Introduction to Cities : How Place and Space Shape Human Experience

Understanding how cities shape human life through space and place

Cities function as dynamic systems where physical space, social forces, and human experience intersect. Introduction to Cities: How Place and Space Shape Human Experience, Third Edition, provides a robust analytical framework for understanding these relationships. Written by three distinguished urban scholars, this updated edition addresses contemporary challenges including global migration patterns, housing crises, and post-pandemic urban transformation.

This book features new chapters on housing and neighborhoods, migration, and the post-pandemic city. Fresh perspectives examine how cities in China, India, and emerging economies respond to regional corridorization and shifting global connectivities. Throughout, Planning and Building the City boxes link chapter themes to urban planning processes, while Making the City Better boxes address practical solutions to urban issues.

Readers will also find:

• Foundational chapters on urban theory and research methods providing analytical tools for rigorous examination of urban phenomena and change
• Coverage of China's Belt and Road Initiative and its place-making impact on regional corridorization and urban development patterns worldwide
• A revised analytical framework highlighting how cities both shape and are shaped by broader social, economic, and environmental forces
• Text boxes throughout featuring methodological approaches of key scholars and practical applications for studying contemporary urban life
• Updated evidence on global urban transformations examining integrating and fragmenting regional connectivities alongside local community dynamics

Designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in urban sociology, urban studies, and urban planning, this text serves students across sociology, political science, geography, and American studies. Scholars examining cities from varied disciplinary perspectives will find Introduction to Cities an authoritative foundation for urban research and analysis.

KRISTA E. PAULSEN is Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University. She earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and has authored multiple books and articles in urban sociology. Her research examines change and stability in cities using qualitative and community-engaged methods.

XIANGMING CHEN is Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology at Trinity College, Connecticut. A comparative scholar of cities, his research addresses how cities change through the intersection of local factors and global forces, shaped by national policies and infrastructure development.

ANTHONY M. ORUM is retired from the Departments of Sociology and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He served as Founding Editor of City & Community from 2002 to 2009 and as Editor-in-Chief of The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. He held a Fulbright Award at Fudan University in Shanghai.