Why do some cities grow and expand, while others dwindle and decline? Why is Milwaukee a town of the past, while Minneapolis-St. Paul seems reborn and infused with future dynamism? And what do Milwaukee and the Twin Cities have to tell us about other cities' prospects, the trials and destinies of industrial Cleveland and post-industrial Austin? Anthony Orum's new book tells the story of these cities and, at the same time, of all cities. Here the urban past, present, and future are woven in...

Understanding how cities shape human life through space and placeCities 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 p...

COMPANION TO URBAN AND REGIONAL STUDIESIndispensable overview and timely coverage of the major issues, debates, and research topics in urban and regional studiesCompanion to Urban and Regional Studies offers an up-to-date view of the rapidly growing field, exploring a diversity of theoretical perspectives, current and emerging research, and critical global policy concerns. Uniquely broad in geographical and thematic scope, this com...

Public spaces have long been the focus of urban social activity, but investigations of how public space works often adopt only one of several possible perspectives, which restricts the questions that can be asked and the answers that can be considered. In this volume, Anthony Orum and Zachary Neal explore how public space can be a facilitator of civil order, a site for power and resistance, and a stage for art, theatre, and performance. They bring together these frequently unconnected mode...

At an earlier time, sociologists C. Wright Mills, W. E. Du Bois, and Jane Addams loudly protested injustices and inequities in American society, provided critiques and analyses of systems of oppression, and challenged sociologists to be responsible critics and constructive commentators. These giants of American sociology would have applauded the 2004 meetings of the American Sociological Association. The theme of the meetings, Public Sociology, presided over by President Michael Burawoy, s...

The revised and updated second edition of Introduction to Citiesexplores 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 Citiesexamines 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 sub...

Since the end of World War II, social science research has become increasingly quantitative in nature. A Case for the Case Study provides a rationale for an alternative to quantitative research: the close investigation of single instances of social phenomena.The first section of the book contains an overview of the central methodological issues involved in the use of the case study method. Then, well-known scholars describe how they undertook case study research in order t...