The Emerging City: Myth and Reality

by Scott A. Greer

The Emerging City was written at a time when the great transformation from urban to suburban lifestyle was under way. It is a tribute to Scott Greer that his work understood the new contours of the city, and also well appreciated that far from spelling the end of urban life, the new developments in communication and transportation only served to change the social and political structure of modern societies. Greer established the principle that in urban affairs, public policy follows the market. The task of this fine work was to chart just how this flow took place. A careful researcher and writer, Scott Greer herein poses the largest questions of urban What needs for fellowship and freedom are bedrock? What is gained and what is lost as urbanization unfolds? Can one speak of certain urban arrangements as good or bad for humans? The Emerging City attempts a theory of society within which the changing city could be interpreted at the social, political, and symbolic levels. The modern city is no longer an autonomous unit, but very much a part of, often at the center of, national and even international developments. As Janet Abu-Lughod points out in her sharp introduction most of the themes that are now in common usage owe their beginnings to Scott Greer.

246 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Scott Greer was Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee from 1974 until his death in 1996. He was the first director of the doctoral program in Urban Social Institutions at its founding in 1975. Scott Greer was an internationally renowned urban scholar, and a published poet, as well. Some of his best known titles are The Emerging City: Myth and Reality; Governing the Metropolis; Urban Renewal and American Cities; The Concept of Community and The Urbane View. Cities of the Soul, published posthumously, is a collection of poetry, letters and essays.

--from University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's Scott Greer Awards page