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A companion to the city

At the start of the new millennium cities are firmly back on the agenda. Cities are the sites of complex global/local interconnections producing a multiplicity of social, cultural, political and economic spaces and forms. It is no longer possible, if it ever was, to look at the city from one perspective. "A Companion to the City" sets out to think about cities in more textured ways and brings together scholars from a range of fields to create a multidisciplinary approach to the city. Academics from disciplines as diverse as film studies and economics, philosophy and geography, turn their attention to the city and generate exciting new ways of thinking. This Companion provides the reader with an indispensable and authoritative overview of the key debates, controversies, and questions concerning the city from a variety of theoretical vantage points with an international perspective.

Society, culture, and urbanization

Eisenstadt and Shachar provide new insights into the development of urban civilization. They use a comparative and historical approach to analyse early forms of urban development within preindustrial societies. After reviewing the existing theories of urbanization, the authors present a new macrosocietal and comparative theoretical approach. They analyse nine civilizations in the context of their political regimes, social processes, and cultures.

Cosmopolitan culture : the gilt-edged dream of a tolerant city