Product Description

The third edition of the highly successful City Reader juxtaposes the very best of publications on the city. It has been extensively updated to reflect the latest thinking on globalization, information technology and urban theory. Classic writings from such authors as Lewis Mumford, Jane Jacobs and Le Corbusier, meet the best contemporary writings of, among others, Peter Hall, Saskia Sassen and Manuel Castells.
Fifty generous selections are included: a combination of thirty-four readings from the second edition and sixteen entirely new selections. Structured to aid student understanding, the anthology features main and part introductions, as well as individual introductions to the selected articles. The latter contain a brief intellectual biography and a review of the author's writings and related literature. Furthermore they provide an explanation of how the piece fits into the broader context of urban history and practice, competing ideological perspectives on the city and the major current debates concerning race and gender, global restructuring, sustainable urban development and the impact of technology and postmodernism.
The City Reader provides the comprehensive mapping of the terrain of Urban Studies, old and new. Illustrated with over 40 photographs, the text is essential reading for anyone interested in the city.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83264 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 628 pages

Review
Cities/Overview 26:7/337
–Future Survey, 07/2004

Book Info
Discusses the evolution of cities; urban culture and society; urban space; urban politics, governance, and economics; urban planning history and visions; urban planning theory and practice; perspectives on urban design; and the future of the city. Previous edition: c1996. DLC: Urban policy.

About the Author
Richard T. LeGates is Professor of Urban Studies at San Francisco State University. Fredric Stout is Lecturer in Urban Studies at Stanford University.

Customer Reviews

A must read for anyone who enjoys cities!
This book is a very interesting collection of essays from prominent intellectuals who have shown concern over the development of cities in various aspects, whether it be economics, sociology, or other fields.

Excellent for anyone interested in urbanism, it's problems, it's development, it's future.

The book focuses heavily on U.S. cities, particularly Los Angeles and New York. It would have been nice if the book would had included articles on other large cities in the world.

Despite this, the book is an excellent read which encourages the reader to rethink the way he/she sees the city.

The Best Intro to Urban Planning I've Ever Read
As a first year Urban Planner, this book was on the required readings list for our course. This book gave me the edge to all my fellow students because it provided a detailed sample through a historical and progressive manner. It provides the fundamentals of the great thinkers in Urban Planning. It also covered and introduced me to further research on areas such as design and sociology, promoting further personal research.

As a second year student, this book can always be seen in my bibliography, and is always the first thing I head towards for a brief history on any concepts that are raised in my lecturers.

This book can be seen as THE general summary of Urban Planning.

Highly Recommended
Legates and Stout do an excellent job of compiling and briefly explaining many seminal writings on cities. There is a lot to read here and I'm not yet finished. But this heavy book is full of informative, interesting and fun writings and provides an excellent introduction to the study of cities. This is essential reading for students of Urban Form, Architecture, and the Social Sciences. Includes Le Corbusier, Patrick Geddes, Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, J.B. Jackson, Witold Rybczynski and many others.