Urban theory: a critical introduction to power, cities and urbanism in the 21st century/ Alan Harding & Talja Blokland

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?