Archer - The City: The Basics

THE CITY

THE BASICS

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 survey 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
• urban economics, urban politics, urban culture, and urban planning.

Featuring suggestions for further reading, a glossary, and several international case studies, this is the ideal starting point for those interested in any aspect of cities or urban studies.

Kevin Archer is Chair of the Department of Geography at Central Washington University. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on urban issues, globalization, and the production of nature.

The Basics

ACTING

BELLA MERLIN

ANTHROPOLOGY

PETER METCALF

ARCHAEOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)

CLIVE GAMBLE

ART HISTORY

GRANT POOKE AND DIANA NEWALL

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

KEVIN WARWICK

THE BIBLE

JOHN BARTON

BUDDHISM

CATHY CANTWELL

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE

SUMAN GUPTA

CRIMINAL LAW

JONATHAN HERRING

CRIMINOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)

SANDRA WALKLATE

DANCE STUDIES

JO BUTTERWORTH

EASTERN PHILOSOPHY

VICTORIA S. HARRISON

ECONOMICS (SECOND EDITION)

TONY CLEAVER

EDUCATION

KAY WOOD

EUROPEAN UNION (SECOND EDITION)

ALEX WARLEIGH-LACK

EVOLUTION

SHERRIE LYONS

FILM STUDIES

AMY VILLAREJO

FINANCE (SECOND EDITION)

ERIK BANKS

HUMAN GENETICS

RICKI LEWIS

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

ANDREW JONES

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

PETER SUTCH AND JUANITA ELIAS

ISLAM (SECOND EDITION)

COLIN TURNER

JOURNALISM STUDIES

MARTIN CONBOY

JUDAISM

JACOB NEUSNER

LANGUAGE (SECOND EDITION)

R. L. TRASK

LAW

GARY SLAPPER AND DAVID KELLY

LITERARY THEORY (SECOND EDITION)

HANS BERTENS

LOGIC

J. C. BEALL

MANAGEMENT

MORGEN WITZEL

MARKETING (SECOND EDITION)

KARL MOORE AND NIKETH PAREEK

MEDIA STUDIES

JULIAN MCDOUGALL

THE OLYMPICS

ANDY MIAH AND BEATRIZ GARCIA

PHILOSOPHY (FIFTH EDITION)

NIGEL WARBURTON

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

JOSEPH HOLDEN

POETRY (SECOND EDITION)

JEFFREY WAINWRIGHT

POLITICS (FOURTH EDITION)

STEPHEN TANSEY AND NIGEL JACKSON

THE QURAN

MASSIMO CAMPANINI

RACE AND ETHNICITY

PETER KIVISTO AND

PAUL R. CROLL

RELIGION (SECOND EDITION)

MALORY NYE

RELIGION AND SCIENCE

PHILIP CLAYTON

RESEARCH METHODS

NICHOLAS WALLIMAN

ROMAN CATHOLICISM

MICHAEL WALSH

SEMIOTICS (SECOND EDITION)

DANIEL CHANDLER

SHAKESPEARE (THIRD EDITION)

SEAN MCEVOY

SOCIAL WORK

MARK DOEL

SOCIOLOGY

KEN PLUMMER

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

JANICE WEARMOUTH

TELEVISION STUDIES

TOBY MILLER

TERRORISM

JAMES LUTZ AND BRENDA LUTZ

THEATRE STUDIES

ROBERT LEACH

WORLD HISTORY

PETER N. STEARNS

THE CITY

THE BASICS

kevin archer

First published 2013

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2013 Kevin Archer

The right of Kevin Archer to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Archer, Kevin, 1957

The city : the basics / Kevin Archer.

p. cm. (The basics)

1. Cities and towns. 2. Sociology, Urban. 3. City life. I. Title.

HT151.A724 2013

307.76dc23

2012015729

ISBN: 978-0-415-67080-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-415-67079-1 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-08466-3 (ebk)

Cities and City Life

For the first time in human history, most people now live in cities. This urbanization of the worlds population is predicted to continue, even intensify, in the years ahead. According to one estimate, by 2020, global population will reach 8.1 billion and only 37 percent of this total will live in rural areas. The pace of city growth is especially rapid in poorer countries of the Global South, particularly in Asia and Africa, where the urban population is expected to double between 2000 and 2030. Indeed, a recent report by the United Nations estimates that by 2030, cities of the Global South will account for as much as 81 percent of the worlds urban population. It is clear, then, that the urban condition, across the planet, is fast becoming the human condition.

In addition to describing the historical and contemporary processes behind these trends in global urbanization, this book is an attempt to determine, in broad overview, what this latter assertion means. In what ways does life in the city differ from that in rural areas? If it does, what are the differences and in what ways do these differences matter for the human condition, now and in the future? Some have argued, for example, that life in cities is so significantly distinct that it represents a whole new form of social relations demanding, in turn, new ways of thinking about ones neighbors, ones self, and ones place in a greater community. If this is the case, then it behooves those concerned about the global human condition to figure out just what the implications may be of such rapid urbanization on a planetary scale.

To study the city in this way it is necessary to take an interdisciplinary, holistic approach. There is nothing out there in reality that is the city economy that is not already related to city politics, city culture, even to the citys natural environment. Inner-city poverty in the United States, for example, has as much to do with policy-making or a culture of insecurity as it does with job creation and markets. Similarly, a world of hyper-wealthy cities and hyper-poor cities did not just appear as a result of some natural economic evolution but, rather, as a historical legacy of political oppression and economic exploitation on a global scale. While the following chapters of this book focus specifically on one or another of these aspects of the city, this essential interrelationship among them needs to be kept in mind if one is to come to a comprehensive understanding of the city. At the same time, one needs to avoid reifying the city as if it were an active agent itself. The city does not do anything or act in certain ways but, rather, city people do, in various ways with various results.