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Cities: Reimagining the Urban

ISBN: 978-0-745-62414-3

April 2002

Polity

192 pages

Description
This book develops a fresh and challenging perspective on the city. Drawing on a wide and diverse range of material and texts, it argues that too much contemporary urban theory is based on nostalgia for a humane, face-to-face and bounded city. Amin and Thrift maintain that the traditional divide between the city and the rest of the world has been perforated through urban encroachment, the thickening of the links between the two, and urbanization as a way of life.

They outline an innovative sociology of the city that scatters urban life along a series of sites and circulations, reinstating previously suppressed areas of contemporary urban life: from the presence of non-human activity to the centrality of distant connections. The implications of this viewpoint are traced through a series of chapters on power, economy and democracy.

This concise and accessible book will be of interest to students and scholars in sociology, geography, urban studies, cultural studies and politics.

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About the Author
Ash Amin is Professor of Geography at the University of Durham.

Nigel Thrift is Professor of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol.

Features

  • Provides a fresh and challenging perspective on debates surrounding cities and urban theory
  • Argues that too much contemporary theory is based on nostalgia for a humane and bounded city
  • Shows that the traditional divide between the city and countryside has been perforated through urban encroachment
  • Includes chapters on the nature of power, democracy and the economy in the city
  • Offers a lively discussion at a time when this topic is widely and vigorously discussed