Introduction to Cities: How Place and Space Shape Human Experience

"Introduction to Cities" shows how and why cities are important to us as members of a global human community. Each chapter lays out an accessible, empathetic, and coherent story about cities that will intrigue the reader and excite their curiosity. Through a combination of historical overview, theoretical application, and astute analysis and cross-national case studies of urban change, Introduction to Cities provides an original, innovative perspective to explain how cities change, how they affect our lives, and how we can make them better places to live. Students and scholars of cities and urban change will enjoy this book very much."
—Kevin Fox Gotham, Tulane University

"This comprehensive political sociology of cities reflects both the growing interest in space and place and the unusually rapid urbanization of the developing world, with a particularly sensitive treatment of Chinese cities. Up-to-date, and theoretically and politically astute, the text is exceptionally clear, almost conversational in tone, and oriented to student learning."
—Edward Soja, UCLA