The City Reader

Routledge Urban Reader Series

by Richard T. LeGates (Editor), Frederic Stout (Editor)

The fourth edition of the highly successful The City Reader brings together the very best of publications on the city. Classic writings by such authors as Lewis Mumford, Ernest W. Burgess, LeCorbusier, Lewis Wirth, Jane Jacobs and Kevin Lynch meet the best contemporary writings of, among others, Sir Peter Hall, Richard Florida, Mike Davis, Michael Porter, Robert Putnam, Andrus Duany, Saskia Sassen, and Manuel Castells. New to the fourth edition are important classic writings on urban economics by Wilbur Thomson and those on bosses and machines by James Bryce, Jane Addams, and William L. Riordan, and new contemporary material on sustainable urban development, the creative class, metropolitics, occidentalism, Asian megacities, and urban futurism by The Bruntland Commission, Richard Florida, Myron Orfield, Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit, Aprodicio Laquian, and Joel Kotkin. Fifty-seven generous selections are a combination of forty-six readings from the third edition and eleven entirely new selections. Structured to aid student understanding, this anthology features main and part introductions, as well as individual introductions to the selected articles. Each selection is introduced with a brief intellectual biography and a review of the author’s writings and related literature, 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, globalization, terrorism, the impact of information technology on cities, civic engagement, and postmodernism. The City Reader provides the comprehensive mapping of the terrain of urban studies, old and new. It is illustrated with over forty photographs and is essential reading for anyone interested in the city.

Genres: Urban Planning, Architecture, Urbanism, Nonfiction, Cities, Urban, Sociology

632 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 1996

Reviews

[Katy]

Filled with some of the most important names in urban studies. A great book that acts as a primer to a multitude of disciplines -- urban studies, geography, sociology, etc. The reader is edited well and the introductions to each author give insight to each piece.

[Dalia Fawzy]

The prologue is killing me ...Amazing ^_^
-introduction of every chapter is very useful
-organized
-updated
-Heavy book :D
A treasure ...of a\journal articles
highly recommended
-the Plates are very useful

looking forward reading the 6th. edition :D

haven't finished all the articles yet..

[Mike]

This is an academic reader, or anthology of articles and essays, concerning various aspects of urban affairs with mainly a sociological focus. That is, most of the articles look at social interactions in urban environments more than they examine city planning, architecture, and related urban planning concerns. Thus, it will probably be of most use to students of urban sociology and anthropology. That said, the selection of articles is good, diverse, and comprehensive as much as it can be given the vastness of its topic.

[Meena Menon]

I read parts of this book when I took an Urban Planning class in 2001 at Central Connecticut State University. I LOVED that class. But then 9/11 happened and I got really depressed and I ended up dropping it. It's still in my parents' house in Connecticut even though I asked for it and they couldn't find it. When I was taking that class, I’d be trying to get reading done for class and I’d have to keep going back. I’d read a whole page sometimes and then have to go back a few times and still have to reread. But it was such a good book.

[John M.]

The readings in this book came from a wide variety of sources and were organized thematically into sections and chronologically within sections. This made it possible to go from history, to theory, to practice, and to design in an orderly and compelling fashion. My favorite readings included Engels' observations of 19th century England, the many perspectives on suburbia, and New Urbanism and urban design, aspects of which touch on environmental psychology, an interdisciplinary interest of mine.

[Ietrio]

Late 20th century. Life is good for the white men in what they like to call The Western World, with no trace of racial bias. But what if the life has become too good for these sinful people. Or capitalists, egoists, whatever. Maybe they should do some penitence, following the always true spirit of the great chairman in the sky: Karl Marx.

Religion and mysticism sold out as science because on the door there is written some word ending in -logy.

[Paulita]

There are some very cool chapters on city dynamics here, as well as design philosophy. But overall I would say the way it reads is pretty boring.

[Tony]

A very nice book who compile many major articles that become the legacy of contemporary urban studies.

[Bilal]

2017410018 muse for sure.

[Tracy]

Excellent collection of important writings about various aspects of cities. I found the editors introductions to each section and each selection to be incredibly useful in a) deciding whether to read a particular selection, b) giving me an idea of the gist of the selection/section if I decided not to read it, and c) identifying additional related references.

[Tyler Dickey]

Wow! A textbook I *GASP* enjoy, tons of great pieces about city scapes, urban planning, and everything else. Good read.

My only qualm is the bad layout, finding a specific piece by author or title is rough.

[Doron]

Its hard to get excited about textbooks but this one had a few good articles in it. Nicely edited and put together. one of the better text books I've read

[Maggie]

A great volume of classic urban reading... all the standards and some surprising selections, too.

[Skinnypeterm]

A good edition of The City Reader full of excellent writings on a variety of urban topics.

[Graham]

Required reading but a good collection of essays and excerpts

[Tom Oman]

Way more interesting than you might think. Well written and digestible textbook.

[Kearstin]

core text for an undergrad seminar I lead in grad school.

[Laura Taylor]

A terrific anthology of the "canon" on the city and design.

[Kirsten Christensen]

The best collection of urban reading, excellent college level urban his or, planning, and geography text. An update from the 5TH ED.