Four functional subsystems of the urban environment¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

In the conference's general session address, sociologist H. Wentworth Eldredge proposes that the urban environment be analyzed as a national system broken into four interdependent parts. He states there are "four convenient functional subsystems, interpenetrated and symbiotic (linked and depending on each other), which can be fruitfully examined": the natural environment, the man-made physical environment, the societal environment, and the cultural (internal) environment. The framework serves as an analytical device offering "graspable intellectual handles" for understanding and guiding urban society, and it frames the conference's argument that industrial arts education must address the whole urban condition rather than isolated problems.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• The holistic premise that everything relates to everything else must be accepted before breaking the macro-urban environment into subsystems for analysis

Constraints¶

• The breakdown is explicitly described as crude and incomplete, a device for analysis rather than a full description of urban complexity

Target Learners¶

• Industrial arts educators and teacher educators

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Understanding the urban environment that industrial arts education must prepare students for

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Four topical areas organize Chicago school reform research: governance, teaching and learning, quality of schools, and systemic change
• The five essential supports framework: five mutually reinforcing organizational dimensions that enable or inhibit improvement in classroom practices

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Stamm, Colleen P. (Ed.). (1973). Industrial Arts and the Challenge of an Urban Society. American Industrial Arts Association. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED083382