The Urban World

by J. John Palen

Long the leading text in urban sociology, The Urban World continues to provide a comprehensive, balanced, up-to-date, cross-cultural look at cities and suburbs around the world. Offering a 21st century view of the changing urban scene, the text covers evolving urban patterns and the changing nature of urban life. Combining expert scholarship with a readable style that students appreciate, J. John Palen is one of America's leading urban sociologists, who travels the world and adds new insights gleaned firsthand to each succeeding edition of his text.

Genres: Sociology, School, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Russell Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Palen's The Urban World is a classic introductory textbook in urban sociology, and it's not hard to see why: in succinct, clear prose, he very effectively touches on just about every possible socio-economic and historical development relevant to gaining a solid grounding in the scholarly study of cities. He obviously can't go into every perspective or variable in great depth, but that's not necessary, because the depth studies are out there (and very handily referenced throughout the text!) for those who want them; his book is all about the overall picture. And his presentation of that overall picture is one that I, someone who has come to the study of cities through a theoretical interest in matters of community and governance, really appreciated. I learned about the major schools of thought regarding urban growth patters (from the zonal model of the Chicago School to the polycentric, "multinucleated metro model" of the Los Angeles School), I came across additional evidence to make sense of the many issues surrounding different types of suburban development and sprawl, the way urban planners and others have dealt with the declining relevance of "propinquity" (nearness) in figuring out how community meanings stretch and evolve, and much more. Ultimately, Palen is--predictably, considering he's spent his whole academic career studying this topic!--a booster of cities, and his sense of the inevitable necessity of getting serious about metropolitan government in the face of the dysfunction of larger systems of sovereignty matches my own reading of the present moment as well. He never mentions my favorite topic of mid-sized cities--preferring to not spend much time distinguish the different scales that various metropolitan areas operate within--but hey, you can't have everything. All in all, this is a solid, helpful book; one I'm very glad I read.