Urban space and the city

• Author: Erjona Fusha
• Position: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana
• Pages: 168-171

168

Vol. 3 No. 3

January, 2018

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2410-759X

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

Urban space and the city

Erjona Fusha

Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana

Abstract

This article will address some functions of the space as an important issue of the urban

sociology. It is not an easy task to dene the urban space since such denition should take into

consideration the social parameters as an integral part of it. The diculty of determining urban

space increases if we take into consideration the fact that the urban space is an urbanization

object, a social process that depicts the way cities grows and societies become more complex.

Urban space is a dynamic aspect of urbanization. All human activity is dispersed in time

and space. According to some studies, it is important to understand that all human activities

happens in time and space, but on the other hand it is needed to understand when and where

this activities take place. This article will also address some perspectives of the concept of the

world society and its future. Without neglecting the city, which cannot be considered as casual

in the eld of concepts dealt with in urban sociology, it is the heart of its most important issues.

Keywords: space, urban sociology, world society, city.

Introduction

The post-communist transition period has brought new dynamics to the

transformation of the urban areas. Although the improvements have been made in

many ways, there is a disintegration of the traditional city identity. Thus, on one hand

this urban identity that has come from the past has been damaged by time and on the

other hand it has been under pressure from the new urban dynamics of the market

society. The urban identity is a symbolic value. Although it is materialized in various

objects, it has a symbolic meaning and rst of all it expresses a major spiritual value.

Then it is a symbolic central value that has been accepted almost by the majority of

the community that recognizes itself, equates to it, and gives meaning to its being

through it. Meanwhile, the urban space is not a pragmatic element, only an area

where it is bought and sold and where it is gained or lost money, in this case it has

lost its symbolism, it becomes foreign to peoples and produces a disintegration of

society itself.

1. Culture, the individual and the social interdependence in time and space

Raymond Williams says: “The culture is the set of mindsets and paerns of behavior and

a way of life that are reected in the whole activity of the members of the culture” (Dervishi

2007: 4). In this sense, cultural relations are the embodiment of certain mentalities

that direct inter-individual communication and play an important role in the psycho-

social formation of everyone. The representation of a human mentality is at the

same time the representation of a certain cultural identity. The laer is based on a

set of values such as ethnic, social, political, etc. Bourdieu sees in culture a set of