Gerichte_, Vol. XXIV in “Grossstadt Dokumente”
(Berlin, 1905).
Daily experiences in a typical city court.
Carbaugh, H. C. _Human Welfare Work in Chicago_ (Chicago, 1917).
A brief account of the various specialized social agencies operating
in the large city. (VII, 5; IX, 1.)
Fitzpatrick, Edward A. _Interrelationships of Hospital and Community_,
reprint from _Modern Hospital_, February, 1925. Pamphlet.
A sketch of the possible place and nature of a health agency in a
modern urban community.
Fosdick, Raymond, and Associates. _Criminal Justice in Cleveland_,
directed and edited by Roscoe Pound and Felix Frankfurter
(Cleveland, 1922). (VI, 7.)
Fosdick, Raymond B. _European Police Systems_ (New York, 1915).
——. _American Police Systems_ (New York, 1920).
Harrison, Shelby M. _Public Employment Offices; Their Purpose,
Structure, and Method_ (New York, 1924). (IX, 1.)
Richmond, Mary E. _The Good Neighbor in the Modern City_ (Philadelphia
and London, 1913).
Suggestions to the layman about the social agencies and their work
in the large modern city. (V, 2; VII, 5.)
Wilson, Warren H. _The Evolution of the Country Community: A Study in
Religious Sociology_ (Boston, New York, Chicago, 1912).
Gives types of organizations and institutions. (V, 3; X, 2.)
In almost every large city the number of social agencies and public
institutions is so large and their work so varied that directories of
these agencies have been made available. In addition, reports and
surveys of many cities are at hand, and the periodical literature is
tremendous.
5. The cultural needs of the community find expression in the city in
the form of schools, theaters, museums, parks, monuments, and other
public enterprises. They exert an influence extending beyond the
boundaries of the city itself, and may be regarded as agencies for the
definition of the person’s wishes. They are indicative of the level of
social life which the community has achieved.
Carroll, Charles E. _The Community Survey in Relation to Church
Efficiency_ (New York, 1915).
Typical of studies bearing on the place of religious and cultural
agencies in city life. (X, 2.)
For a basic statement of the problem of education in the modern
city, compare Dewey, John, _Democracy and Education_ (New York,
1916).
Moore, E. C. “Provision for the Education of the City Child,” _School
and Society_, III (February 19, 1916), 265–72.
Phelan, J. J. _Motion Pictures as a Phase of Commercialized Amusement
in Toledo, Ohio_ (Toledo, Ohio, 1919).
Tews, Johannes. _Berliner Lehrer_, Vol. XX in “Grossstadt Dokumente”
(Berlin, 1905).
An intimate study of a professional group in the large city. (IX,
1.)
Trawick, Arcadius McSwain. _The City Church and Its Social Mission_
(New York, 1913).
Turszinsky, Walter. _Berliner Theater_, Vol. XXIX of “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905). (III, 4; V, 1; VI, 6.)
Ward, Edward J. _The Social Center_ (New York and London, 1915). (VI,
6; VII, 5.)
6. The leisure-time activities which the city produces are so intimately
connected with the life of the people that they furnish clues as to the
pathology or disorganization typical of city life. The dance hall, the
movie, the amusement park, the back-yard or vacant lot improvised
playground, and the many other forms of public, commercialized, or
improvised recreation facilities are phases of group life which cannot
escape the Sociologist.
Arndt, Arno. _Berliner Sport_, Vol. X in “Grossstadt Dokumente”
(Berlin, 1905).
Describes various specialized, institutionalized, and commercialized
forms of sport life in Berlin. (IX, 2, 4.)
Bowman, LeRoy E., and Lambin, Maria Ward. “Evidences of Social
Relations as Seen in Types of New York City Dance Halls,” _Jour.
Social Forces_, III (January, 1925), 286–91. (IX, 2, 3, 4.)
Buchner, Eberhard. _Berliner Variétés und Tingeltangel_, Vol. XXII in
“Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
Analysis of various types of the variété, cabaret, and burlesque,
and the development of these institutions in the city. (IX, 1, 3,
4.)
Günther, Viktor. _Petersbourg s’amuse_, Vol. XXXII in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
The recreational activities of the Russian capital. (III, 4; V, 1;
IX, 2.)
Herschmann, Otto. _Wiener Sport_, Vol. XII in “Grossstadt Dokumente”
(Berlin, 1905).
Describes the recreational activities of the dominant population
groups in Vienna. (IX, 4.)
Ostwald, H. O. A. _Berliner Kaffeehäuser_, Vol. VII in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
Human behavior in the coffee houses of Berlin. (IX, 1, 4.)
——. _Berliner Tanzlokale_, Vol. IV in “Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin,
1905).
Intimate glimpses of the diverse types of dance halls and their
habitués. (V, 2, 3; VII, 5; IX, 1, 4.)
Phelan, John J. _Pool, Billiards, and Bowling Alleys as a Phase of
Commercialized Amusement in Toledo_ (Toledo, 1919). (VII, 5)
Rhodes, H. “City Summers,” _Harper’s_, CXXXI (June, 1915), 2–15.
The seasonal aspects of city recreation.
7. The city government shows, perhaps more clearly than many other
phases of city life, the extent to which the city has revolutionized
social life and has changed the habits and attitudes of the people. In
the city government we can see the various local, national, cultural,
and interest groups attempting to exert their influence. In the city we
see the political boss as a typical product of an anomalous situation.
Here we find such phenomena as non-voting, the clash between local and
occupational groups, and many other disharmonies between the needs of
the people and the institutions that are present to satisfy them.
Bruere, Henry. _The New City Government_ (New York, 1913).
A study of the commission form of government in cities.
Capes, William Parr. _The Modern City and Its Government_ (New York,
1922).
Clerk (pseudonym). _Berliner Beamte_, Vol. XLIII in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A study of the types of civil servants developed by modern city
government. (IX, 1, 2, 4.)
Cleveland, Frederick A. _Chapters on Municipal Administration and
Accounting_ (New York, 1909 and 1915).
Cummin, G. C. “Will the City-Manager Form of Government Fit All
Cities—Large Cities—Machine-Controlled Cities?” _National
Municipal Rev._, VII (May, 1918), 276–81.
Ely, Richard T. _The Coming City_ (New York, 1902).
An address taking up some of the problems connected with the
government, public interest in administration, and corruption in the
modern American city. (VII, 5.)
Gilbert, Arthur Benson. _American Cities: Their Methods of Business_
(New York, 1918).
Goodnow, Frank J. _City Government in the United States_ (New York,
1904 and 1909).
Hill, Howard C. _Community Life and Civic Problems_ (New York, 1922).
An elementary textbook for community civics classes. (V, 3; VI.)
McKenzie, R. D. “Community Forces: A Study of the Non-Partisan
Municipal Elections in Seattle,” _Journal of Social Forces_
(January, March, May, 1924).
A study of the relation between local groupings and political
attitudes. (IV, 3; V, 1, 2, 3; VII, 5; IX, 3.)
Munro, W. B. _Municipal Government and Administration_ (New York,
1923). (II, 3; IV, 3; VII, 1.)
——. _The Government of American Cities_ (3d ed.; New York, 1921).
A standard textbook on city government in the United States. By the
same author, a companion volume, _The Government of European
Cities_. (VI, 7; IV, 3.)
Odum, Howard W. _Community and Government: A Manual of Discussion and
Study of the Newer Ideals of Citizenship_ (Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, 1921).
Steffens, Lincoln. _The Shame of the Cities_ (New York, 1907).
An exposure of corruption in city governments. (VII, 5.)
Toulmin, Harry A. _The City Manager: A New Profession_ (New York,
1915). (IX, 1.)
Weber, G. A. _Organized Efforts for the Improvement of Methods of
Administration in the United States_ (New York and London, 1919).
Weyl, Walter E. “The Brand of the City,” _Harper’s_, CXXX (April,
1915), 769–75.
Wilcox, Delos F. _Great Cities in America: Their Problems and Their
Government_ (New York, 1910). (IV, 3; VI; VII, 1, 5.)
Zueblin, Charles. _A Decade of Civic Development_ (Chicago, 1905).
A discussion of the state of American city civilization at the
beginning of the twentieth century. (V, 4, 5; VI; VII, 1; VIII, 1.)
8. The complexity, specialization, and dependence of the city are seen
clearly in the methods by which the city gets its food supply and other
vital necessities for the existence of the population. The food trains,
milk trains, cattle trains, the miles of refrigerator cars and coal cars
that daily enter the large city, the warehouses and the stores, the
countless delivery wagons that line the streets—all these are evidence
of what a tremendously complex and efficient organization has grown up
to meet the urgent wants, the desires for subsistence and for luxury of
our millions of city-dwellers. Here too we sometimes see examples of
what anxiety and what calamity might result from the slightest
interruption or dislocation in the methods of supplying the city with
these varied specialties. The department store and the chain store are
characteristic city institutions, corresponding to the grouping of the
city population.
Colze, Leo. _Berliner Warenhäuser_, Vol. XLVII in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
Berlin stores. (III, 4; IV, 1; V, 1; IX, 1.)
Loeb, Moritz. _Berliner Konfektionen_, Vol. XV in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
Ready-made clothing establishments. (V, 1, 4; IX, 1.)
Parker, Horatio Newton. _City Milk Supply_ (New York, 1917). (IV, 1.)
Shideler, E. H. “The Business Center as an Institution,” _Jour. Appl.
Sociol._, IX (March, April, 1925), 269–75.
An outline of the local trade center in the urban community and its
significance in city life. (IV, 1; V, 1, 2, 3; VII, 1, 2.)
9. One of the latest phases of city development is the direct result of
the invention of a new technique of building. Steel construction has
made possible the skyscraper, the elevated railroad, and the subway, and
thus introduced a new dimension into city growth. This new technique has
made possible a density, per unit of ground surface, which has given the
city an entirely new complexion. The full effects of this new invention
are still not fully known.
Holborn, I. B. S. “The City: The Outer Expression of an Inner Self,”
_Art World_, III (December, 1917), 217–21. (III, 1; IX, 2.)
Mumford, Lewis. _Sticks and Stones: A Study of American Civilization_
(New York, 1925).
An evaluation and critique of the architectural aspects of American
cities and their cultural significance. (V, 5; VI, 9; X, 2.)
Nichols, C. M. (editor). _Studies on Building-Height Limitations in
Large Cities_ (Chicago, 1923).
Written from the point of view of the real-estate profession.
Schumacher, Fritz. “Architektonische Aufgaben der Städte,” in Wuttke,
_Die Deutschen Städte_, pp. 47–66.
Discussion of the changing needs and methods in urban construction.
The literature on the significance of the steel-construction technique
is still very small. The professional engineers and architects have
contributed some to their journals, but the interpretation of their
contributions is still to be made.
10. Land values are the chief determining influence in the segregation
of local areas and in the determination of the uses to which an area is
to be put. Land values also determine more specifically the type of
building that is to be erected in a given area—whether it shall be a
tenement house, an office building, a factory, or a single dwelling—what
buildings shall be razed, and what buildings are to be repaired. The
technique of determining city land values has developed into a highly
specialized and well-paid profession. Land values are so potent a
selective factor that the human ecologist will find in them a very
accurate index to many phases of city life.
Aronovici, Carol. _Housing and the Housing Problem_ (Chicago, 1921).
A study of the relation between rent, income, and housing.
Arner, G. B. L. “Urban Land Economics,” in volume, _Urban Land
Economics_, Institute for Research in Land Economics (Ann Arbor,
Michigan, 1922).
Gives a summary of land values in New York City and an outline of
the subject. (VII, 1, 2.)
George, W. L. _Labor and Housing at Port Sunlight_ (London, 1909).
(III, 4, 6; V, 4, 5; IX, 1.)
“Housing and Town Planning,” _Ann. Amer. Acad._, LI (January, 1914),
1–264.
An excellent collection of authoritative articles on housing, city
planning, city land values, transportation, and government. (III, 6;
IV, 1, 2, 3; V; VII; VIII.)
_Hull House Maps and Papers_ (New York, 1895).
A presentation of nationalities and wages in a congested district of
Chicago together with comments and essays on problems growing out of
the social conditions. (VII, 2, 3, 4, 5; IX, 3.)
Hunter, Robert. _Tenement Conditions in Chicago: Report by the
Investigating Committee of the City Homes Association_ (Chicago,
1901). (VII, 5.)
Hurd, Richard M. _Principles of City Land Values_ (New York, 1924).
Land valuation on the basis of city growth. Shows that the coming of
the automobile, making available large tracts for residential
purposes, the radio, and other devices for intercommunication have
not materially changed the general principles of city growth.
Contains maps and photographs showing foot-front values for various
cities and land utilization. (VII, 1, 4; VI, 2.)
Morehouse, E. W., and Ely, R. T. _Elements of Land Economics_ (New
York, 1924).
An introduction to land valuation. Chapter vi, on urban land
utilization. (VII, 1, 2; X, 2.)
McMichael, Stanley L., and Bingham, Robert F. _City Growth and Values_
(Cleveland, 1923).
An authoritative statement. (VII, 1.)
Olcott, George C. _Olcott’s Land Value Maps_ (annually, Chicago,
1909–25).
Valuations of Chicago real estate.
Pratt, Edward Ewing. _Industrial Causes of Congestion of Population in
New York City_ (New York, 1911).
Contains an excellent bibliography. (III, 4; V, 1, 2, 4, 5; VI, 2,
3; VII, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.)
Reeve, Sidney A. “Congestion in Cities,” _Geog. Rev._, III (1917),
278–93.
Regards congestion as a growing menace to public health and social
stability, and analyzes the causes and suggests remedies. (V, 4, 5;
VI; VII, 1, 2, 5; VIII 1.)
Riis, Jacob A. _How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements
of New York_ (New York, 1890 and 1914).
This together with his other book, _The Battle with the Slum_ (New
York, 1892), has done much to call public attention to the tenement
problem of the large American city and to invite remedial
legislation. (V, 1, 2, 4, 5; VII, 1, 2, 5.)
Schumacher, F. “Probleme der Grossstadt,” _Deutsche Rundschau für
Geog._, CXXC (July 5, 1919), 66–81, 262–85, 416–29. (V; VI; VII;
VIII.)
Smythe, William Ellsworth. _City Homes on Country Lanes: Philosophy
and Practice of the Home-in-a-Garden_ (New York, 1921). (V, 5.)
Stella, A. “_The Effects of Urban Congestion on Italian Women and
Children_,” _Medical Record_, LXXIII (New York, 1908), 722–32. (V,
1, 3; VIII, 1.)
Südekum, Albert. _Grossstädtisches Wohnungselend_, Vol. XLV in
“Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A description of a typical tenement area in the European city and
its effects on human behavior. (VII, 5; IX, 3.)
Veiller, Lawrence. “The Housing Problem in America,” _Ann. Amer.
Academy_, XXV (1905), 248–75.
In this article, as well as in his later works (for instance,
_Housing Reform_ (New York, 1910)), the writer, who has been
regarded as one of the foremost housing students in America,
outlines some of the social consequences of bad housing in the
modern city and questions the adequacy of democratic form of
government in the slum areas. (V; IX, 3.)
VII. THE GROWTH OF THE CITY
The growth of the city has been described as the outstanding
characteristic of modern civilization. The sociologist is interested in
the processes underlying this phenomenon.
1. One of the most obvious phases of this growth is the addition in
numbers and the expansion in area of the city. This has been accurately
measured by the statisticians and geographers. The typical process of
expansion is from the core of the city outward toward the periphery.
While ample materials for such studies of processes exist, their
interpretation and analysis is yet to be undertaken. In the process of
growth the city tends to become empty, as concerns habitations, at the
center. This phenomenon is referred to as “city-building.”
Ballard, W. J. “Our Twenty-nine Largest Cities, _Jour. Educ._, XXCIII
(April 27, 1916), 468.
Bassett, E. M. “Distribution of Population in Cities,” _American
City_, XIII (July, 1915), 7–8.
Bernhard, H. “Die Entvölkerung des Landes,” _Deutsche Rundschau für
Geog._, XXXVII (1914–15), 563–67.
Of twenty-one countries examined, all showed an increase in urban
population between 1880–1910, in most cases far exceeding the
natural increase in population, and a decrease in percentage of
rural population. (VII, 3; VIII, 1; X, 2.)
Brown, Robert M. “City Growth and City Advertising” (Abstract of paper
read at 1921 Conference of American Geographers), _Ann. Assoc.
Amer. Geog._, XII (1922), 155.
A discussion of the causes of growth of American cities with an
analysis of the one hundred cities showing the largest gains since
1910. Classification as to type of advertising campaigns used.
Bushee, F. A. “The Growth of Population of Boston,” _Pub. Amer.
Statistical Assoc._, VI (1899), 239–74. (VIII, 3.)
_City-Building: A Citation of Methods in Use in More Than One Hundred
Cities for the Solution of Important Problems in the Progressive
Growth of the American Municipality_ (Cincinnati, 1913). (V, 4, 5;
VI; VII, 5.)
“City Growth by Dead Reckoning,” _Literary Digest_, XXCII (August 9,
1924), 12.
Fawcett, C. B. “British Conurbations in 1921,” _Sociol. Rev._, XIV
(April, 1922), 111–22.
Feather, W. A. “Cities That Make Good,” _Forum_, LVII (May, 1917),
623–28.
Gregory, W. M. “Growth of the Cities of Washington,” _Jour. Geog._,
XIV (May, 1916), 348–53. (VII, 3.)
“How Big Should a City Be?” _Literary Digest_, LI (August 28, 1915),
399–400.
James, Edmund J. “The Growth of Great Cities,” _Ann. Amer. Academy_,
XIII (1899), 1–30. (VII, 2, 3.)
Traces the growth of the cities and the genesis of the problems
connected with it.
Jefferson, Mark. “Great Cities of the United States in 1920,” _Geog.
Rev._, XI (July, 1921), 437–41.
Martell, P. “Die Bevölkerungsentwicklung der Stadt Berlin,”
_Allgemeines Statistisches Archiv_, X (1917), 207–15. (VII, 3;
VIII, 1.)
Püschel, Alfred. _Das Anwachsen der Deutschen Städte in der Zeit der
mittelalterlichen Kolonialbewegung_ (Berlin, 1910).
Contains fifteen city plans. Traces the growth of cities in the
medieval period and the changes in city structure. (II, 2; VII, 2.)
Ridgley, D. C. “Sixty-eight Cities of the United States in 1920,”
_Jour. Geog._, XX (February, 1921), 75–79.
One of a series of postcensus-report analyses of the growth of the
urban population.
Roth, Lawrence V. “The Growth of American Cities,” _Geog. Rev._, V
(May, 1918), 384–98.
Holds that the growth of the cities of the United States has passed
through four periods, each of which in its turn was the response to
the commercial and industrial development of a new geographical
region. Distinguishes between site and situation in city growth, and
is here concerned mainly with general situation as a contributory
influence. (III, 2, 3, 4.)
Sedlaczek. “Die Bevölkerungszunahme der Grossstädte im XIX Jahrhundert
und deren Ursachen,” _Report of the Eighth International Congress
of Hygiene and Demography_ (Budapest, 1894). (VII, 3; VIII, 1; X,
1.)
United States Bureau of the Census. _A Century of Population Growth_
(Washington, 1909). (VII, 3; VIII; X, 2.)
United States Bureau of the Census. _Population: Fourteenth Census of
the United States_ (3 vols.; Washington, 1920). (VII, 3; VIII, 1,
2; IX, 1; X, 2.)
Van Cleef, E. “How Big Is Your Town?” _American City_, XVII (November,
1917), 471–73.
Weber, Adna Ferrin. _The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century: A
Study in Statistics_, “Columbia University Studies in History,
Economics, and Public Law” (New York, 1899).
Besides being the most important book on the growth of the city from
a statistical standpoint, it contains many other features of great
value to the student of the city, especially of the influence of the
urban environment on the population. (VII, 2, 3; VIII.)
“Why Cities Grow,” _Literary Digest_, LVIII (August 17, 1918), 22–23.
Zahn, F. “Die Volkszählung von 1900 und die Grossstadtfrage,”
_Jahrbuch für Nationalökonomie und Statistik_, XXCI (1903),
191–215. (VII, 3.)
2. Every addition in numbers and expansion of the city area is
accompanied by the redistribution and re-allocation of the whole
population. Some elements are given a new locus, while others shift but
little as a result of the stimulus incident to the arrival of newcomers.
This redistribution of the city population has become a constantly
operating process in view of the constant growth of the city either
through natural increase of the population or through migration from
without.
Allison, Thomas W. “Population Movements in Chicago,” _Jour. of Social
Forces_, II (May, 1924), 529–33. (V, 1, 3; VII, 4.)
Aurousseau, M. “Distribution of Population: A Constructive Problem,”
_Geog. Rev._, XI (October, 1921), 568–75.
“Density concerns itself with the number of people per unit of area;
distribution deals with the comparative study of density from area
to area; and arrangement considers the way in which people are
grouped. Grouping is the fundamental concept....” (I, 1; IV, 1; X,
2.)
Bushee, F. A. “Ethnic Factors in the Population of Boston,” _Pub.
Amer. Statistical Assoc._, Vol. IV, No. 2, pp. 307–477. (V, 1, 2,
3.)
Douglas, H. Paul. _The Suburban Trend_ (New York, 1925).
Traces the movement toward decentralization in the larger American
urban communities. (VII, 2, 1, 4; IV, 2; III, 5; V, 4.)
Hirschfeld, Magnus. _Berlins drittes Geschlecht_, Vol. III in
“Grossstadt Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A study of the homosexuals in Berlin as a sample of the grouping of
population in the large city. (V, 1, 3; VII, 5.)
Hooker, G. E. “City-Planning and Political Areas,” _Nat. Mun. Rev._,
VI (May, 1917), 337–45. (IV, 3; V, 1, 4, 5; VI, 7.)
The London Society. _The London of the Future_ (New York and London,
1921).
An excellent view of the processes bringing about the allocation of
the population and the trend of growth of the city from the core
pressing outward toward the periphery. (II, 3; III, 1, 5, 6; IV; V;
VI; VII; VIII, 1, 2, 3; IX, 1, 2, 3, 4.)
Ripley, W. Z. “Racial Geography of Europe,” _Popular Science Monthly_,
LII (1898), 591–608; XIV, “Urban Problems.” See also his “Races of
Europe,” chap. xx, on “Ethnic Stratification and Urban Selection.”
(V, 3.)
Salten, Felix. _Wiener Adel_, Vol. XIV in “Grossstadt Dokumente”
(Berlin, 1905).
Shows the local grouping of the nobility in the large European city.
(IX, 4.)
Schmid, Herman. _City bildung und Bevölkerungsverteilung in
Grossstädten: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des modernen
Städtewesens_ (München, 1909).
Shows that the normal process of growth of the city is by emptying
at the center, and redistributing its population around the
periphery. (Compare Mark Jefferson, “The Anthropography of Some
Great Cities: A Study in Distribution of Population,” _Bull. Amer.
Geog. Soc._, XLI (1909), 537–66. (VII, 4, 5.))
Williams, James M. _An American Town: A Sociological Study_ (New York,
1906).
Primarily an analysis of an American community from a
socio-psychological standpoint. Contains some interesting facts on
growth and distribution of population. (III, 5; V, 1, 2, 3; IX, 1,
3.)
Winter, Max. _Im unterirdischen Wien_, Vol. XIII in “Grossstadt
Dokumente” (Berlin, 1905).
A description of Vienna, showing the processes of segregation,
allocation, and communication at work in the city population. (V, 1;
VI, 4, 6; VII, 5; IX, 3, 4.)
3. During the latter part of the nineteenth century the expressions,
“the flight from the country,” and “the drift to the city” began to be
heard. The rapid increase in population of the cities was found to be
due not to natural increase, i.e., excess of births over deaths, but to
migration from the surrounding rural area. In America the rapid increase
in the size of the cities was due chiefly to an increasing stream of
European immigrants who avoided the farm but were attracted to the urban
environment. Population statisticians have been alert to discover
whether this process is continuing or whether a change is taking place.
Improvements in rural life and conscious efforts to control the movement
of population have been observed as to their possible effect on the
rural-urban population equilibrium.
Ashby, A. W. “Population and the Land,” _Edinburgh Rev._, CCXXIV
(1916), 321–39. (X, 1, 2.)
Ballod, C. “Sterblichkeit und Fortpflanzung der Stadtbevölkerung,”
_Jahrbuch für Nationalökonomie und Statistik_, XXXIII (1909),
521–41. (VIII, 1, 3.)
Bauer, L. _Der Zug nach der Stadt_ (Stuttgart, 1904). Reviewed in
_Archiv f. Rassen u. Gesellschaftsbiologie_, II, 300. (VII, 1.)
Beusch, P. _Wanderungen und Stadtkultur: eine bevolkerungspolitische
und sozialethische Studie_ (München-Gladbach, 1916).
Böckh, R. “Der Anteil der örtlichen Bewegung an der Zunahme der
Bevölkerung der Grossstädte,” _Congress Intern. d’Hygiène et de
Démographie_ (Budapest, 1894). (VII, 1.)
Bowley, A. L. “Births and Population in Great Britain,” _Econ. Jour._,
XXXIV (June, 1924), 188–92. (VII, 1; VIII, 1.)
Bryce, P. H. “Effects upon Public Health and Natural Prosperity from
Rural Depopulation and Abnormal Increase of Cities,” _Amer. Jour.
Public Health_, New York, V, 48–56. (VIII; X, 1, 2.)
Cacheux, E. “Influence des grandes villes sur la dépopulation,” _Rev.
Philanthrop._ Paris, XXXVII (1916), 513–18. (VIII; X, 1.)
Dickerman, G. S. “The Drift to the Cities,” _Atlantic Monthly_, CXI
(1913), 349–53. (IX, 2; X, 1, 2.)
Dittmann, P. _Die Bevölkerungsbewegung der deutschen Grossstädte seit
der Gründung des deutschen Reiches_ (Bamberg, 1912). (VII, 1.)
Groves, E. R. “Urban Complex: A Study of the Psychological Aspects of
the Urban Drift,” _Sociol. Rev._, XII (1920), 73–81. (IX, 2; X,
2.)
Hecke, W. “Volksvermehrung, Binnenwanderung, und Umgangssprache in den
österreichischen Alpenländern und Südländern,” _Statist.
Monatsschr._, XXXIX (1913), 323–92. (VIII, 1. 3; X, 2.)
Hoaglund, H. E. “The Movement of Rural Population in Illinois,” _Jour.
Pol. Econ._, XX (1912), 913–27.
Mayr, G. von. _Die Bevölkerung der Grossstädte_, in “Die Grossstadt”
(Dresden, 1903).
One of the best statements of the problem. (VII, 1, 2; VIII, 1, 2,
3.)
Prinzing, Dr. F. “Die Bevölkerungsentwicklung Stockholms, 1721–1920,”
_Jahrbuch für Nationalökonomie und Statistik_, XLVII (1924),
87–93.
An excellent case study of the situation in a modern European city.
(VII, 1; X, 1, 2.)
——. “Einheimische und Zugezogene in den Grossstädten,” _Zeitschr. für
Sozialwiss._, VII (Berlin, 1904), 660–67.
Ravenstein, E. G. “The Laws of Migration,” _Jour. Royal Statist.
Soc._, XLVIII (1885), 167–227. (X, 2.)
Spencer, A. G. “Changing Population of Our Large Cities,”
_Kindergarten Primary Mag._, XXIII (1910), 65–71.
Steinhart, A. _Untersuchung zur Gebürtigkeit der deutschen
Grossstadtbevölkerung, Entwicklung, und Ursachen_, “Rechts und
Staatswissenschaftliche Studien,” Heft 45 (Berlin, 1912). (VIII,
1; X, 2.)
Voss, W. “Städtische Kleinsiedlung,” _Archiv für exacte
Wirtschaftsforschung_, IX (1919), 377–412.
Weisstein, G. “Sind die Städte wirklich Menschenverzehrer?” _Deutsche
Städte Ztg._ (1905), pp. 153–54.