referencebooks (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} referencebooks) wrote,@ 2006-01-16 10:45:00 |
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| Entry tags: | sociology, urban studies |
Key Concepts in Urban Studies
Key Concepts in Urban Studies
By M. Gottdiener and Leslie Budd.
Published by Sage, 2005.
This is a slender paperback measuring 5.75" by 8.25" and running to 188 pages, plus a brief introduction. There is no index.
The book is arranged as a small encyclopedia of the field of urban studies, or studies of the urban condition. For a sense of what this includes, here is a list of the first fifteen entries in the book:
- The Chicago School
- The City
- Community
- Counties, Places, MSAs and Other Census Definitions
- De-territorialization and Re-territorialization
- Education and Reproduction of Labor
- Environmental Concerns
- Feminine Space
- Fiscal Crisis
- Gentrification
- Ghetto and Racial Segregation
- Global Cities
- Globalization
- Homelessness
- Housing
The longest of the articles listed here is the one on Housing, at just over seven pages including the references. The shortest are around two pages long.
Each of these brief articles provides a sketch-like introduction to a sociologically-oriented concept having to do with cities. The writing is clear and communicates concepts without the use of jargon and without requiring much background knowledge.
The book does have an ideology, which is that of modern sociology informed by critical theory, though it seems to vary according to what concept is being discussed (for example, the entries on femine and masculine space are informed by feminist theory). The section on "Postmodern and Modern Urbanism" openly declares the authors' hostility to postmodernist trends in urban studies, and is interestingly frank in its judgments.
This is a nice little book, very informative and easily digestible; good for someone wanting a quick introduction to concepts in urban studies.
