Synopsis on the Chapter 3 of the book of Hyun Bang Shin with a title, “Geography:

Rethinking the ‘Urban’ and ‘Urbanization’”

The chapter 3 of the book mainly talks about the concept of Urban Geography where the author

enlightens the readers about what is Geography and the Urban Geography as a subdiscipline of

the course. The Chapter is divided into sections where every section focuses on a certain subtopic

such as the introduction of Geography, the history of the Urban Geography, the different

approaches in defining the word urban in Urban Geography, the territorially bounded entity

based on statistical enumeration and social construct, the emerging research themes in urban

geography as well as the summarize of the various definitions regarding Urban Geography.

1. Introduction

The section 1 introduces the etymology of Geography and how it works as a course. It

also points out how did the urban geography became part of the curriculum as a separate course

or as another branch of Geography. Accordingly, indeed the Urban Geography covers numerous

topics that is also connected with the other sub-discipline of Geography such as the cultural and

Economic Geography as well as in other discipline such as Anthropology and Sociology

however, the Urban Geography can be distinctive when it comes to the centrality of the spatial

perspectives. 2. Development of Geography

The section 2 focuses on the development of Geography which initially centers on the

spatial distribution of population and industry within a region. On the initial parts of this section,

it examines and expound on the development of the geography as it shifts in every decade from

focusing on the idea of distance known as the ‘quantitative turn’ in 1960s, converging into the

idea of the ‘spatial turn’ in 1970s where geographers recognize the idea of the space being

understood as a socially produced rather than a separate entity with its own laws and production
and eventually led to the ‘cultural turn’ in 1980s to 1990s with the influence of the postmodernist

thinkers. Moreover, it also touched the development of the subtopics under the urban geography

that initially includes the system of cities using the central place theory, the classification and

patterns of settlement which later on comprises the connection of the world cities, the mega-cities

and cityregions as well as the dynamics within the cities such as the social justice, cultural

diversity and others.

On the later part of the section, it covers the methods used in studying Urban Geography

as well as the approaches namely, the neo-Marxist perspectives which is more on structuralist

approach and the Humanistic Approaches. In terms of the methodology in Urban Geography,

both

Quantitative and Qualitative methods can be used in studying the course.

3. Defining the Urban and its different conception in Urban Geography

In the section 3, it reveals the differing definition of Urban in Urban Geography in terms

of the Urban as territorially bound and Urban as a social construct. Accordingly, Urban with

regards to territorially bound mainly considers the numerical or statistical measures or the size of

the population within a certain territory. However, this side of the argument is opposed by many.

According to many studies, relying only on the physical attributes of a place such as the

population size to call it as ‘Urban’ brings more complication for numerous reasons such as the

size of the population acknowledged by every country for a territory to be called as Urban differs

from one another and is also subject to change as time pass by.

On the other hand, in terms of social construct, the Urban is defined more than just a

territorially bound entity as it also considers the connection between social and spatial or the

interaction of the space and the environment. It is where urban Geography do not only rely on the
quantitative measures but also aims to integrate the other disciplines in understanding Urban

Geography. Moreover, it also entails that urbanization does not only rely on the definition that it

is merely about the transformation of a territory or space but rather a process that entails the

manifestation of capital accumulation from the existing environment as well as the changes

observed in the political, economic and socio-cultural aspects that facilitate accumulation.

4. Emerging Research Themes in Urban Geography

In section 4, it identifies the various emerging themes in the study of urban geography

which includes the discussion and arguments about the concept of a city, the relationship between

the Urbanization and Industrialization and the meaning of the Urbanization with regards on its

impact on the relationship between Urban and Rural area. Accordingly, there are many debates

regarding the term city being the most used contemporary description of an Urban Area. While

some may use the term city and urban interchangeably, many geographers and critics such as

Harvey (1996) argues that in defining the term Urban, one should not be confined on the idea and

concept of a city but rather go beyond the concept of a city to not weaken one’s ability to

comprehend what urbanization truly entails.

Moreover, one of the most common research themes used nowadays is the subordination

of Industrialization to Urbanization. Urbanization in general as defined in this chapter is the

process of becoming urban which is not only limited to the scope of a city. While

Industrialization stands for the accumulation and existence of various industries in a territory

such as manufacturing companies and other concrete establishments.

In conclusion, the differing concepts introduced by various geographers and critics may

confuse most of the students, readers and even the novice geographers who are not too familiar

with urban geography. It is argued that instead of confining to the technical discussions of what

the urban means and how it is defined, it would perhaps be significant to understand how the

concept of the urban is utilized to enhance vested interests that exploit the mass in a society.

Lastly, according to Angelo and Wachsmuth (2014), Urbanization is a process that

establishes a new relationship between the urban and the non-urban, between the social and

nature. However, it is wrong to consider urbanization as a process that turns everything into

something urban.

Overall, Urban Geography is generally defined in the book as the study of a dynamic

sociospatial area that considers the relationships and interaction of the space and the environment

where it is not only limited to the numerical measures or the size of the population but rather

integrating the concept from other related disciplines and sub-disciplines of Geography.