City (key Ideas In Geography)

CITY City provides an accessible yet critical introduction to one of the key ideas in human geography. Always at the heart of discussions in social theory, the definition and specification of the city nonetheless remains elusive. In this volume, Phil Hubbard locates the concept of the city within current traditions of social thought, providing a basis for understanding its varying usages and meanings through a critical discussion of the contribution of major theories and thinkers. This book thus offers a distinctive and timely intervention in debates in urban theory by suggesting new ways that students and scholars in sociology, geography, urban studies, planning and politics can make sense of the city. Written in a lively and accessible style, the individual chapters of City offer a thematic overview of some important ways of approaching cities, whether as imagined realms, lived-in places, networks of association or spaces of flow. Situating these traditions within the rich heritage of urban studies and urban sociology, the book develops the argument that none of these approaches, when taken alone, helps us grasp the specificity of the urban, but that each is vital for grasping the materiality of cities. The book thus spells out the case for a renewed urban geography, suggesting that it is only by combining these different ways of approaching the city that we can begin to understand the relational materiality of urban life. Phil Hubbard is Reader in Urban Social Geography at Loughborough University. Key Ideas in Geography SERIES EDITORS: SARAH HOLLOWAY, LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY AND GILL VALENTINE, LEEDS UNIVERSITY The Key Ideas in Geography series will provide strong, original and accessible texts on important spatial concepts for academics and students working in the fields of geography, sociology and anthropology, as well as the interdisciplinary fields of urban and rural studies, development and cultural studies. Each text will locate a key idea within its traditions of thought, provide grounds for understanding its various usages and meanings, and offer critical discussion of the contribution of relevant authors and thinkers. Published Nature NOEL CASTREE City PHIL HUBBARD Home ALISON BLUNT AND ROBYN DOWLING Forthcoming Scale ANDREW HEROD Landscape JOHN WYLIE Environment GEORGINA ENDFIELD CITY Phil Hubbard First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2006 Phil Hubbard This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hubbard, Phil. City / Phil Hubbard. p. cm. — (Key ideas in geography) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0–415–33099–8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0–415–33100–5 (softcover : alk. paper) 1. Cities and towns. 2. Sociology, Urban. 3. Urbanization. 4. Metropolitan areas. I. Title. II. Series. HT151.H82 2006 307.76—dc22 2006007552 ISB