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The revised and updated second edition of Introduction to Cities explores why cities are such a vital part of the human experience and how they shape our everyday lives. Written in engaging and accessible terms, Introduction to Cities examines the study of cities through two central concepts: that cities are places, where people live, form communities, and establish their own identities, and that they are spaces, such as the inner city and the suburb, that offer a way to configure and shape the material world and natural environment.
Introduction to Cities covers the theory of cities from an historical perspective right through to the most recent theoretical developments. The authors offer a balanced account of life in cities and explore both positive and negative themes. In addition, the text takes a global approach, with examples ranging from Berlin and Chicago to Shanghai and Mumbai. The book is extensively illustrated with updated maps, charts, tables, and photographs.
This new edition also includes a new section on urban planning as well as new chapters on cities as contested spaces, exploring power and politics in an urban context. It contains; information on the status of poor and marginalized groups and the impact of neoliberal policies; material on gender and sexuality; and presents a greater range of geographies with more attention to European, Latin American, and African cities.
Revised and updated, Introduction to Cities provides a complete introduction to the history, evolution, and future of our modern cities.
Xiangming Chen is the founding Dean and Director of the Center for Urban and Global Studies and Paul Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology at Trinity College, Hartford, and a guest professor in the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Anthony M. Orum is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. He was the founding editor of the journal City & Community.
Krista E. Paulsen is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Florida, USA.
List of illustrations xi
List of tables xvii
List of boxes xviii
About the authors xx
Acknowledgments xxi
Walk-through tour xxiii
Part I The foundations 5
1 Cities as places and spaces 6
Cities as places 9
Exploring further 1.1 11
Identity, community, and security 14
Places as the site of our identity 14
Places as the site of community 15
Places as sites of security 16
Studying the city 1.1 17
Human beings make and remake places 17
Place and space 20
Studying the city 1.2 21
Making the city better 1.1 24
Cities shape the fates of human beings 25
Cities and people 26
2 Social theories of urban space and place: The early perspectives 28
The social and theoretical roots of modern urban theory 29
Studying the city 2.1 31
Ferdinand Tönnies: Community and society 32
Georg Simmel: The metropolis and mental life 33
Tönnies and Simmel: Further reflections 35
The Chicago School of Sociology 38
The city as social space 39
The city, social change, and social order 40
Studying the city 2.2 42
Life in the city as a way of life 44
Making the city better 2.1 46
Early social theories of urban life 47
3 Social theories of urban space and place: Perspectives in the post-World War II era 49
Theoretical descendents of Marx 50
Manuel Castells and the urban question 50
David Harvey: Injustice and inequality in the city 51
John Logan and Harvey Molotch: The city as a growth machine 53
Making the city better 3.1 54
Making the city better 3.2 56
Further reflections: Marx and the critique of modern cities 57
The return to place and the turn to culture 58
Jane Jacobs and the discovery of community in the modern metropolis 58
Studying the city 3.1 59
Sharon Zukin and the turn to culture 61
Exploring further 3.1 63
Going global: The 1980s and the creation of the global city 66
Evaluating theories of the city 69
4 Methods and rules for the study of cities 72
First rules for doing a social science of cities 74
The rule of validity 74
The rule of reliability 76
Exploring further 4.1 77
Cities and the question of numbers 78
Studying the city 4.1 79
The city as a case study 80
The city as the typical case 82
The city as a prototypical case 85
Ethnographic and historical case studies 87
Ethnographic case studies 87
Studying the city 4.2 89
Historical case studies 90
From one to multiple cases 91
Studying the city 4.3 94
A last but very important rule on doing a good social science of cities: Fitting good theory to good methods 94
And what about insight? 95
Part II The changing metropolis 99
5 The metropolis and its expansion: Early insights and basic principles 100
Metropolitan growth: Basic features 102
The metropolis and its expansion 104
The center of the city 105
The zone of transition 106
The zone of commuters 106
Assessing the concentric zone theory 106
The natural areas of the city 107
Alternative views of the city 107
Studying the city 5.1 108
The mobility of people and groups in the metropolis 109
Social differences and migration in the metropolis 109
Exploring further 5.1? 110
Migration and the expansion of the metropolis 113
The metropolitan center and its links to the hinterlands 115
Human agents and social institutions in the expansion of the metropolis 116
Studying the city 5.2 117
Making the city better 5.1 120
Planning and metropolitan development (new)
Urban growth, institutions, and human agents 121
6 The origins and development of suburbs 123
What is a suburb? Definitions and variations 125
Alternative suburban forms 127
A brief history of suburban development 129
The original suburbs 129
Culture and the demand for suburban living 131
Making the city better 6.1 133
Exploring further 6.1 134
Early suburban diversity 135
Transportation technologies and suburban expansion 136
Making the city better 6.2 139
The role of policy in suburban expansion 140
The mass production of US suburbs 142
Changes and challenges in contemporary suburbs 144
Privatization and gated communities 144
The varied fates of older suburbs 147
Suburbs as places 149
Studying the city 6.1 151
7 Changing metropolitan landscapes after World War II 154
Los Angeles: The prototype of the postwar metropolis 156
Exploring further 7.1 160
The changing metropolitan order 162
The decline of older industrial cities 162
The rise of the postindustrial/postmodern metropolitan regions 163
The importance of transportation, again 164
The remaking of places and spaces: The profound human and political consequences 165
Making the city better 7.1 166
The emerging global economy: A brief overview 168
Studying the city 7.1 171
People, place, and space in a global world 173
Part III The metropolis and social inequalities 177
8 The early metropolis as a place of inequality 178
Colonial cities as unequal places 180
Early urban diversity 182
Cities of immigrants 184
Immigrant lives: New York’s Five Points 185
Studying the city 8.1 189
The Five Points case in context 190
Early reform and intervention efforts 193
Making the American ghetto 193
Integrated beginnings 193
Making the city better 8.1 194
New neighbors, new tensions 195
The perpetuation and implications of black ghettos 196
Studying the city 8.2 197
Exploring further 8.1 199
The significance of urban diversity and inequality 201
9 Inequality and diversity in the post-World War II metropolis 204
Inequality and the metropolis 205
Poverty and race 205
Exploring further 9.1 207
Poverty and homelessness 209
Making the city better 9.1 211
Gentrification and the remaking of the metropolis 212
Exploring further 9.2 214
Studying the city 9.1 216
Social diversity and the transformed metropolis 217
The new immigration and the transformation of the metropolis 217
Europe 217
The United States and Canada 219
Reconstructing the contemporary metropolis 221
New ethnic enclaves 221
LGBT neighborhoods 2xx
Studying the city 9.2 224
Other dimensions of urban diversity 226
Making the city better 9.2? 227
The Western metropolis in flux 228
10 Power, authority, and cities as contested spaces States and markets 2xx
The changing global economy 2xx
Exploring further 10.1 (supplied) 2xx
Cities today as contested spaces 2xx
The nature of local governance and politics 2xx
Studying the city 10.1 (Forms of municipal government in the U.S.) 2xx
Local authorities and marginalized peoples 2xx
African-Americans and local authorities 2xx
The homeless and local authorities 2xx
The very poor and local authorities 2xx
Contesting mistreatment by local authorities: Resistance and aid 2xx
Making the city better 10.1 2xx
Major contests over deep meanings and spaces in the metropolis 2xx
Jerusalem: The quintessential contested city 2xx
Diagram here of Jerusalem today 2xx
The contested spaces of Berlin
Pictures of divided Berlin in 1961, and reunified Berlin in 1990 2xx
Photo of Bernstein’s Celebration of Reunification in 1989 when he came to Berlin to conduct Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony that he renamed “Ode to Freedom”)
Conclusion
Part IV The metropolis in the developing world 331
11 Urbanization and cities in developing countries 232
Urbanization: The basic path and its impact on place 233
Developing-country cities in historical perspective 235
Studying the city 11.1 236
The basic dimensions of urbanization 237
Urban hierarchy 237
Urban primacy 239
Over-urbanization versus under-urbanization 239
Studying the city 11.2 241
Natural increase and in-migration 242
From process and system to place 243
A basic profile with multiple wrinkles 243
Megacities as places: Opportunities and challenges 245
Size, density, and diversity 245
Creating wealth and sustaining poverty 246
Exploring further 11.1 250
Making the city better 11.1 251
The developing megacity as a lived place 252
Making the city better 11.2 255
Governing the megacities 255
Studying the city 11.3 256
Reassessing the developing city 258
12 Cities in the global economy 261
Cities in a globalizing world: Theoretical background 262
Emerging cities in the global economy 264
Yiwu, China 264
Rajarhat, India 265
Further Reflections on Yiwu 268
Re-emerging cities in the global economy 269
Berlin, Germany: A once-prosperous, then challenged, and now re-emerging local culture 269
Shanghai, China: Local change in a rising renaissance city 271
Moving more deeply into the global economy 275
Dongguan, china: A place transformed from a rural township into a global factory-city 275
Studying the city 12.1 278
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: From desert to urban miracle to mirage 279
Cities in a fully networked global economy 281
The regional dimension and mediation of cities 281
Becoming globally networked 284
Exploring further 12.1 285
Interdependence between cities and the global economy 287
Studying the city 12.2 288
Systematic constraint and individual flexibility 289
The Global restructuring of cities 290
Making the city better 12.1 291
Part V Challenges of today and the metropolis of the future 295
13 Urban environments and sustainability 296
Making use of nature 297
Natural attributes and urban development 297
Interpreting and manipulating nature 298
Studying the city 13.1 301
Inviting “disaster” 302
Why rebuild? 303
Urban environments 307
Local environmental concerns 308
Making the city better 13.1 308
Environment and inequality 310
Making the city better 13.2 311
Global environmental concerns 312
Urbanization’s environmental impacts 313
Cities and climate change 313
Addressing environmental issues: Toward sustainability 315
Exploring further 13.1 317
14 The remaking and future of cities 321
Between place and space: Reinforcing a theoretical vision 322
Remaking cities from above and at critical moments 324
The crisis of Detroit 324
The remaking of Detroit 326
Making the city better 14.1 327
Place-remaking on a larger scale 328
Daily place-remaking from below 330
Remaking neighborhoods and communities 331
The remaking of Brooklyn, New York 331
From Detroit and New York to China and Shanghai – again 332
Remaking cities for the future 334
Scaling up and looking forward 334
Studying the city 14.1 335
The China and India scenarios and their wider implications 336
Cities of the future and the future of cities 340
Making the city better 14.2 341
Exploring further 14.1 346
A final look at the twenty-first-century city 347
Glossary 350
References 358
Index 371
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