Urban theory: a critical introduction to power, cities and urbanism in the 21st century/
Alan Harding & Talja Blokland
- Los Angeles: Sage, 2014.
- xii, 294 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Foreword -- 1. What is urban theory? -- Urban studies and urban theory -- Urban subdisciplines -- Metaphorical cities -- The role of theory in urban studies -- What is urban? -- Rural and urban -- What is theory? -- Ontology and epistemology -- And so what on earth is urban theory? -- Questions for discussion -- 2. Urban theories under conditions of modernity -- Introduction -- The Chicago School and urban ecology -- Burgess' concentric zone model -- Criticism -- Wirth's urbanism thesis -- The Chicago School legacy -- Urban geography and spatial analysis -- The influence of neo-classical economics on geography -- Criticism -- The community power debate -- Community power : elite theory versus pluralism -- Humanistic (urban) geography -- Post-positivist approaches -- Consequences for methods -- "Radical" approaches -- Neo-Marxism -- Problems with neo-Marxist approaches -- Neo-Weberian approaches -- Radicalism reappraised -- The legacy of previous theories and their challenges -- Enduring tensions in urban theory -- Assessing "relaxed" urban theory -- Key challenges for modern urban theory -- Urban theory in a spiky world -- Questions for discussion -- 3. From the urban crisis to the "triumph of the city" -- Cities as actors in a globalising economy -- Urban decline and obsolescence -- Economic change versus the city -- Understanding globalisation -- The much exaggerated death of the city -- Urban economic renaissance -- Post-Fordist urbanism -- Global and world cities ... and Los Angeles -- The new economic geography versus urban neo-liberalism -- Discussion -- Questions for discussion -- 4. Can cities act? Urban political economy and the question of agency -- The rediscovery of agency within urban theory -- Introducing American urban political economy -- Against public choice -- Urban regimes and growth machines -- Refining elite theory -- Use value and exchange value -- Challenging growth machines -- Urban regime theory -- Growth machine and urban regime theory compared -- Power in urban regime theory -- The normative dimension -- Critiques and applications -- Evaluating US urban political economy -- Exporting theory -- Difficulties of applying growth machine and urban regime theory -- Questions for discussion -- 5. Spatial expressions of intra-urban inequalities -- Introduction -- Inequalities versus differentiations : vertical and horizontal paradigms -- Beyond either horizontal or vertical -- Living in a world of difference -- Cities as sites of resources : space and inequalities -- The production of space -- Bourdieu on social space -- Segregation -- Social segregation -- Segregation indices -- Immigration and segregation -- Segregation and integration -- Suburbanisation -- Demand and supply -- Commercial suburbanisation and sprawl -- The relevance of suburbanisation for urban theory -- Gentrification -- Gentrification as a process -- Production versus consumption -- Displacement -- Ghettoisation as a spatial process of marginalisation -- "Ghetto" as a term in urban studies -- Economic restructuring and marginalisation -- Stigma, discrimination and racism -- The culture of poverty -- Ghetto and urban policy -- Neighbourhood effects : spatial profit and disadvantage -- The "why" of neighbourhood effects -- Neighbourhood effects and collective efficacy -- The need for attention to institutions -- Summary and conclusion -- Questions for discussion -- 6. Spatial expressions of differentiation -- Introduction -- The horizontal paradigm -- The cultural turn -- The cultural turn and postmodernism -- Lefebvre, de Certeau and the production of space -- The city as a realm of community and lifestyles -- Community and neighbourhood -- Lifestyles -- The subcultural thesis -- The representational city : public space -- Defining public space -- Public space along two axes -- Public, parochial and private realm -- Public space as arena of deliberation -- Public space and representation -- Cultural diversity : identities in public space -- Sexualities -- Gender -- Ethnicity/race -- Age and generations -- Conclusion : cities as a matrix of resources -- Questions for discussion -- 7. Urban theory reconsidered -- The "crisis" in urban theory revisited -- The performance of theories -- The commensurability of theories -- Theory, politics and practice -- A new urban agenda?
9781446294529
Sociology, Urban--Philosophy Cities and towns--Philosophy Cities and towns