Introduction to Cities
How Place and Space Shape Human Experience
3rd Edition
Published on 7. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-1-394-27204-4 (ISBN)
Description
Understanding how cities shape human life through space and place
Cities function as dynamic systems where physical space, social forces, and human experience intersect. Introduction to Cities: How Place and Space Shape Human Experience, Third Edition, provides a robust analytical framework for understanding these relationships. Written by three distinguished urban scholars, this updated edition addresses contemporary challenges including global migration patterns, housing crises, and post-pandemic urban transformation.
This book features new chapters on housing and neighborhoods, migration, and the post-pandemic city. Fresh perspectives examine how cities in China, India, and emerging economies respond to regional corridorization and shifting global connectivities. Throughout, Planning and Building the City boxes link chapter themes to urban planning processes, while Making the City Better boxes address practical solutions to urban issues.
Readers will also find:
Foundational chapters on urban theory and research methods providing analytical tools for rigorous examination of urban phenomena and change
Coverage of China's Belt and Road Initiative and its place-making impact on regional corridorization and urban development patterns worldwide
A revised analytical framework highlighting how cities both shape and are shaped by broader social, economic, and environmental forces
Text boxes throughout featuring methodological approaches of key scholars and practical applications for studying contemporary urban life
Updated evidence on global urban transformations examining integrating and fragmenting regional connectivities alongside local community dynamics
Designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in urban sociology, urban studies, and urban planning, this text serves students across sociology, political science, geography, and American studies. Scholars examining cities from varied disciplinary perspectives will find Introduction to Cities an authoritative foundation for urban research and analysis.
Cities function as dynamic systems where physical space, social forces, and human experience intersect. Introduction to Cities: How Place and Space Shape Human Experience, Third Edition, provides a robust analytical framework for understanding these relationships. Written by three distinguished urban scholars, this updated edition addresses contemporary challenges including global migration patterns, housing crises, and post-pandemic urban transformation.
This book features new chapters on housing and neighborhoods, migration, and the post-pandemic city. Fresh perspectives examine how cities in China, India, and emerging economies respond to regional corridorization and shifting global connectivities. Throughout, Planning and Building the City boxes link chapter themes to urban planning processes, while Making the City Better boxes address practical solutions to urban issues.
Readers will also find:
Foundational chapters on urban theory and research methods providing analytical tools for rigorous examination of urban phenomena and change
Coverage of China's Belt and Road Initiative and its place-making impact on regional corridorization and urban development patterns worldwide
A revised analytical framework highlighting how cities both shape and are shaped by broader social, economic, and environmental forces
Text boxes throughout featuring methodological approaches of key scholars and practical applications for studying contemporary urban life
Updated evidence on global urban transformations examining integrating and fragmenting regional connectivities alongside local community dynamics
Designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in urban sociology, urban studies, and urban planning, this text serves students across sociology, political science, geography, and American studies. Scholars examining cities from varied disciplinary perspectives will find Introduction to Cities an authoritative foundation for urban research and analysis.
More details
Edition
3rd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 179 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
878 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-394-27204-4 (9781394272044)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Krista E. Paulsen | Xiangming Chen | Anthony M. Orum
Introduction to Cities
How Place and Space Shape Human Experience
E-Book
04/2026
3rd Edition
Wiley
€36.99
Available for download
Krista E. Paulsen | Xiangming Chen | Anthony M. Orum
Introduction to Cities
How Place and Space Shape Human Experience
E-Book
04/2026
3rd Edition
Wiley
€36.99
Available for download
Previous edition
Xiangming Chen | Anthony M. Orum | Krista E. Paulsen
Introduction to Cities
How Place and Space Shape Human Experience
Book
04/2018
2nd Edition
Wiley
€77.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
KRISTA E. PAULSEN is Professor in the School of Public Service at Boise State University. She earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and has authored multiple books and articles in urban sociology. Her research examines change and stability in cities using qualitative and community-engaged methods.
XIANGMING CHEN is Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology at Trinity College, Connecticut. A comparative scholar of cities, his research addresses how cities change through the intersection of local factors and global forces, shaped by national policies and infrastructure development.
ANTHONY M. ORUM is retired from the Departments of Sociology and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He served as Founding Editor of City & Community from 2002 to 2009 and as Editor-in-Chief of The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. He held a Fulbright Award at Fudan University in Shanghai.
XIANGMING CHEN is Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of Global Urban Studies and Sociology at Trinity College, Connecticut. A comparative scholar of cities, his research addresses how cities change through the intersection of local factors and global forces, shaped by national policies and infrastructure development.
ANTHONY M. ORUM is retired from the Departments of Sociology and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He served as Founding Editor of City & Community from 2002 to 2009 and as Editor-in-Chief of The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. He held a Fulbright Award at Fudan University in Shanghai.
Content
Preface ix
List of Illustrations x
List of Tables xvii
List of Boxes xviii
About the Authors xix
Acknowledgements xx
About the Companion Website xxii
Part I Foundations 1
1 Cities as places and spaces 2
Cities as places 6
Box 1.1 Studying the city 7
Identity, community, and security 10
Places as the site of our identity 10
Places as the site of community 11
Places as sites of security 13
Human beings make and remake places 13
Box 1.2 Planning and building the city 16
Place and space 17
Box 1.3 Making the city better 20
Cities shape the fates of human beings 21
Cities reflect changes in the contexts around them 22
2 Social theories of urban space and place: The early perspectives 26
The social and theoretical roots of modern urban theory 27
Box 2.1 Studying the city 29
Early European Theories: Toennies and Simmel 30
Ferdinand Toennies: Community and society 30
Box 2.2 Planning and building the city 31
Georg Simmel: The metropolis and mental life 32
The Chicago School of Sociology 34
The city as social space 35
The city as concentric zones 36
Assessing concentric zone theory 38
Human ecology 38
Life in the city as a way of life 40
Box 2.3 Making the city better 42
W.E.B. DuBois and the importance of race in the city 43
Evaluating early social theories of urban life 45
3 Social theories of urban space and place: Contemporary perspectives 49
A break with the past 50
Theoretical descendants of Marx 50
Manuel Castells and the urban question 50
David Harvey: Injustice and inequality in the city 51
Box 3.1 Making the city better 52
John Logan and Harvey Molotch: The city as a growth machine 54
Further reflections: Marx and the critique of modern cities 55
The return to place and the turn to culture 56
Jane Jacobs and the discovery of community in the modern metropolis 56
Box 3.2 Studying the city 57
Sharon Zukin and the turn to culture and consumption 59
From spaces of production to spaces of consumption 61
Going global 63
The rise of the global city and its metamorphosis 63
Box 3.3 Planning and building the city 65
A turn to the Global South and East 67
Evaluating theories of the city 68
4 Methods and rules for the study of cities 73
Validity and reliability in the study of cities 74
Box 4.1 Studying the city 77
Cities and the question of numbers 78
The city as a case study 79
The city as a stereotypical or prototypical case 80
Ethnographic and historical case studies 84
Box 4.2 Studying the city 85
Urban analytics 87
Box 4.3 Studying the city 90
From one to multiple cases 91
Theory, methods, and insights 92
Part II The Development of Urban Spaces and Places 97
5 Cities as dynamic spaces 98
Cities as dynamic spaces 99
Remaking the metropolis 99
Planning and metropolitan development 102
Box 5.1 Planning and building the city 105
Toward a postindustrial metropolis 106
Deindustrialization and urban transformation 106
The origins and impacts of global competition 107
The implications of deindustrialization for place and space 109
A changing urban landscape and hierarchy? 110
Los Angeles: The prototype of the postwar metropolis 111
Box 5.2 Studying the city 115
The metropolis's increasing scale and complexity 116
Infrastructure and technology as new codrivers of city- making 118
Box 5.3 Making the city better 120
Making sense of the changing metropolis 121
6 Housing and neighborhoods 126
Housing and neighborhoods in urban places 127
Housing, home, and neighborhood: Fundamental concepts 127
Housing across time and space 129
Box 6.1 Planning and building cities 129
Housing in the early industrial city 130
Suburban expansion 132
Housing and neighborhoods in context: Policy and markets 136
The politics of housing policies 136
The implications of planning and zoning for housing and neighborhoods 137
Privatization and gated communities 139
Planning, policy, and discrimination in the United States 140
Markets and financial contexts 142
Housing for all: Challenges and solutions 144
Box 6.2 Making the city better 145
Housing instability and homelessness 145
Box 6.3 Studying the city 147
Part III Power and Inequality in Cities 157
7 Difference and inequality in urban places 158
How difference and inequality matter 159
Racial segregation and inequality 159
Box 7.1 Studying the city 161
Origins of segregation in the US 163
Social class and place 165
Social class in the industrial metropolis 165
Gentrification and the remaking of the metropolis 166
New dimensions of gentrification 169
Place and the distribution of opportunity 170
Gender and sexuality in the metropolis 174
Gender and place 174
LGBT+ neighborhoods 175
Box 7.2 Making the city better 176
Difference, inequality, and place 179
Box 7.3 Planning and building the city 180
8 Migration's impact on cities 187
Migration in context 189
Migration to the United States and Canada 189
Migration to and within Europe 192
China's unprecedented migration 194
Sociological approaches to cities and migration 196
Immigrant assimilation: The influence of the Chicago School 196
Box 8.1 Studying the city 197
Ethnic enclaves: Places created by and for immigrants 199
Ethnic enclaves across time and place: Case studies 201
Five Points, New York City 202
Pilsen/Little Village, Chicago 204
Baishizhou, Shenzhen 206
Changing immigrant gateways 207
Box 8.2 Planning and building the city 208
Box 8.3 Making the city better 210
Urban migration in a shifting political context 212
9 Power, authority, and conflict in cities 220
The institutional contexts of power and authority 221
States and markets 221
The global economy and neoliberalism 222
Cities today as contested spaces 224
The nature of local governance and politics 225
Box 9.1 Making the city better 226
Local authorities and marginalized peoples 229
Racial minorities and local authorities 230
The homeless and local authorities 231
Box 9.2 Planning and building the city 232
The very poor and local authorities 233
Contesting mistreatment by local authorities 234
Box 9.3 Studying the city 235
Major contests over deep meanings and spaces in the metropolis 237
Jerusalem: The quintessential contested city 237
The contested spaces of Berlin 239
Considering power and space in urban contexts 241
Part IV Cities in a New Era of Globalization 247
10 Urbanization and cities in developing countries 248
Urbanization 249
The basic path of urbanization and its impact on place 249
Developing- country cities in historical perspective 251
Box 10.1 Studying the city 251
The basic dimensions of urbanization 253
Urban hierarchy 253
Urban primacy 254
Over- urbanization versus under- urbanization 255
Natural increase and in- migration 257
From process and system to place 258
A profile with multiple wrinkles 258
Megacities as places: Opportunities and challenges 259
Size and density 259
Creating wealth and sustaining poverty 260
Box 10.2 Making the city better 262
The developing megacity as a lived place 263
Governing the megacities 266
Box 10.3 Planning and building the city 267
Reassessing the developing- country city 268
11 Cities in the global economy 275
Cities in a globalizing world: theoretical background 276
Emerging cities in the global economy 277
Yiwu, China: The world's central hub for small merchandise 277
Rajarhat, India: A tech city on the metropolitan edge 279
Re- emerging cities in the global economy 280
Hamburg, Germany: Prosperity, challenges, and re- emergence 280
Shanghai: Global rise from local renaissance 283
Deeper and higher into the global economy 285
Dongguan, China: From a rural township into a world factory- city 286
Box 11.1 Studying the city 287
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: From a desert outpost to an urban miracle 289
Cities in a networked and fragmented global economy 290
The regional dimension and reconfiguration of cities 291
The (re)emergence of regional- urban corridors 292
City differentiation in a changing world 294
Box 11.2 Planning and building the city 295
Individual flexibility under systematic constraint 296
The new regional corridorization of cities 297
Box 11.3 Making the city better 298
Part V Changes and Challenges for Resilient Cities 305
12 Cities in a rapidly changing climate 306
Cities and the natural environment 307
Cities' reliance on nature 307
Risk, hazard, and disaster 309
Challenges and inequities in urban environments 311
Resources and pollution 311
Box 12.1 Studying the city 312
Inequitable distributions of risks 314
Box 12.2 Making the city better 315
Cities in a changing climate 319
Cities' contributions to climate change 320
The changing profile of disaster 320
Climate adaptation and mitigation 323
Rebuilding vulnerable cities 324
Box 12.3 Planning and building the city 325
Sustainability, resilience, and a "just transition" 327
13 The post- pandemic city 336
Why revisit the pandemic? 337
The pandemic as an urban crisis 337
Wuhan: The original epicenter 340
Box 13.1 Making the city better 342
New York City: Ground Zero, again 343
Economic implications 345
Implications for urban space and infrastructure 346
Changes and challenges in gathering 346
The remote work revolution 348
Box 13.2 Studying the city 350
Lingering implications of new work and social patterns 352
Implications for small and midsized cities 354
Fleeing the city 354
The increasing appeal of midsized cities 355
Box 13.3 Planning and building the city 356
Looking ahead and planning for resilience 358
Glossary 368
Index 376
List of Illustrations x
List of Tables xvii
List of Boxes xviii
About the Authors xix
Acknowledgements xx
About the Companion Website xxii
Part I Foundations 1
1 Cities as places and spaces 2
Cities as places 6
Box 1.1 Studying the city 7
Identity, community, and security 10
Places as the site of our identity 10
Places as the site of community 11
Places as sites of security 13
Human beings make and remake places 13
Box 1.2 Planning and building the city 16
Place and space 17
Box 1.3 Making the city better 20
Cities shape the fates of human beings 21
Cities reflect changes in the contexts around them 22
2 Social theories of urban space and place: The early perspectives 26
The social and theoretical roots of modern urban theory 27
Box 2.1 Studying the city 29
Early European Theories: Toennies and Simmel 30
Ferdinand Toennies: Community and society 30
Box 2.2 Planning and building the city 31
Georg Simmel: The metropolis and mental life 32
The Chicago School of Sociology 34
The city as social space 35
The city as concentric zones 36
Assessing concentric zone theory 38
Human ecology 38
Life in the city as a way of life 40
Box 2.3 Making the city better 42
W.E.B. DuBois and the importance of race in the city 43
Evaluating early social theories of urban life 45
3 Social theories of urban space and place: Contemporary perspectives 49
A break with the past 50
Theoretical descendants of Marx 50
Manuel Castells and the urban question 50
David Harvey: Injustice and inequality in the city 51
Box 3.1 Making the city better 52
John Logan and Harvey Molotch: The city as a growth machine 54
Further reflections: Marx and the critique of modern cities 55
The return to place and the turn to culture 56
Jane Jacobs and the discovery of community in the modern metropolis 56
Box 3.2 Studying the city 57
Sharon Zukin and the turn to culture and consumption 59
From spaces of production to spaces of consumption 61
Going global 63
The rise of the global city and its metamorphosis 63
Box 3.3 Planning and building the city 65
A turn to the Global South and East 67
Evaluating theories of the city 68
4 Methods and rules for the study of cities 73
Validity and reliability in the study of cities 74
Box 4.1 Studying the city 77
Cities and the question of numbers 78
The city as a case study 79
The city as a stereotypical or prototypical case 80
Ethnographic and historical case studies 84
Box 4.2 Studying the city 85
Urban analytics 87
Box 4.3 Studying the city 90
From one to multiple cases 91
Theory, methods, and insights 92
Part II The Development of Urban Spaces and Places 97
5 Cities as dynamic spaces 98
Cities as dynamic spaces 99
Remaking the metropolis 99
Planning and metropolitan development 102
Box 5.1 Planning and building the city 105
Toward a postindustrial metropolis 106
Deindustrialization and urban transformation 106
The origins and impacts of global competition 107
The implications of deindustrialization for place and space 109
A changing urban landscape and hierarchy? 110
Los Angeles: The prototype of the postwar metropolis 111
Box 5.2 Studying the city 115
The metropolis's increasing scale and complexity 116
Infrastructure and technology as new codrivers of city- making 118
Box 5.3 Making the city better 120
Making sense of the changing metropolis 121
6 Housing and neighborhoods 126
Housing and neighborhoods in urban places 127
Housing, home, and neighborhood: Fundamental concepts 127
Housing across time and space 129
Box 6.1 Planning and building cities 129
Housing in the early industrial city 130
Suburban expansion 132
Housing and neighborhoods in context: Policy and markets 136
The politics of housing policies 136
The implications of planning and zoning for housing and neighborhoods 137
Privatization and gated communities 139
Planning, policy, and discrimination in the United States 140
Markets and financial contexts 142
Housing for all: Challenges and solutions 144
Box 6.2 Making the city better 145
Housing instability and homelessness 145
Box 6.3 Studying the city 147
Part III Power and Inequality in Cities 157
7 Difference and inequality in urban places 158
How difference and inequality matter 159
Racial segregation and inequality 159
Box 7.1 Studying the city 161
Origins of segregation in the US 163
Social class and place 165
Social class in the industrial metropolis 165
Gentrification and the remaking of the metropolis 166
New dimensions of gentrification 169
Place and the distribution of opportunity 170
Gender and sexuality in the metropolis 174
Gender and place 174
LGBT+ neighborhoods 175
Box 7.2 Making the city better 176
Difference, inequality, and place 179
Box 7.3 Planning and building the city 180
8 Migration's impact on cities 187
Migration in context 189
Migration to the United States and Canada 189
Migration to and within Europe 192
China's unprecedented migration 194
Sociological approaches to cities and migration 196
Immigrant assimilation: The influence of the Chicago School 196
Box 8.1 Studying the city 197
Ethnic enclaves: Places created by and for immigrants 199
Ethnic enclaves across time and place: Case studies 201
Five Points, New York City 202
Pilsen/Little Village, Chicago 204
Baishizhou, Shenzhen 206
Changing immigrant gateways 207
Box 8.2 Planning and building the city 208
Box 8.3 Making the city better 210
Urban migration in a shifting political context 212
9 Power, authority, and conflict in cities 220
The institutional contexts of power and authority 221
States and markets 221
The global economy and neoliberalism 222
Cities today as contested spaces 224
The nature of local governance and politics 225
Box 9.1 Making the city better 226
Local authorities and marginalized peoples 229
Racial minorities and local authorities 230
The homeless and local authorities 231
Box 9.2 Planning and building the city 232
The very poor and local authorities 233
Contesting mistreatment by local authorities 234
Box 9.3 Studying the city 235
Major contests over deep meanings and spaces in the metropolis 237
Jerusalem: The quintessential contested city 237
The contested spaces of Berlin 239
Considering power and space in urban contexts 241
Part IV Cities in a New Era of Globalization 247
10 Urbanization and cities in developing countries 248
Urbanization 249
The basic path of urbanization and its impact on place 249
Developing- country cities in historical perspective 251
Box 10.1 Studying the city 251
The basic dimensions of urbanization 253
Urban hierarchy 253
Urban primacy 254
Over- urbanization versus under- urbanization 255
Natural increase and in- migration 257
From process and system to place 258
A profile with multiple wrinkles 258
Megacities as places: Opportunities and challenges 259
Size and density 259
Creating wealth and sustaining poverty 260
Box 10.2 Making the city better 262
The developing megacity as a lived place 263
Governing the megacities 266
Box 10.3 Planning and building the city 267
Reassessing the developing- country city 268
11 Cities in the global economy 275
Cities in a globalizing world: theoretical background 276
Emerging cities in the global economy 277
Yiwu, China: The world's central hub for small merchandise 277
Rajarhat, India: A tech city on the metropolitan edge 279
Re- emerging cities in the global economy 280
Hamburg, Germany: Prosperity, challenges, and re- emergence 280
Shanghai: Global rise from local renaissance 283
Deeper and higher into the global economy 285
Dongguan, China: From a rural township into a world factory- city 286
Box 11.1 Studying the city 287
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: From a desert outpost to an urban miracle 289
Cities in a networked and fragmented global economy 290
The regional dimension and reconfiguration of cities 291
The (re)emergence of regional- urban corridors 292
City differentiation in a changing world 294
Box 11.2 Planning and building the city 295
Individual flexibility under systematic constraint 296
The new regional corridorization of cities 297
Box 11.3 Making the city better 298
Part V Changes and Challenges for Resilient Cities 305
12 Cities in a rapidly changing climate 306
Cities and the natural environment 307
Cities' reliance on nature 307
Risk, hazard, and disaster 309
Challenges and inequities in urban environments 311
Resources and pollution 311
Box 12.1 Studying the city 312
Inequitable distributions of risks 314
Box 12.2 Making the city better 315
Cities in a changing climate 319
Cities' contributions to climate change 320
The changing profile of disaster 320
Climate adaptation and mitigation 323
Rebuilding vulnerable cities 324
Box 12.3 Planning and building the city 325
Sustainability, resilience, and a "just transition" 327
13 The post- pandemic city 336
Why revisit the pandemic? 337
The pandemic as an urban crisis 337
Wuhan: The original epicenter 340
Box 13.1 Making the city better 342
New York City: Ground Zero, again 343
Economic implications 345
Implications for urban space and infrastructure 346
Changes and challenges in gathering 346
The remote work revolution 348
Box 13.2 Studying the city 350
Lingering implications of new work and social patterns 352
Implications for small and midsized cities 354
Fleeing the city 354
The increasing appeal of midsized cities 355
Box 13.3 Planning and building the city 356
Looking ahead and planning for resilience 358
Glossary 368
Index 376