8th Edition
The City Reader
Lists of Plates
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Prologue: ‘How to Study Cities”
Richard T. LeGates
Part 1 The Evolution of Cities
Introduction
“The Urbanization of the Human Population”
Kingsley Davis
“The Urban Revolution”
V. Gordon Childe
“The Earliest Cities” (2002)
Michael E. Smith
“The Polis”
H.D.F. Kitto
“City Origins” and “Cities and European Civilization”
Henri Pirenne
“The Great Towns”
Friedrich Engels
“The Automobile, the City, and the New Urban Mobilities”
Frederic Stout
“Globalizing Cities”
Xuefei Ren and Roger Keil
Plate Section 1: The Evolution of Cities
Part 2: Urban Culture and Society
Introduction
“The Urban Drama”
Lewis Mumford
“Urbanism as a Way of Life”
Louis Wirth
“The Negro Problems of Philadelphia,” “The Question of Earning a Living,” and “Color Prejudice”
W.E.B. Du Bois
“The Code of the Street” and “Decent and Street Families”
Elijah Anderson
“Winning the Race” (2006)
John McWhorter
“Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital” (1995)
Robert D. Putnam
“The City that Lost its Soul” (2010)
Sharon Zukin
Plate Section 2: “Urban Culture and Society”
Part 3 Urban Space
Introduction
“The Growth of the City: An Introduction to a Research Project”
Ernest W. Burgess
“Gender and Urban Space”
Daphne Spain
“The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety”
Jane Jacobs
“Social Exclusion, Space, and Time”
Ali Madanipour
“Bright vs. Blurred Boundaries: Second-Generation Assimilation and Exclusion in France, Germany, and the United States”
Richard Alba
“The Causes of Sprawl”
Robert Bruegmann
Networks of Outrage and Hope (2012)
Manuel Castells
“Making Room for a Planet of Cities”
Schlomo Angel
Plate Section 3: “Urban Space”
Part 4 Urban Politics, Governance, and Economics
Introduction
“Politics”
Aristotle
“The Right to the City”
David Harvey
“A Ladder of Citizen Participation”
Sherry Arnstein
“The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City”
Michael Porter
“The City as a Growth Machine: Towards a Political Economy of Place”
Harvey Molotch
“The City as a Distorted Price System”
Wilbur Thompson
“Metropolitics and Fiscal Equity”
Myron Orfield
Plate Section 4: “Urban Politics, Governance, and Economics”
Part 5 Urban Planning History and Visions
Introduction
“Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns”
Frederick Law Olmsted
Garden Cities of Tomorrow
Ebenezer Howard
“A Contemporary City”
Le Corbusier
“Broadacre City: A New Community Plan”
Frank Lloyd Wright
“The Charter of the New Urbanism”: The Congress for the New Urbanism
“Green Manhattan: Everywhere Should Be More Like New York”
David Owen
“The Almost Perfect Town”
John Brinckerhoff Jackson
Plate Section 5: “Urban Planning History and Visions”
Part 6 Urban Planning Theory and Practice
Introduction
“The Smart City” (2020)
Michael Batty
“The City of Theory” (2014)
Peter Hall
“The Uses of Planning Theory”
John Friedmann
“Planning in the Face of Conflict”
John Forester
“Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning”
Paul Davidoff
“Hybrid Planning Cultures: The Search for the Global Cultural Commons”
Bishwapriya Sanyal
“Seeing from the South: Refocusing Urban Planning on the Globe’s Central Urban Issues”
Vanessa Watson
“Urban resilience”
Sara Meerow
Plate Section 6: “Urban Planning: Theory and Practice”
Part 7 Urban Design and Placemaking
Introduction
“Urban Design” (2025)
Richard LeGates
“What is Placemaking?”: Project for Public Spaces
“The Design of Spaces”
William H. Whyte
“The Neighborhood Unit”
Clarence Perry
“The City Image and its Elements”
Kevin Lynch
“Toward an Urban Design Manifesto”
Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard
“Designing Inclusive Healthy Places”
Jennifer Gardner
“Three Types of Outdoor Activities”, “Life Between Buildings”, and “Outdoor Activities and the Quality of Outdoor Space”
Jan Gehl
Plate Section 7: “Urban Design and Placemaking”
Part 8 Urban Futures and Global Challenges
Introduction
“The Impact of the New Technologies and Globalization on Cities”
Saskia Sassen
“Planning as Statecraft: A Perspective of State Entrepreneurialism in China
Fulong Wu
“AI-Driven Urban Planning: From Planning Support to Plan-Making”
Zhong-Ren Peng
“World Cities, or a World of Ordinary Cities?”
Jennifer Robinson
Plate Section 8: Urban Futures and Global Challenges
Illustration credits
Copyright Information
Index
Biography
Richard T. LeGates is Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Planning at San Francisco State University.
Frederic Stout is Lecturer Emeritus in Urban Studies at Stanford University.
Roger W. Caves is Professor Emeritus of City Planning at San Diego State University.
… the definitively complete reader on urban problems and policies.
Peter Hall, University College London
… a "must read" book…comprehensive, authoritative and just plain fun.
Eugenie Birch, Professor of Urban Planning and Design, University of Pennsylvania
…A book for all generations of urbanists.
Margaret Wilder, Executive Director, Urban Affairs Association
… the single most authoritative collection of foundational readings in urban studies and planning today.
Tridib Bannerjee, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Southern California
… an indispensable widely read book in the world which provides a collection of classical and contemporary seminal literature for understanding the multidisciplinary complexities of our cities.
Anthony G.O. Yeh, Chair Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong, Secretary-General, Asian Planning Schools Association
… the best single "go-to" volume for young scholars interested in how cities work, and how they can be made to work better.… As a one-stop source for historical and contemporary theory and practice… still unbeatable.
John Landis, Professor of Urban Planning and Design, University of Pennsylvania
… an indispensable resource across all the fields concerned with the study of city.
Michael Hibbard, Professor Emeritus of Planning, Public Policy & Management, University of Oregon
… a magnificent job… Essential reading as our world turns into one dominated by cities.
Michael Batty, Bartlett Professor, University College London
… should be on the required list for all individuals interested in urbanism
Roger Caves, Professor of Urban Planning, San Diego State University
… an excellent, international resource for all urbanists… a really useful global overview of contemporary developments in urban studies
Robin Hambleton, Professor of City Leadership, University of the West of England
… a continuing invaluable and reliable global resource for urban and regional planners tackling complex issues in an increasingly urbanising world.
Barbara Norman, Foundation Chair, Urban and Regional Planning Department, University of Canberra
… an inclusive introduction that captures the major topics and readings in urban studies.
Susan S. Fainstein, Senior Research Fellow, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
