Introduction to Cities

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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