Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: William H. Goetzmann. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Geography. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-152). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11813

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2005. / Title from title screen (viewed January 28, 2009) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Indian Subcontinental Studies, School of Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.

This thesis is part of a larger continuous study which deals with the concept of "Life Style" as a force mapping segments of the urban society into reasonably distinct areas within a metropolitan district. This paper then uses the concept of the "Life Style" as a starting point. The life style chosen here for study is connected with those people who select to live in the dense residential environments associated with the urban core. By examining such an area, its context within the metropolis is found, and the elements constituting it and their interconnections are identified. From the form giving forces generated by this information, a residential system is developed that reflects and reinforces the life style of the population under study. The system is evolved in a “model' abstract area that exhibits characteristics and constraints common to many metropoli, and later applied to a real situation in a particular city to test the efficacy of the system under typical conditions. For the sake of the thesis, I have called the model "Intropolis". It is suggested that new skills and new methods will need to be devised to describe the specific segments of the metropolitan area. To describe Intropolis I have asked a number of questions. The necessary information to answer these questions has been found from census data, from our own observations, and from a sample attitude test undertaken in the West End of Vancouver. The questions are as follows: 1. Who are the people that congregate in a specific area and what are their characteristics and attitudes? Here I have described families in the model area, the households, and the attitudes of members of the household to each other. I was also concerned with household economics and its influence on choices; the sources of family income and the kind of work that procured it seemed to have an influence on values and choices made. 2. How is time used? Observation of activities and their position in space and time becomes as important to the environmental designers as the more normal census data. 3. What are the important forms and tools of communication between people? The urban area is often defined as a system of contacts, and it is suggested that the pattern of place and space may influence the nature of contacts, and vice versa that the nature of the contacts will influence the needs of space. New forms of communication have been a great influence on urban form. I found that these tools must however not be taken for granted as they are not equally available to all groups within the community. After completing the description of the model area, information was perceived as a form giving force from which some of the factors which determine the character of the area can be deduced. These are described in the second part of the thesis. They include a) A basic movement system b) A system of relationships of housing to institutions such as schools, hospitals, churches, public and social services, and commercial and business needs. c) A system of contacts and separations within the area, including open and enclosed spaces. d) A range of choice and a range of densities of housing types. The thesis concludes by integrating these forces into a diagrammatic whole on the model area. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

The dissertation reports the results of an ethnographic investigation of urban Malay associate choice in the town of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, West Malaysia. Field data were collected using standard anthropological techniques of participant observation, interviewing, the collection of activity schedules, and genealogies. The geographical, historical, and demographic context of the town is described. Malay urbanism is rather similar to the urbanism of Indonesian middle cities in that it is characterized by an involutional or static character in which few new social forms are produced or created. It is possible to account for the involutional character of Malay urbanism by reference to the factors of land and neighbourhood as they interact with factors arising from the occupational structure of the town. Urban life is characterized by two contrasting ideologies. The ideology of work forms the basis of the system of urban stratification; by emphasizing the motif of pride this ideology makes it difficult for urbanites to form associations across categories. In contrast, the ideology of association emphasizes the motif of humility and stresses the qualities of reciprocity and balance between individuals. Neither ideology can be said to govern urban life. Rather, Malay urbanism is a synthesis of considerations arising from both systems mediated by the choices of individual urbanites. Through an analysis of the use of time and associate choice it is demonstrated that although constraints of occupation account for certain regularities in the data, other factors are also significant. The analysis of a number of cases indicates that the relationship between the urbanite and the urban local group is a particularly significant factor influencing his choices. This is further supported by the analysis of a number of "special time" events which most frequently take place among members of the local groups and often emphasize solidarity among the members. The analysis of data from several areas of the town indicates the importance of land ownership as a factor defining membership in the local group. The local group is occupationally heterogeneous and considerations arising from the ideology of stratification make the possibility of dissolution potentially high. It is the joint interest in land which forms the basis for associations transcending these divisive tendencies. When, however, urbanites lose control over their land, the neighbourhood and the local group dissolve and urbanites search elsewhere for a part of the town where they can settle and create ties with a new set of neighbours, joining a new local group. Rather than creating new social forms to meet the changed conditions of the neighbourhood, they recreate the patterns to which they are accustomed in another part of the town. As a result of this, the pattern of urbanism remains unchanged and continues to have an involutional or static character. These findings challenge the conclusion of Provencher that Malay urbanism is a recreation and intensification of rural patterns. It is found that although the form and expression of reciprocity may be similar in town and village, in the village reciprocity is sustained by the recognition of similarities, whereas in the city it-is sustained by the recognition of differences. While Malay urbanism is different from rural life, it is also distinguished from the dynamic urbanism associated with European towns in their early stages in which the creation of new forms of social organization was the rule. It is the factors of land and neighbourhood which account for the transitional, involutional character of Malay urbanism. The dissertation epilogue describes an application of the thesis to a specific problem in national development policy planning. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

Among the major interests of students of urbanism and urbanization in the United States have been the understanding and explication of differences between urban and rural segments of American society. Coupled with this has been an attempt to theoretically delineate the effects of these differences on the social psychological adjustment of urban and rural inhabitants. The culmination of this work in sociology is to be found in Wirth's (1938) essay "Urbanism as a Way of Life." Wirth identified three major differences between urban and rural lifestyles which have been the impetus for considerable research and controversy. The three major differences identified by Wirth are: 1. the weakening of primary relationships, 2. the development of a distinctly urban personality characterized by rationality, utility and adaptability, and 3. the development of a community based on interest rather than locality. Research has, to date, been equivocal in its support or rejection of these differences. This dissertation represents another attempt to test what might be called the "Wirthian hypotheses II but with a major departure from other attempts. Rather than using current urban or rural residence as the major independent variables, urban or rural residences at age 16 are used. The research was conducted using data from two sample surveys, one a national sample (the "General Social Survey" conducted by NORC in the Spring of 1975), and one a sample of Portland, Oregon's 65 and over population (the "Supplementary Security Income Survey" conducted by the Institute on Aging in 1975). The research was limited to older persons 60 years of age and over. This dissertation, then, is an attempt to gauge the effects of residential history on the three central hypotheses derived from the earlier formulations of Louis Wirth. The three research hypotheses are: 1. Lifelong urban residents are likely to exhibit less intense primary group/ties than are lifelong rural residents or urban migrants. 2. Lifelong urban residents are more likely to develop adaptable and individualistic personality structures than are lifelong rural residents or urban migrants. 3. Lifelong urban residents are less likely to maintain a community based upon proximity than are lifelong rural residents or urban migrants.

No description available.

A knowledge of the characteristics of a town situation should make some contribution to the understanding of small town life. A survey of a particular town should unfold somewhat the way towns function, the way social controls operate, and especially the saga of social change. The purpose of this study is to present a systematic account of the life of one of the oldest Virginia towns west of the Blue Ridge Mountains; a town established on the frontier by people who had a purpose for coming into the wilderness. Evidence will be presented to show how environment has influenced the growth and behavior of the population. The town's establishment, development, and decline will be traced along with stories of men and women whose records shine brightly in Fincastle's long history from 1772 to 1942... / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.