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The City

ISBN: 978-0-745-64889-7

October 2012

Polity

224 pages

Description

This book is a fresh and engaging analysis of the city as a central concept in contemporary social thought. It probes the contested and negotiated ways in which cities are built, understood, lived and imagined. Taking a thematic approach and drawing on a range of theoretical, methodological and empirical points of reference, it examines such subjects as urban inequality, public space, creative cities, globalization, the night-time economy, suburbia, and memory and emotion.

In The City Deborah Stevenson argues that, as theories and concepts shape what is known about cities and urban life, it is necessary to build conceptual frameworks that engage with the intersections and tensions between urban processes and trends, as well as with the complexities of everyday urban life.

This book’s combination of original insight and critical synthesis will make it an invaluable contribution for an international, interdisciplinary readership of students and scholars in sociology, geography, urban studies and wider social science and the humanities.

About the Author

Deborah Stevenson is Professor of Sociology and Urban Cultural Research in the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Western Sydney.

Features
  • A thematic examination of core issues and trends in urban life today, such as the way in which cities are built, experienced, understood and governed.
  • Weaves together contemporary urban theory, diverse bodies of thought and case examples, as well as intriguing original research findings.
  • Examples are drawn from around the world to examine the city in different national and local contexts as well as different historical and political moments.
  • Brings a rich sociological lens to the study of ‘what is the city?’, but also draws on insights from other fields such as cultural studies and human geography.