Stevenson, Deborah 1958- creator text bibliography 2003 monographic eng

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164p. ill. ; 23cm What is distinctive about urban life? What key trends have shaped the contemporary city? How have the city and urban cultures been explained by sociology and cultural studies? This is the first book to explore cities and urban life from the perspectives of both sociology and cultural theory. Through an interdisciplinary approach and use of case material, the book demonstrates that the 'real' city of physicality and struggle and the 'imagined' city of representations are entwined in the construction of urban cultures. Starting with a comparison of the rural and the urban, the book considers ways of imagining the city and of conceptualising urban cultures. It goes on to investigate the implications of several pivotal urban and cultural trends, such as the use of the arts and local cultures in city re-imaging, and the ways in which modernism, postmodernism and globalisation have shaped the built environment and the orientation of academic enquiry.; Also examined is the way in which representations of the urban landscape in film, literature, art, and popular texts, have informed dominant ideas about the way certain city spaces - including city centres, urban waterfronts, and so-called 'global cities' - should look, function and 'feel'. Designed as a text for undergraduate courses in cultural studies, sociology and wider social science, this book traces the development of urban environments from the nineteenth century to the present, and illuminates the nature of urban life -- Contents: ‘LAST TRAMS I’ AND ‘II’ BY KENNETH SLESSOR x -- SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD xi -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xiii -- 1 CITY CULTURES 1 -- Introduction: a city imagined 1 -- The structure of Cities and Urban Cultures 6 -- 2 LANDSCAPE OF SHADOW AND SMOG: THE EMERGENCE OF THE INDUSTRIAL CITY 12 -- Introduction: the rural and the urban 12 -- Industrialization and urban growth 13 -- Background to urbanism 15 -- Reimagining Utopia 19 -- Freedom, loneliness and the modern metropolis 23 -- Ethnography and the pattering of urban life 26 -- Conclusion: dreamers, planners and reformers 29 -- Further reading 31 -- 3 CITTIES OF DIFERENCE: INEQUALITY, MARGINALIZATIONAND FEAR 32 -- Introduction: from consensus to conflict 32 -- Social justice and the ‘urban question’ 37 -- Gender in the city 37 -- The politics of urban difference 40 -- Viii CITIES AND URBAN CULTURES: New divided city? 44 -- Global trends and local diversity 48 -- Conclusion: the micro and the macro 51 -- Further reading 53 -- 4 MEANING AND MEMORY: READING THE URBAN TEXT 54 -- Introduction: the culture of cities 54 -- The city experienced 55 -- Text and contexts 58 -- Into the ‘labyrinth’ 62 -- Walking and the tactics of everyday life 67 -- Conclusion: surface and depths 70 -- Further reading 72 -- 5 DESIGNING THE URBAN: FROM THE CITY BEAUTIFUL TO THE ‘END’ OF MODERNISM 73 -- Introduction: boulevards, skyscrapers and pastiche 73 -- Landscape of power 74 -- A ‘sidewalk ballet’ 78 -- The vertical city 82 -- Postmodern landscapes 87 -- Conclusion: from space to place 91 -- Further reading 92 -- 6 THE CITY AS SPECTACLE: CULTURE AND THE REIMAGINING OF CITIES 93 -- Introduction: making cities fun 93 -- Urban decline and the global 94 -- Selling the city 98 -- ‘An urbanism of universal equivalence’ 100 -- Cultural planning and the ‘creative city’ 104 -- Planning cultural citizenship 107 -- Conclusion: fantasy cities 111 -- Further reading 112 -- 7 IMAGINING THE CITY: MOVIES, MAPS AND CYBERSPACE 113 -- Introduction: inner cities 113 -- Mapping the landscape 115 -- The art of the city 119 -- The imaginary suburb 123 -- Virtual gemeinschaft 128 -- Conclusion words and pictures 132 -- Further reading 133 -- 8 CONCLUSION: BEYOND URBANISM? 134 -- GLOSARY 141 -- REFERENCES 144 -- INDEX 159 -- specialized Deborah Stevenson. Include bibliographical references and index. City and towns Postmodernist Social aspects City and town life Urban anthropology Sociology urban HT119 S76 2003 0335208444 0335208452 2002030367 pucpr 062910 20250409154021.0 eng