Highlight the features of an Urban Community.

Features of an Urban Community

(i) Social Heterogeneity:The concentration of a large population in a small area leads to social heterogeneity. Density maximises the competition for space and for comparative advantage and thus, forcespecialisation.

(ii) Social control:Individuals are free from close social control. The city usually promotes the sense of alienation and loneliness.

The longer the city, the greater becomes the problem of control and more complex the agencies of secondary regulation.

(iii) Voluntary Association:The size of the urban population, its close proximity, diversity and easy contact, makes it the perfect setting for voluntary associations. In the urban space, nearly every kind of group acquires a voluntary character.

(iv) Individualism:The secondary and voluntary character of urban association, the multiplicity of opportunities and the social mobility all force the individual to make her or his own decisions and to plan her or his life as a career.

(v) Social mobility:City characterises and promotes great social mobility. The elaborate division of labour found in the city coincides with a system of stratification which is based on achievement rather than ascribed status. Urban structure is managed by recruiting a heterogeneous population on the basis of competence, efficiency and novelty rather than birth. It promotes on open stratification system characterised by inequality.

(vi) Greater inequality:The city demands a certain amount of external comfornity on grounds of decency and convenience. In urban space, there is existence of both extreme poverty and affluence. Urban slums and elites are notable examples of greater inequality in urban communities.

(vii) Spatial segregation:The competition for space in the heterogeneous and dynamic city leads to a characteristic segragation of groups and functions visible in the city's spatial pattern. The centre of the urban area is monopolised by functions of basic importance to the whole city such as finance and government.