Ecological Conceptions, Spatio-social Changes and Development

The classical approach known from the earliest period of development of urban sociology as human ecology and social ecology does not provide a satisfactory conceptual-theoretical framework to facilitate a dialectical interpretation of spatio-social processes. The »classical« ecological approach particularly could not offer a satisfactory framework for considering the determination of developmental changes which leads to limitations of this approach. The most important proponents of the »classical« ecological approach (McKenzie, Wirth, Park and others) insist on a mechanistic understanding of change and focus on growth and not development. Moreover, they concentrate on the analysis of social aggregates to which the characteristics of community are unjustifiably attributed. The »classical« ecological interpretation is predominantly biological after the model of Darwin, and its concepts cannot give satisfactory explanations to social phenomena. In addition, ecological analysis in its »classical« form is ethnocentric and insists on a perpetuation of class society. In contrast to the »classical« orientation in ecological studies, »newer« research moves beyond the descriptive level of analysis. Conceptualization is oriented to longer time periods and it also takes into consideration a wider spatial territory-regional or even national units. On the basis of a critique of the »classical« ecological approach (Castells), the newer ecological research in the framework of a briefly sketched paradigm gains greater significance in the scope of the dialectics of spatio-social development