What is Urban?

As Lewis Mumford notes in his 1937 Architectural Record article, "What Is a City?" the city goes far beyond "a purely physical fact." Broadly, the concept of a city is a socially constructed notion that humans and human activities can be inherently separated from nature. In reality, the environmental processes-flora, fauna, photosynthesis, groundwater, etc.-that we consider belonging to the rural realm, do not cease to exist where the pavement begins. While, there is a physical space that "urban" and "city" embody, the physical is more of a reaction to other things.

A more useful definition of "urban" is that of a central location where ideas, resources, and all modes of economic needs are shared and traded between people. Urban is the nexus where people communicate with other people. If this manifests itself as a physical space, it is largely because people envision it as such; the perception that jobs and marketplaces and entertainment are available in one location leads people to come to that location.

With this as a working definition, we can extrapolate the institutions that comprise the urban manner of life. None are present in every urban area but, used together diagnostically, they provide a good road map for what constitutes an urban area. The general characteristic of such institutions is that they supersede direct person-to-person interactions in favor of a group mentality where specialization is necessary for the increased economic capability of all involved. Corporations-for profit businesses-facilitate this group involvement and, in general, the larger the quantity and size of corporations, the more likely a space is to be urban. Governments are an effort to coordinate people's economic activity and they are often found in urban areas, where they can exercise a central authority.

Another harbinger of the city is the presence of people and the services that cater to them en masse. In this still heavily industrial world, people congregate in cities because there physical presence is often necessary to manufacture economic goods, to trade ideas, and to obtain for themselves the goods they desire. Cities are marked by their presence and the presence of the organizations that cater to the demands of high density living: means of housing, food distribution, and efficient transportation. Education systems serve the dual role of providing childcare while parents engage in activity that does not welcome children and preparing the children to assume the complicated tasks of the city-tasks that parents do not have time or, often, expertise to teach. Police are necessary to maintain calm among strangers. Entertainment industries and spaces-movie theaters, ice hockey rinks, sports arenas, parks-also assist maintaining order during people's leisure hours. Media institutions provide entertainment and disperse information, which is necessary to maximize economic activity.

In the 1920s and 1930s, when Mumford and Wirth wrote their treatises on the city, the technological limitations of the age imposed a very real physicality on the city. Today, the rise of the internet means that certain functions of the city do not need to take on a physical location. Much intellectual production that relies on coordination between people can now occur across vast physical spaces. We see this in the "internet marketplace" where ideas and goods are bought and sold online (although many goods still need to be transported physically, giving an advantage to the city having a physical aspect). Media and information sharing is even farther along in the process of moving toward the digital sphere. How this will impact the future of the city is hard to predict, but it seems safe to assume that it will continue to erode the physical domain of the economic transactions at the heart of the city.

Using the above criterion for defining a city yields a fairly predictable output: the cities with names on the map. If we pick St. Paul, Minnesota, at random as a case study we can show definitively that it is an urban area. St. Paul has a vibrant business community including Travelers Insurance and Ecolab in the city limits and 3M and Ford Motors nearby. St. Paul is also the capitol of Minnesota and the legislators, lawyers, bureaucrats, and employees of the cottage industries to the legislature all help regulate and facilitate economic activity in the cities. Their presence in St. Paul is evidence of the St. Paul's status as a focal point for person-to-person organization.

There are almost 300,000 people who live in the "city limits" of St. Paul, a 56 square mile expanse bordering the Mississippi River. There are neighborhoods throughout St. Paul with diverse housing options including Victorians on Summit Avenue, lakefront housing on the Mississippi, middle class streets in Como Park, and cheaper housing in the North End. The grocery stores-Kowalskis, Whole Foods, Target, Cub Foods, Rainbow Foods-and restaurants are also evidence of the urban nature of the city. St. Paul has an extensive public and private education system from elementary schools to universities. There are also public spaces and events like the downtown Rice Park and the Winter Carnival.

The recent Republican National Convention highlighted St. Paul's position as a place for trading ideas-the 15,000 journalists descending into the Xcel Center embodied the centrality of communication that is a hallmark of the city. The police response to protesters also demonstrated one of the "urban" criterion. The local newspaper, the Pioneer Press, does much to focus on "local" news, creating a sense of community for the city of St. Paul.

While the idea of "urban" and "city" transcends physical location, present realities ensure that, for now at least, the attributes that make something a city are alive in St. Paul.

Source

Mumford, Lewis. "What is a City?" Architectural Record. The City Reader, 2^nd ed. Edited by Richard T. LeGates. ©1996, 2000. Rutledge.