A multidisciplinary exploration of cities and urban life includes the historical development of cities, classic urban sociology, social psychology, geography and ecology, political economy, urban anthropology, as well as planning and architecture.
For a text book, it was decent. Some of it seemed a little scattered but it offered a nice introduction to urban life and the sociological theories offering explanations for why cities are how they are today, and a reflection into the past.
This textbook was required reading for a Sociology course. I enjoyed learning some of the background on how cities have come to be established, and how the design has been based on what was important to the founding cultures. There is also highlight information about some early urban sociologists. I use the term "highlight" because there were only glimpses into their thinking or studies based on the particular city being discussed, but a few caught my attention so I have ordered books on them or their works. And this is why I chose to study Urban Sociology - because I'm a geek about this particular area and will actually read textbooks for pleasure, not just because a professor requires it.
Interesting introduction to many concepts surrounding urban life and environments. While somewhat outdated (a lot of "by 2025..." statistics), it was still a very education book.