This important work brings together a range of perspectives in contemporary urban analysis. The field of urban analysis is characterized by the multiplicity of approaches, philosophies, and methodologies employed in the examination of urban structure and urban problems. This fragmentation of perspectives is not simply a reflection of the multifaceted and complex nature of the city as subject matter. Nor is it a function of the variety of disciplines such as geography, planning, economics, history, and sociology. Cross-cutting all of these issues and allegiances has been the emergence in recent years of a debate on fundamental issues of philosophy, ideology, and basic assumptions underlying the analysis of urban form and structure.The notion of urban analysis Robert W. Lake discusses focuses on the spatial structure of the city, its causes, and its consequences. At issue is the city as a spatial fact: a built environment with explicit characteristics and spatial dimensions, a spatial distribution of population and land uses, a nexus of locational decisions, an interconnected system of locational advantages and disadvantages, amenities and dis-amenities.Beginning with landmark articles in neo-classical and ecological theory, the reader covers the latest departures and developments. Separate sections cover political approaches to locational conflict, institutional influences on urban form, and recent Marxist approaches to urban analysis. Among the topics included are community strategies in locational conflict, the political economy of place, the role of government and the courts, institutional influences in the housing market, and the relationship between urban form and capitalist development. This is a valuable introductory text for courses in urban planning, urban geography, and urban sociology.
Table of Contents:
I: The Neo-Classical Tradition; 1: A Theory of the Urban Land Market; 2: The Spatial Structure of the Housing Market; 3: The Journey-to-Work as a Determinant of Residential Location; II: Human Ecology; 4: Human Ecology; 5: Toward a More Human Human Ecology: An Urban Research Strategy; 6: Growth, Politics, and the Stratification of Places; 7: Men Without Property: The Tramp’s Classification and Use of Urban Space; III: Conflict and Institutional Constraints; 8: Local Interests and Urban Political Processes In Market Societies; 9: Locational Conflict and the Politics of Consumption; 10: Urban Social Theory and Research; 11: The Role of Institutions in the Inner London Housing Market: The Case of Islington; 12: Large Builders, Federal Housing Programmes, and Postwar Suburbanization; IV: Marxist Approaches; 13: The Urban Process Under Capitalism: A Framework for Analysis; 14: Capital Accumulation and Urbanization in the United States; 15: Class-Monopoly Rent, Finance Capital and the Urban Revolution; 16: Toward A Theory of Gentrification: A Back to the City Movement by Capital, Not People
Review :
-Using the emerging philosophical and ideological debate among urban analysts as an organizing base, this volume contains sixteen chapters on topics ranging from the urban land and housing markets to gentrification of the city and urban social theory and research. The alternative perspectives offered include the neo-classical, human ecology, institutional, and Marxist approaches. In an introductory chapter, Lake outlines the differences among these approaches and how they have influenced work in urban analysis.-
--Policy Studies Review
-The book is a perfect collection to give to graduate students in urban sociology/urban studies--and to paraphrase what George Bernard Shaw said, if instructors in urban sociology also care to look at it, they might learn something. Its value is enhanced by a highly selective bibliography at the end, which classifies 'good books' and articles by 'paradigm.' Thus, the book not only provides an introduction to the changing sociology of knowledge in urban studies but a study guide for further investigation.-
--Janet Abu-Lughod, Contemporary Sociology
-Rewarding and meaningful.-
--Urban Geography
-Excellent.-
--Annals of Regional Science
"Using the emerging philosophical and ideological debate among urban analysts as an organizing base, this volume contains sixteen chapters on topics ranging from the urban land and housing markets to gentrification of the city and urban social theory and research. The alternative perspectives offered include the neo-classical, human ecology, institutional, and Marxist approaches. In an introductory chapter, Lake outlines the differences among these approaches and how they have influenced work in urban analysis."
--Policy Studies Review
"The book is a perfect collection to give to graduate students in urban sociology/urban studies--and to paraphrase what George Bernard Shaw said, if instructors in urban sociology also care to look at it, they might learn something. Its value is enhanced by a highly selective bibliography at the end, which classifies 'good books' and articles by 'paradigm.' Thus, the book not only provides an introduction to the changing sociology of knowledge in urban studies but a study guide for further investigation."
--Janet Abu-Lughod, Contemporary Sociology
"Rewarding and meaningful."
--Urban Geography
"Excellent."
--Annals of Regional Science
"Using the emerging philosophical and ideological debate among urban analysts as an organizing base, this volume contains sixteen chapters on topics ranging from the urban land and housing markets to gentrification of the city and urban social theory and research. The alternative perspectives offered include the neo-classical, human ecology, institutional, and Marxist approaches. In an introductory chapter, Lake outlines the differences among these approaches and how they have influenced work in urban analysis."
--Policy Studies Review
"The book is a perfect collection to give to graduate students in urban sociology/urban studies--and to paraphrase what George Bernard Shaw said, if instructors in urban sociology also care to look at it, they might learn something. Its value is enhanced by a highly selective bibliography at the end, which classifies 'good books' and articles by 'paradigm.' Thus, the book not only provides an introduction to the changing sociology of knowledge in urban studies but a study guide for further investigation."
--Janet Abu-Lughod, Contemporary Sociology
"Rewarding and meaningful."
--"Urban Geography"
"Excellent."
--"Annals of Regional Science"
"The book is a perfect collection to give to graduate students in urban sociology/urban studies--and to paraphrase what George Bernard Shaw said, if instructors in urban sociology also care to look at it, they might learn something. Its value is enhanced by a highly selective bibliography at the end, which classifies "good books" and articles by "paradigm." Thus, the book not only provides an introduction to the changing sociology of knowledge in urban studies but a study guide for further investigation."
--Janet Abu-Lughod, Contemporary Sociology
"Rewarding and meaningful."
--"Urban Geography"
"Excellent."
-- "Annals of Regional Science"
