From Chicago to L.A.: Making Sense of Urban Theory

From Chicago to L.A. critically examines some of the major precepts of what some refer to as the 'Los Angeles School' of urban theory. The contributors to this book break new ground in defining an alternative agenda for urban studies. Just as the Chicago School emerged at a time when that city was reaching new national prominence, Los Angeles is now making its impression on the minds of urban theorists across the world. The basic harmony of this book derives from its focus on a single place, even though many of the contributors extend their geographic range beyond the city of Los Angeles to the Southern California region as a whole. From Chicago to L.A. is the final part of a trilogy that has attempted to shift the axis in urban thought away from the Chicago School, and toward an LA School. The previous two books edited by Michael Dear and published by Sage are: Rethinking Los Angeles (1996) and Urban Latino Cultures (1999).

Table of Contents:
LOS ANGELES AND THE ′LA SCHOOL′ The Resistible Rise of the Los Angeles School - Michael J Dear and Steven Flusty Demographic Dynamism in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC - Dowell Myers Los Angeles as Postmodern Urbanism - Michael J Dear and Steven Flusty CITY OF INDUSTRY Industry and the Landscapes of Social Reform - Greg Hise Los Angeles as a Developmental City-State - Steven P Erie Industrial Urbanism in Late Twentieth-Cenctury Southern California - Allen J Scott RECONSIDERING COMMUNITY From Immigrants in the City, to Immigrant City - Jerome Straughan and Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo The Globalization of Urban Homelessness - Madeleine R Stoner ′Play Groups′ no Longer - Cheryl L Maxson & Malcom W Klein Urban Sreet Gangs in the Los Angeles Region Religion in Los Angeles - Donald E Miller Patterns of Spiritual Practice in a Postmodern City Ecologies of Cyberspace - J Dallas Dishman Gay Communities on the Internet RE-VISIONING URBAN THEORY Representing "Los Angeles" - Darnell M Hunt Media, Space, and Place Returning to Ecology - Ashwani Vasishth and David C Sloane An Ecosystem Approach to Understanding the City Urban Nature and the Nature of Urbanism - Jennifer Wolch, Stephanie Pincetl and Laura Pulido Saber Y Conocer - Phillip J Ethington and Martin Meeker The Metropolis of Urban Inquiry The LA School - Michael J Dear A Personal Introduction

Review :
"The book serves its purpose. It captures a range of the many landscapes that are Los Angeles, it presents a variety of perspectives on urban thought, and it leaves one with a sense about the L.A. School."