The Urban World

The Urban World, Eleventh Edition, provides a comprehensive, balanced, up-to-date, and cross-cultural look at cities and suburbs around the world. Offering a twenty-first-century view of the changing urban scene, the text covers evolving urban patterns and the changing nature of urban life. Combining expert scholarship with an accessible style, J. John Palen is one of America's leading urban sociologists. He adds fresh data and insights to each edition of his text.

J. John Palen is Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University.

List of Boxes
Preface
About the Author

PART I: FOCUS AND DEVELOPMENT

1. The Urban World
Introduction
The Process of Urbanization
Urban Growth
Megacities
The Urban Explosion
Defining Urban Areas
Urbanization and Urbanism
Urbanization
Urbanism
Organizing the Study of Urban Life
Concepts of the City
Urban Change and Confusion
Rural Simplicity versus Urban Complexity
Early Social Theories and Urban Change
European Theorists
The Chicago School
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

2. The Emergence of Cities
Introduction
The Ecological Complex
Political Economy Models
First Settlements
Agricultural Revolution
Population Expansion
Mesoamerica
Interactions of Population, Organization, Environment, and Technology
City Populations
Evolution in Social Organization
Division of Labor
Kingship and Social Class
Technological and Social Evolution
Urban Revolution
Survival of the City
The Hellenic City
Social Invention
Physical Design and Planning
Population
Diffusion of People and Ideas
Rome
Size and Number of Cities
Housing and Planning
Transportation
Life and Leisure
European Urbanization until the Industrial City
The Medieval Feudal System
Town Revival
Characteristics of Towns
Plague
Renaissance Cities
Industrial Cities
Technological Improvements and the Industrial Revolution
The Second Urban Revolution
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

PART II: AMERICAN URBANIZATION

3. The Rise of Urban America
Introduction
Colonists as Town Builders
Major Settlements
New England
The Middle Colonies
The South
Canada
Colonial Urban Influence
Cities of the New Nation: 1790-1860
Rapid Growth
Marketplace Centers
The Industrial City: 1860-1950
Technological Developments
Spatial Concentration
Twentieth-Century Dispersion
Political Life
Corruption and Urban Services
Political Bosses
Immigrants' Problems
Reform Movements
Urban Imagery
Ambivalence
Myth of Rural Virtue
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

4. Ecology and Political Economy Perspectives
Introduction
Development of Urban Ecology
Invasion and Succession
Criticisms of Ecology
Role of Culture
Burgess's Growth Hypothesis
Concentric Zones
Limitations
Sector and Multiple-Nuclei Models
Urban Growth Outside North America
The Postmodern City: The Los Angeles School
Political Economy Models
Political Economy Assumptions
Examples of the Political Economy Approach
The Baltimore Study
Urban Growth Machines
World Systems Theory and Globalization
Challenges
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

5. Metro and Edge City Growth
Introduction
Metropolitan Growth
In-Movement: 1900 to 1950
Out-Movement: 1950 into the Twenty-First Century
Commuting and Communication
Canadian Urban Regions
Post-industrial Central Cities
Edge Cities
Edgeless and Private Edge Cities
Boomburgs
Suburban Business Growth
End of Malling of the Land
Malls and "Street Safety"
Non-metropolitan Growth
Diffuse Growth
National Society
The Rise of the Sunbelt
Population and Economic Shifts
Regional Consequences
Sunbelt Problems
Movement to the Coasts
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

6. The Suburban Era
Introduction
Suburban Dominance
Emergence of Suburbs
The Nineteenth Century
Electric Streetcar Era: 1890-1920
Annexation
Automobile Suburbs: 1920-1950
Mass Suburbanization: 1950-1990
Metro Sprawl: 1990-2010
Causes of Suburban Growth
Postwar Exodus
Non-reasons
Contemporary Suburbia
Categories of Suburbs
Persistence of Characteristics?
Ethnic and Religious Variation
High-Income Suburbs
Gated Communities
Common-Interest Developments
Working-Class Suburbs
Commercial Definitions
Exurbs
Rurban Areas
Characteristics of Suburbanites
Suburban Poverty
The Myth of Suburbia
Minority Suburbanization
Suburban Diversity
Black Flight
Integration or Resegregation?
Latino Suburbanization
Asian Suburbanites
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

Part III: Metropolitan Life

7. Urban Culture and Lifestyles
Introduction
Social Psychology of Urban Life
Early Formulations
The Chicago School
"Urbanism as a Way of Life"
Re-evaluations of Urbanism and Social Disorganization
Determinist Theory
Compositional Theory
Subcultural Theory
Characteristics of Urban Populations
Age
Gender
Race, Ethnicity, and Religion
Declining Middle Class
Urban Lifestyles
Cosmopolites
Unmarried or Childless
Gay Households
Ethnic Villagers
Neighborhood Characteristics
Deprived or Trapped
A Final Note of Caution
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

8. The Social Environment of Metro Areas: Strangers, Crowding, Homelessness, and Crime
Introduction
Dealing with Strangers
Codes of Urban Behavior
Altruism
Neighboring
Neighbors and Just Neighbors
Defining Community
Categories of Local Communities
Density and Crowding
Crowding Research
Practical Implications
Homelessness
Characteristics of the Homeless
Social Problems
SRO Housing
Urban Crime
Crime and Perceptions of Crime
Broken Windows Theory and Predictive Policing
Crime and City Size
Crime and Male Youth
Crime and Race
Crime Variations within Cities
Crime in the Suburbs
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

9. Diversity: Women, Ethnics, and African Americans
Introduction
Women in Metropolitan Life
Female Domesticity
Gendered Organization of Residential Space
Feminist Housing Preferences
Cohousing and Downsizing
Current Housing Choices
Gendered Public Spaces
Workplace Changes
White Ethnic Groups
Immigration
First-Wave Immigrants
Second-Wave Immigrants
Third-Wave Immigrants
"Racial Inferiority" and Immigration
African Americans
Historical Patterns
Population Changes
Slavery in Cities
"Free Persons of Color"
Jim Crow Laws
"The Great Migration"
Moving South
Urban Segregation Patterns
Extent of Segregation
Housing Discrimination
Twenty-First-Century Diversity
The Economically Successful
The Disadvantaged
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

10. Diversity: Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans
Introduction
New-Wave Immigrants
Recent Immigration Impact on Cities
Melting Pot or Cultural Pluralism
Latino Population
Legal Status
Growth
Diversity
Mexican Americans
Mexican Diversity
Education
Urbanization
Housing and Other Patterns
Political Involvement
Puerto Ricans
Asian Americans
A "Model Minority"?
Asian Residential Segregation
The Case of Japanese Americans
Internment Camps
Japanese Americans Today
Native Americans
Nonurban Orientation
Movement to Cities
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

PART IV: METRO ISSUES, HOUSING, SPRAWL, AND PLANNING

11. Cities and Change
Introduction
The Urban Crisis: Thesis
Urban Revival: Antithesis
A Political Economy Look at the Urban Crisis
Twenty-First-Century City Developments
New Patterns
Central Business Districts
Mismatch Hypothesis
Downtown Housing
Fiscal Health
Crumbling Infrastructure
Neighborhood Revival
Gentrification
Government and Revitalization
Who Is Gentrifying?
Why Is Gentrification Taking Place?
Displacement of the Poor
Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods
Successful Working-Class Revival
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

12. Housing Policies, Sprawl, and Smart Growth
Introduction
Housing in the Twenty-First Century
Mobility
Housing Costs
Changing Households
Return Nesters
Changing Federal Role
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Programs
Subsidizing Segregation
Upper- and Middle-Class Housing Subsidies
Back to the City?
Urban Redevelopment Policies
Critique of Urban Renewal
Phasing Out Public Housing
Urban Homesteading
Rent Vouchers: Section 8
Hope VI Projects
Tax Credits
Designing for Safety
Growth Control
Suburban Sprawl
Auto-Driven Sprawl
Amount of Sprawl
Costs and Consequences
Smart Growth
Advantages
Legislation
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

13. Planning, New Towns, and New Urbanism
Introduction
Ancient Greece and Rome
Renaissance and Later Developments
American Planning
Washington, DC
Nineteenth-Century Towns
Early Planned Communities
Parks
The City Beautiful Movement
Tenement Reform
Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Patterns
The City Efficient
Zoning and Beyond
Master Plans to Equity Planning
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
European Planning
Planning and Control of Land
Housing Priorities
Transportation
Urban Growth Policies
The Dutch Approach
New Towns
British New Towns
New Towns in Europe
American New Towns
Public-Built New Towns
Federal Support for New Towns
Private New Towns: Reston, Columbia, and Irvine
Research Parks
New Urbanism or Traditional Neighborhood Developments
Celebration
Creating Community
Limitations
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

PART V: WORLDWIDE URBANIZATION

14. Developing Countries
Developing Countries
Megacities
Plan of Organization
Common or Divergent Paths?
Developing-Country Increases
Rich Countries and Poor Countries
Global Cities
Characteristics of Third World Cities
Youthful Age Structure
Multinationals
The Informal Economy
Squatter Settlements
Primate Cities
Overurbanization?
The Twenty-First Century
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

15. Asian Urban Patterns
Introduction
Asian Cities
Indigenous Cities
Colonial Background Cities
India
Delhi
Mumbai (Bombay)
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Prognosis
China
Treaty Ports
Forced Movement from Cities
Rural to Urban Migration
Special Economic Zones
Shanghai
Beijing
Hong Kong
Japan
Extent of Urbanization
Current Patterns
Tokyo
Planning
Planned New Towns
Suburbanization
Southeast Asia
General Patterns
Singapore
Other Cities
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

16. African and Latin American Urbanization
Introduction
Africa
Challenges
Responses
Regional Variations
Urban Development
Early Cities
Colonial Period
Indigenous African Cities
Contemporary Patterns
Social Composition of African Cities
Ethnic and Traditional Bonds
Status of Women
Differences from the Western Pattern
Latin America: An Urban Continent
Spanish Colonial Cities
Colonial Organization
Physical Structure
Recent Developments
Urban Growth
Economic Change
Brazil
Urban Characteristics
Crime
Shantytowns
The Future of Settlements
Maquiladoras
Myth of Marginality
A Success Story
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

PART VI: CONCLUSION

17. Toward the Urban Future
Recapitulation
Urban Concentration
Deconcentration
Concentration Again?
Issues and Challenges
Urban Funding
People versus Places
Changing Metropolitan Population
Suburban Changes
Social Planning Approaches
Three Approaches to Social Planning
Social Planning and Technology
Planning for the Future City
Past Planned Utopias
New World Class Cities
Las Vegas
Quality-of-Life Planning
Middle-Range Planning
Bike Sharing
Smart Cities
Metropolitan Political Systems
A Working City
Toward a Metropolitan Future
Summary
Key Concepts
Review Questions

Name Index
Subject Index