Key Concepts in Urban Studies is written in an accessible, concise way and introduces students to the key topics in urban studies. Drawing examples from different parts of the world, this authoritative resource exposes students to the diverse forms that cities take, and the social, spatial and temporal dimensions of urban living. It is an essential resource for students across disciplines interested in the city.
This book provides an insightful multidisciplinary introduction to the multifarious places, processes and problems that constitute modern cities. Its short, digestible entries unpack the complexity and evolution of urban conditions, offering cross-references between concepts and links to key literature and to useful current and historical examples. The book’s clear, often sharp critical edge also encourages deeper enquiry.
The authors do not profess to address all concepts in the field of urban studies, but rather present topics that they deem appropriate and include commentaries that reflect their own expertise and perspectives. As such, some topics that existed in the First Edition have been either rewritten or combined in this Second Edition, and six new topics have been inserted, including Sustainable Urbanization, Temporary Uses and Adaptive Urbanism, and Globalization and Meltdown.
The strengths of the book are many and varied. Focusing on the ‘essential’ topics in urban studies, the book outlines key concepts in a way that is both authoritative and accessible... Locating key concepts within the wider international body of literature, the book is able to cross reference many strands of theory and research relevant to an impressively wide array of subjects. The book offers the reader a range of contemporary and international examples in order to aid understanding, with up-to-date statistical evidence presented in easy to read tables, graphs and charts.
The authors provide short or longer essays—ranging from several paragraphs to page-long entries—oncore terms and concepts in the field. The strength of this assemblage by Gottdiener (Univ. at Buffalo), Budd (The OpenUniv.), and Lehtovuori (Tampere Univ. of Technology, Finland) is its critical approach to the concepts and, in many entries, its overview of historical and contemporary theories and perspectives on them.
This book is a really good guide when the students in urban planning course are coming from different cultures, perhaps lacking some back ground skills in planning generally.
Timely book on key concepts written for students which is accesible
This small handbook introduces over 30 main concepts we are using in teaching urban studies today and it is very useful in urban studies as well as in urban planning, urban sociology, urban politics and urban development. In the preface the authors share their concern transformingn about the ”rise” of the city and the hype over its universal values . transforming the global socio-economic environment, when the main voice in celebrity academics seems to believe that urbanization is including the silver bullet for sustainable economic growth.
This small handbook introduces over 30 main concepts we are using in teaching urban studies today and it is very useful in urban studies as well as in urban planning, urban sociology, urban politics and urban development. In the preface the authors share their concern transformingn about the ”rise” of the city and the hype over its universal values . transforming tThe global socio-economic environment , when the main voice in celebrity academics seems to believe that urbanization is including (carrying?) the silver bullet for sustainable economic growth.