Studying Cities and City Life is a textbook designed to provide an introduction to the major methods of obtaining data for use when analysing cities and social life in cities. Major chapters focus upon best practices in: field studies (participant observation) natural experiments and quasi-experiments surveys employing probability and non-probability samples secondary analyses of previously published documents. A separate chapter examines a full range of questionnaires and interviews. Each chapter includes discussion of several case studies, and recently published research employing the method being discussed. This discussion highlights the issues and choices made by investigators in actual studies conducted in cities throughout the world. This unique book is designed for use in research methods courses that primarily enroll students majoring in Urban Sociology, Urban Studies, Urban Geography, Urban Planning, and related areas.

Studying Cities and City Life is a textbook designed to provide an introduction to the major methods of obtaining data for use when analysing cities and social life in cities. Major chapters focus upon best practices in: field studies (participant observation) natural experiments and quasi-experiments surveys employing probability and non-probability samples secondary analyses of previously published documents. A separate chapter examines a full range of questionnaires and interviews. Each chapter includes discussion of several case studies, and recently published research employing the method being discussed. This discussion highlights the issues and choices made by investigators in actual studies conducted in cities throughout the world. This unique book is designed for use in research methods courses that primarily enroll students majoring in Urban Sociology, Urban Studies, Urban Geography, Urban Planning, and related areas.

How do we accommodate a growing urban population in a way that is sustainable, equitable, and inviting? This question is becoming increasingly urgent to answer as we face diminishing fossil-fuel resources and the effects of a changing climate while global cities continue to compete to be the most vibrant centers of culture, knowledge, and finance. Jan Gehl has been examining this question since the 1960s, when few urban designers or planners were thinking about designing cities for people. But given the unpredictable, complex and ephemeral nature of life in cities, how can we best design public infrastructure—vital to cities for getting from place to place, or staying in place—for human use? Studying city life and understanding the factors that encourage or discourage use is the key to designing inviting public space. In How to Study Public Life Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre draw from their combined experience of over 50 years to provide a history of public-life study as well as methods and tools necessary to recapture city life as an important planning dimension. This type of systematic study began in earnest in the 1960s, when several researchers and journalists on different continents criticized urban planning for having forgotten life in the city. City life studies provide knowledge about human behavior in the built environment in an attempt to put it on an equal footing with knowledge about urban elements such as buildings and transport systems. Studies can be used as input in the decision-making process, as part of overall planning, or in designing individual projects such as streets, squares or parks. The original goal is still the goal today: to recapture city life as an important planning dimension. Anyone interested in improving city life will find inspiration, tools, and examples in this invaluable guide.

Globalization has been built upon, and maintained by, major urban centers. As the interconnections among these cities grow, more cities become involved as important global nodes, and globalization has an extremely strong influence upon the forms and functions of cities everywhere. This new textbook examines modern cities worldwide through two lenses: as the major nodes in the global economy, and as primary propagators of cultural ideas across the world. Exploring the ramifications of the continuing penetration of global forces into smaller urban areas, this book clearly distinguishes economic, cultural, and political processes to demonstrate how global attachments are shaping many of the basic features of modern cities. Specifically, the book examines the way cities accommodate huge global flows of people, including migrants, tourists, and the managers of multi-national firms, and the effects this has upon the cultural, economic, and political forces associated with globalization in cities. The main features of the book include: a balanced emphasis upon how economic, technological, and cultural forces shape both urban and global developments; a highly interdisciplinary focus, incorporating major works and ideas from urban scholars writing in sociology, geography, anthropology, and politics; detailed case studies of events and activities within specific cities and regions that illuminate major trends; end of chapter reading lists of corresponding chapters in The Globalizing Cities Reader, second edition, edited by Xuefei Ren and Roger Keil and published by Routlegde in 2018. Written in a clear and accessible style, Globalizing Cities: A Brief Introduction will appeal to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in both urban and globalization courses within sociology, geography, and urban studies.

The City: The Basics provides a brief yet compelling overview of the study of cities and city life. The book draws on a range of perspectives - economic, political, cultural, and environmental aspects are all considered - to provide a broad comparison of the evolution of cities in the rich Global North and the poorer Global South. Topics covered in the book include: a brief history of cities from ancient times to the post-modern present the differences between "global cities" in the North and "megacities" in the South the environmental impact of urban life and the idea of sustainable cities urban planning, urban politics and urban poverty. Featuring suggestions for further reading, recommended websites and a number of maps and illustrations, this is the ideal starting point for those interested in any aspect of cities or urban studies.

This is the third major revision of a text first published in 1982 with the title Urban Geography: A First Approach and in 1990 as Cities in Space: City as Place. The study of urban geography remains an important part of the geographical curriculum both in schools and in higher education. This book analyses life in an urban society and in a world which is being transformed by the processes of urbanization: to study urban geography is to study environments and phenomena significant to our everyday lives. This is an introductory text which aims to present both more traditional and newer approaches to urban geography in an accessible and educational way.

The revised and updated second edition of Introduction to Cities explores why cities are such a vital part of the human experience and how they shape our everyday lives. Written in engaging and accessible terms, Introduction to Cities examines the study of cities through two central concepts: that cities are places, where people live, form communities, and establish their own identities, and that they are spaces, such as the inner city and the suburb, that offer a way to configure and shape the material world and natural environment. Introduction to Cities covers the theory of cities from an historical perspective right through to the most recent theoretical developments. The authors offer a balanced account of life in cities and explore both positive and negative themes. In addition, the text takes a global approach, with examples ranging from Berlin and Chicago to Shanghai and Mumbai. The book is extensively illustrated with updated maps, charts, tables, and photographs. This new edition also includes a new section on urban planning as well as new chapters on cities as contested spaces, exploring power and politics in an urban context. It contains; information on the status of poor and marginalized groups and the impact of neoliberal policies; material on gender and sexuality; and presents a greater range of geographies with more attention to European, Latin American, and African cities. Revised and updated, Introduction to Cities provides a complete introduction to the history, evolution, and future of our modern cities.