Introduction to 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 xiList of tables xviiList of boxes xviiiAbout the authors xxPreface to the second edition xxiAcknowledgments xxiiWalk-through tour xxivPart I The Foundations 11 Cities as places and spaces 2Cities as places 5Exploring further 1.1 8Identity, community, and security 10Places as the site of our identity 10Places as the site of community 11Places as sites of security 13Studying the city 1.1 14Human beings make and remake places 15Place and space 17Studying the city 1.2 18Making the city better 1.1 21Cities shape the fates of human beings 22Cities and people 242 Social theories of urban space and place: The early perspectives 26The social and theoretical roots of modern urban theory 27Studying the city 2.1 29Ferdinand Tönnies: Community and society 30Georg Simmel: The metropolis and mental life 31Tönnies and Simmel: Further reflections 33The Chicago School of Sociology 33The city as social space 34The city as concentric zones 36The city, social change, and social order 38Studying the city 2.2 40Life in the city as a way of life 41Making the city better 2.1 43Early social theories of urban life 443 Social theories of urban space and place: Perspectives in the post-World War II era 47Theoretical descendants of Marx 48Manuel Castells and the urban question 48David Harvey: Injustice and inequality in the city 49John Logan and Harvey Molotch: The city as a growth machine 51Making the city better 3.1 52Making the city better 3.2 54Further reflections: Marx and the critique of modern cities 55The return to place and the turn to culture 56Jane Jacobs and the discovery of community in the modern metropolis 56Studying the city 3.1 57Sharon Zukin and the turn to culture 59Exploring further 3.1 61Going global 64The 1980s and the creation of the global city 64Power, politics, and ordinary lives 67Evaluating theories of the city 684 Methods and rules for the study of cities 71First rules for doing a social science of cities 73The rule of validity 73The rule of reliability 75Exploring further 4.1 76Cities and the question of numbers 78Studying the city 4.1 79The city as a case study 79The city as the typical case 81The city as a prototypical case 83Ethnographic and historical case studies 86Ethnographic case studies 86Studying the city 4.2 87Historical case studies 89From one to multiple cases 90Studying the city 4.3 92A last but very important rule on doing a good social science of cities: Fitting good theory to good methods 94And what about insight? 95Part II The Changing Metropolis 995 The metropolis and its expansion: Early insights and basic principles 100Metropolitan growth: Basic features 102Studying the city 5.1 104The mobility of people and groups in the metropolis 105Social differences and migration in the metropolis 106Migration and the expansion of the metropolis 108The metropolitan center and its links to the hinterlands 110Studying the city 5.2 112Human agents and social institutions in the expansion of the metropolis 112Making the city better 5.1 115Planning and metropolitan development 116Exploring further 5.1 121Urban growth, institutions, and human agents 1246 The origins and development of suburbs 126What is a suburb? Definitions and variations 128Alternative suburban forms 130A brief history of suburban development 132The original suburbs 132Culture and the demand for suburban living 134Making the city better 6.1 135Exploring further 6.1 136Early suburban diversity 138Transportation technologies and suburban expansion 138Making the city better 6.2 140The role of policy in suburban expansion 141The mass production of US suburbs 144Changes and challenges in contemporary suburbs 145Privatization and gated communities 146The varied fates of older suburbs 148Suburbs as places 151Studying the city 6.1 1507 Changing metropolitan landscapes after World War II 154Los Angeles: The prototype of the postwar metropolis 156Exploring further 7.1 160The changing metropolitan order 162The decline of older industrial cities 162The rise of the postindustrial/postmodern metropolitan regions 163The importance of transportation, again 164The remaking of places and spaces: The profound human and political consequences 165Making the city better 7.1 167The emerging global economy: A brief overview 168Studying the city 7.1 172People, place, and space in a global world 174Part III Social Inequalities and Power in the Metropolis 1798 The early metropolis as a place of inequality 180Colonial cities as unequal places 182Early urban diversity 184Gender in the early metropolis 185Cities of immigrants 187Immigrant lives: New York’s Five Points 187Studying the city 8.1 191The Five Points case in context 193Early reform and intervention efforts 195Making the American ghetto 196Integrated beginnings 196Making the city better 8.1 197New neighbours, new tensions 198The perpetuation and implications of black ghettos 199Studying the city 8.2 200Exploring further 8.1 201The significance of urban diversity and inequality 2039 Inequality and diversity in the post - World War II metropolis 206Inequality and the metropolis 207Poverty and race 207Exploring further 9.1 209Poverty and homelessness 210Making the city better 9.1 212Gentrification and the remaking of the metropolis 214Exploring further 9.2 215Social diversity and the transformed metropolis 218The new immigration and the transformation of the metropolis 218Europe 218Studying the city 9.1 221The United States and Canada 222Reconstructing the contemporary metropolis 225New ethnic enclaves 225LGBT neighbourhoods 228Studying the city 9.2 231The Western metropolis in flux 23210 Power, authority, and cities as contested spaces 236States and markets 237The changing global economy 238Cities today as contested spaces 240The nature of local governance and politics 241Local authorities and marginalized peoples 243African Americans and local authorities 244The homeless and local authorities 245The very poor and local authorities 246Contesting mistreatment by local authorities: Resistance and aid 246Making the city better 10.1 247Exploring further 10.1 249Major contests over deep meanings and spaces in the metropolis 250Jerusalem: The quintessential contested city 250The contested spaces of Berlin 252Conclusion 254Part IV The Metropolis in the Developing World 25711 Urbanization and cities in developing countries 258Urbanization: The basic path and its impact on place 259Developing-country cities in historical perspective 261Studying the city 11.1 262The basic dimensions of urbanization 263Urban hierarchy 264Urban primacy 265Over-urbanization versus under-urbanization 265Studying the city 11.2 267Natural increase and in-migration 268From process and system to place 269A profile with multiple wrinkles 269Megacities as places: Opportunities and challenges 271Size and density 271Creating wealth and sustaining poverty 272Exploring further 11.1 274Making the city better 11.1 276The developing megacity as a lived place 277Making the city better 11.2 279Governing the megacities 280Studying the city 11.3 281Reassessing the developing-country city 28312 Cities in the global economy 286Cities in a globalizing world: Theoretical background 287Emerging cities in the global economy 288Yiwu, China 288Rajarhat, India 290Further reflections on Yiwu 291Re-emerging cities in the global economy 292Berlin, Germany: A once-prosperous, then challenged, and now re-emerging local culture 292Shanghai, China: Local change in a global renaissance city 294Deeper into the global economy 297Dongguan, China: A place transformed from a rural township into a global factory-city 297Studying the city 12.1 300Dubai, United Arab Emirates: From desert to urban miracle to mirage 301Cities in a fully networked global economy 303The regional dimension and mediation of cities 303Becoming globally networked 305Exploring further 12.1 306Interdependence between cities and the global economy 308Studying the city 12.2 309Systematic constraint and individual flexibility 310The global restructuring of cities 310Making the city better 12.1 312Part V Challenges of Today and The Metropolis of the Future 31513 Urban environments and sustainability 316Making use of nature 317Natural attributes and urban development 317Interpreting and manipulating nature 318Studying the city 13.1 321Inviting “disaster” 322Why rebuild? 323Urban environments 326Local environmental concerns 327Making the city better 13.1 329Environment and inequality 329Making the city better 13.2 331Global environmental concerns 332Urbanization’s environmental impacts 333Cities and climate change 333Addressing environmental issues: Toward sustainability 336Exploring further 13.1 33714 The remaking and future of cities 341Between place and space: Reinforcing a theoretical vision 342Remaking cities at critical moments 344The crisis of Detroit 344The remaking of Detroit 345Making the city better 14.1 346Place-remaking on a larger scale 348Daily place-remaking from below 349Remaking neighbourhoods and communities 350The remaking of Brooklyn, New York 350From Detroit and New York to China and Shanghai – again 350Studying the city 14.1 352Remaking cities for the future 354Scaling up and looking forward 354The China and India scenarios and their wider implications 354Cities of the future and the future of cities 358Making the city better 14.2 359A detour back to planning regarding its role in shaping future cities 360The foundational attributes of future cities 361Exploring further 14.1 364A final look at the twenty-first-century city 365Glossary 368References 376Index 393