Cities and Urban Life, 7th edition

For courses in Urban Sociology
A comprehensive overview of classic and contemporary urban sociology.
Cities and Urban Life provides an introduction to the study of urban environments around the world. Using an approach that is multidisciplinary but fundamentally sociological, authors John Macionis and Vincent Parrillo help students see how cities have evolved over time, how cities reflect culture, and where the urban story may take us next. The inclusion of the latest data and research references throughout the seventh edition, as well as updated case studies on a variety of cities, ensures that students come away with an up-to-date understanding of contemporary urban life.

Four main themes guide students through the course

• Cities and urban life vary according to time and place. Since the idea of the city first came to our ancestors some 10,000 years ago, the urban scene has been re-created time and again, all around the world, in countless ways. The authors–informed by their own travels to around 70 of the world’s nations–have labored to portray this remarkable diversity throughout this text.
• Cities reflect and intensify society and culture. Although cities vary in striking ways, they stand as physical symbols of human civilization. For example, nowhere do we perceive the inward-looking world of the Middle Ages better than in the walled cities of that era. Similarly, modern U.S. cities are powerful statements about the contemporary forces of industrial capitalism.
• Cities reveal the best and the worst about the human condition. Another way to “read” cities is as testimony to the achievements and failings of a way of life. Thus, while New York boasts some spectacular architecture, exciting public parks, vital art galleries, and vibrant concert halls, it also forces us to confront chronic prejudice and wrenching poverty.
• Cities offer the promise–but not always the reality–of a better life. Since at least the time of the ancient Greeks, people have recognized that the city holds the promise of living “the good life.” Yet all urban places fall short of this ideal in some ways. The great promise of urban living, coupled with the daunting problems of actual cities, provokes us to ask how we can make urban places better.

Engaging features foster student interest and boost understanding

• Engaging boxed inserts of four types illuminate key content, drawing students into their study of the discipline.

• NEW! City Snapshot boxes offer a brief profile of a specific city to illustrate one of the chapter’s main points. The cities highlighted via this feature are Denver, Singapore, Paris, London, and St. Louis.• Urban Trends boxes depict patterns, either past or present, that shape people’s way of life.
• Urban Living boxes provide pictures of cities “at street level,” giving students close-up looks at how people really live. • Cityscape boxes present a literary account or scholarly analysis of a significant dimension of urban life.

• UPDATED! Eight in-depth case studies offer broad socio-historical looks at major cities in various regions of the world, and illustrate key points. The following cities are profiled via these case studies:

• London (Chapter 2)
• New York (Chapter 3)• Portland, Oregon (Chapter 4)
• Ming Peking (Chapter 9)• Hellenic Athens (Chapter 9)
• Communist—Capitalist Beijing (Chapter 9)• Chicago (Chapter 11)
• Toronto (Chapter 14)

The seventh edition’s case studies have been updated to reflect changes over the last few years, such as the growing Asian and Hispanic presence in cities and the renaissance of many older cities through gentrification and tourism.
• NEW! End-of-chapter discussion questions, often relating chapter content to students’ own locales, make the subject matter more meaningful. These thought-provoking questions provide a jumping-off point for in-class debate, or at-home consideration, of key concepts.
• NEW! Learning objectives identified at the beginning of each chapter enable students to focus on key themes and topics.

Revised and updated content ensures currency and relevance

• NEW! In order to ensure the most contemporary information in the discipline, the seventh edition has been thoroughly updated to include:

• The most recent relevant studies in sociology as well as many other related fields. Of the more than 725 reference sources, about four-fifths are from the twenty-first century, while the remainder are mostly from classic studies.
• The latest data from Asian, Canadian, European, and U.S. government agencies and departments, from the United Nations, and from major organizations such as the Pew Research Center and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. As such, the demographic information presented in this edition reflects recent changes to cities, suburbs, metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, and the growing presence of minorities in all regions of the U.S.

• NEW! Chapter 7, on critical urban theory, includes a new section on nested city theory, one of the more recent concepts about the role of cities in the global economy. This section gives students a different way of looking at how cities are situated within various systems–local, national, regional and global.
• NEW! In order to provide tighter focus on critical urban theory, the previous edition’s material on the economics of land use and central place theory has been moved from Chapter 7 to Chapter 6 (on spatial perspectives).
• NEW! Chapter 12 features a new section on the HOPE VI program, a federally funded community revitalization effort that seeks to transform public housing in distressed poverty areas by embracing new urbanism concepts.
• NEW! Chapter 13 offers expanded coverage of world cities. The chapter’s material has been reordered and revised to cover more than just the developing world. New cities have been added (Cairo, Lagos, Guangzhou, Tokyo, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro). The chapter also features a new discussion about the lure and shared commonalities of many European cities.
• NEW! Chapter 14 better helps students understand where cities and urban planning are going in the future. The chapter contains revised material on urban planning in the past and on twentieth-century large-scale and small-scale urban planning and development. A new section explains how current trends give us insight into future growth and development in cities around the world.
• NEW! The already robust coverage of the Canadian urban experience has been updated, including new demographics, to further encourage students to think beyond national boundaries.

Engaging features foster student interest and boost understanding

• City Snapshot boxes offer a brief profile of a specific city to illustrate one of the chapter’s main points. The cities highlighted via this feature are Denver, Singapore, Paris, London, and St. Louis.
• UPDATED! Eight in-depth case studies offer broad socio-historical looks at major cities in various regions of the world, and illustrate key points. The following cities are profiled via these case studies:

• London (Chapter 2)• New York (Chapter 3)
• Portland, Oregon (Chapter 4)• Ming Peking (Chapter 9)
• Hellenic Athens (Chapter 9)• Communist—Capitalist Beijing (Chapter 9)
• Chicago (Chapter 11)• Toronto (Chapter 14)

The seventh edition’s case studies have been updated to reflect changes over the last few years, such as the growing Asian and Hispanic presence in cities and the renaissance of many older cities through gentrification and tourism.
• End-of-chapter discussion questions, often relating chapter content to students’ own locales, make the subject matter more meaningful. These thought-provoking questions provide a jumping-off point for in-class debate, or at-home consideration, of key concepts.
• Learning objectives identified at the beginning of each chapter enable students to focus on key themes and topics.

Revised and updated content ensures currency and relevance

• In order to ensure the most contemporary information in the discipline, the seventh edition has been thoroughly updated to include:

• The most recent relevant studies in sociology as well as many other related fields. Of the more than 725 reference sources, about four-fifths are from the twenty-first century, while the remainder are mostly from classic studies. • The latest data from Asian, Canadian, European, and U.S. government agencies and departments, from the United Nations, and from major organizations such as the Pew Research Center and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. As such, the demographic information presented in this edition reflects recent changes to cities, suburbs, metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, and the growing presence of minorities in all regions of the U.S.

• Chapter 7, on critical urban theory, includes a new section on nested city theory, one of the more recent concepts about the role of cities in the global economy. This section gives students a different way of looking at how cities are situated within various systems–local, national, regional and global.
• In order to provide tighter focus on critical urban theory, the previous edition’s material on the economics of land use and central place theory has been moved from Chapter 7 to Chapter 6 (on spatial perspectives).
• Chapter 12 features a new section on the HOPE VI program, a federally funded community revitalization effort that seeks to transform public housing in distressed poverty areas by embracing new urbanism concepts.
• Chapter 13 offers expanded coverage of world cities. The chapter’s material has been reordered and revised to cover more than just the developing world. New cities have been added (Cairo, Lagos, Guangzhou, Tokyo, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro). The chapter also features a new discussion about the lure and shared commonalities of many European cities.
• Chapter 14 better helps students understand where cities and urban planning are going in the future. The chapter contains revised material on urban planning in the past and on twentieth-century large-scale and small-scale urban planning and development. A new section explains how current trends give us insight into future growth and development in cities around the world.
• The already robust coverage of the Canadian urban experience has been updated, including new demographics, to further encourage students to think beyond national boundaries.