Influences on Urbanism: A Test of Predictions from Three Perspectives

Predictions from the determinist, compositional/systemic, and subcultural perspectives concerning effects on five “urbanism” variables—anonymity, tolerance, alienation, community social bonds, and deviant/unconventional behavior—are tested using individual level analog measures based on data from a three-state survey. Interpretation of the results in terms of the relative strength of the three perspectives depends upon how one conceptualizes their implications. This diversity of interpretational options underlines the imprecision of each of the three perspectives. Ambiguous elements are identified and it is argued that if the three perspectives were more fully specified and synthesized, it would move us toward a genuine and more adequate theory of urbanism.