Introduction to Cities: How Place and Space Shape Human Experience - Softcover

Chen, Xiangming; Orum, Anthony M.; Paulsen, Krista E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 140515554X ISBN 13: 9781405155540

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012

Synopsis

A complete introduction to the history, evolution, and future of the modern city, this book covers a wide range of theory, including the significance of space and place, to provide a balanced account of why cities are an essential part of the global human experience.

• Covers a wide range of theoretical approaches to the city, from the historical to the cutting edge
• Emphasizes the important themes of space and place
• Offers a balanced account of cities and offers extensive coverage including urban inequality, environment and sustainability, and methods for studying the city
• Takes a global approach, with examples from Berlin and Chicago to Shanghai and Mumbai
• Includes a range of pedagogical features such as a substantial glossary of key terms, critical thinking questions, suggestions for further reading and a range of innovative textboxes which follow the themes of Exploring Further, Studying the City and Making the City Better
• Extensively illustrated with maps, charts, tables, and over 80 photographs
• Accompanied by a comprehensive student companion site featuring a list of relevant journals, a guide to useful web resources, and an annotated documentary film guide, alongside a useful instructor companion site with further examples, case studies, and discussion and essay questions; instructors will find a link to the instructor website on the student website at www.wiley.com/go/cities

About this title

About the Author

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 Distinguished Guest Professor in the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University, Shanghai. His books include The World of Cities: Places in Comparative and Historical Perspective (with Anthony M. Orum, Blackwell, 2003), As Borders Bend: Transnational Spaces on the Pacific Rim (2005), and Shanghai Rising: State Power and Local Transformations in a Global Megacity (ed., 2009), and Rethinking Global Urbanism: Comparative Insights from Secondary Cities (coed., 2012). Several of his books have been translated into Chinese.

Anthony M. Orum is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was the founding editor of the journal City & Community, and has received several awards, including the 2009 Robert and Helen Lynd Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service given by the Community and Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. His publications include City-Building in America (1995), The World of Cities: Places in Comparative and Historical Perspective (with Xiangming Chen, Blackwell, 2003), and Common Ground? Readings and Reflections on Public Space (ed. with Zachary Neal, 2010). Several of his books have been translated into Chinese.

Krista E. Paulsen is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Florida. She has published widely on the city, urban tradition, and the ways that places develop and maintain distinctive cultures. Her research examines the ways that homes and neighborhoods reflect and reproduce cultural ideals associated with family and community, and her teaching takes in urban sociology and urban studies, environmental sociology, community, and qualitative research methods. She is currently at work on the edited volume Home – Place – Community: International Sociological Perspectives (ed. with Margarethe Kusenbach and Melinda Milligan).

From the Back Cover

Introduction to Cities seeks to explain why cities are such a vital part of the human experience and how they shape our lives.

Written in an engaging and jargon-free style, this book approaches the study of cities through two main concepts: that cities are places, where people live, form communities, and establish their own identities, and that they are spaces, such as residential areas or the suburbs, that offer a way to configure and shape the material and natural environment.

Introduction to Cities covers theory from the historical to the cutting edge, and offers a balanced account of life in cities, highlighting both positive and negative themes. It takes a global approach, with examples ranging from Berlin and Chicago to Shanghai and Mumbai. Students will appreciate the inclusion of additional features such as a glossary of key terms, critical thinking questions, and suggestions for further reading. In addition, the book is extensively illustrated with maps, charts, tables, and over 80 photographs.

Taking in topics such as social inequalities, race, globalization, and sustainability, this book provides a complete introduction to the history, evolution, and future of the modern city.

It is also accompanied by a comprehensive website (www.wiley.com/go/cities), which features further examples and case studies, discussion and essay questions, chapter outlines, and links to useful online resources and films and documentaries.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 140515554X
• ISBN 13: 9781405155540
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408