City Lights: Urban-Suburban Life in the Global Society - Softcover

Barbara Phillips, E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195325036 ISBN 13: 9780195325034

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Now in its third edition, City Lights: Urban-Suburban Life in the Global Society is the most interdisciplinary urban studies book on the market. It skillfully blends social science perspectives with insights from the visual arts and humanities to provide a comprehensive introduction to cities, suburbs, and post-suburban areas and how they work. Motivating students to develop their own perspectives on the issues, author E. Barbara Phillips provides an extended discussion of "doing social science," systematically showing how scholarly controversy and public debates over urban-suburban policy are rooted in deep-seated differences: in ideologies, research methods, theoretical orientations, academic disciplines, and/or levels of analysis.

Featuring a unique combination of serious scholarship and an accessible, engaging writing style, City Lights, Third Edition, is ideal for courses in urban sociology, urban studies, urban growth and development, urban theory, and urban history. It incorporates many helpful pedagogical features, including almost 200 photographs and illustrations, real-life case studies, excerpts from classic works, key terms, and suggestions for further learning. In addition, end-of-chapter projects encourage students to apply what they have learned by participating in research, activism, or other civic pursuits in their own communities.

Thoroughly revised and updated, the third edition features

* A focus on the U.S. city but also a global emphasis throughout, with in-depth profiles of such cities as Kyoto, Cordba, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Mexico City; numerous global-local links; and a new chapter (5) on global urbanization and the urban system
* Updated statistical data
* Detailed coverage of the Internet's influence on personal, political, and economic relations
* Discussions of numerous new topics including the impact of terrorism on cities, new immigrants in the U.S. and elsewhere, gated communities, building "green," and the "New Urbanism" in the U.S
* Analyses of recent political, social, and economic changes--including economic downturns--and their effects on urbanites and suburbanites in the U.S. and worldwide

About this title

About the Author:

E. Barbara Phillips is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Urban Studies at San Francisco State University.

Review:

"City Lights is the definitive interdisciplinary urban studies text. There's nothing else like it. All urban studies texts promise an interdisciplinary perspective; Phillips, alone, delivers. It's an impressive work--engaging, comprehensive, rigorous, charming, insightful, logical, creative, and committed to a passionate embrace of the very best things about cities and urban life."--Elvin K. Wyly, University of British Columbia

"City Lights remains the best introductory text in the field of urban studies. The book has both the appeal necessary for undergraduates and the scholarly depth necessary for graduate students. I much prefer the consistent focus it offers to the numerous anthologies on the market. It is balanced and fair, and Dr. Phillips also shows a keen sense of humor in her text, photos, and cartoons."--Harvey K. Newman, Georgia State University

"Above all, I value City Lights for the breadth of learning that it offers students. Phillips draws across the humanities and social sciences, uses both quantitative and qualitative evidence, and frames practical problems in a theoretical context."--Anthony Filipovitch, Minnesota State University, Mankato

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0195325036
• ISBN 13: 9780195325034
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 698