Urban Sociology

This national best-seller chronicles the true story of two brothers coming of age in the Henry Horner public housing complex in Chicago. Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers are 11 and nine years old when the story begins in the summer of 1987. Living with their mother and six siblings, they struggle against grinding poverty, gun violence, gang influences, overzealous police officers, and overburdened and neglectful bureaucracies. Immersed in their lives for two years, Kotlowitz brings us this classic rendering of growing up poor in America’s cities.

Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Author James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not - and cannot - be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge.

Since 2010, Toronto's headlines have been consumed by the outrageous personal foibles and government-slashing, anti-urbanist policies of Mayor Rob Ford. But the heated debate at City Hall has obscured a bigger, decade-long narrative of Toronto's ascendance as a mature global city. Some Great Idea traces how post-amalgamation, and under three very different mayors, Toronto managed to so quickly oscillate from one extreme to another, and how the city might proceed from here.

Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.

Leo Hollis presents evidence that cities can deliver a better life and a better world in the future. From exploring what slime mold can tell us about traffic flow, to looking at how traditional civic power structures are being overturned by Twitter, to investigating how cities all over the world are tackling climate change, population growth, poverty, shifting work patterns and the maintenance of the fragile trust of their citizens, Cities Are Good for You offers a new perspective on the city.

From the author of the best-selling Feminist City, this urbanite’s guide to gentrification knocks down the myths and exposes the forces behind the most urgent housing crisis of our time.

An unflinching look at the aspiring city-builders of our smart, mobile, connected future. We live in a world defined by urbanization and digital ubiquity, where mobile broadband connections outnumber fixed ones, machines dominate a new "internet of things," and more people live in cities than in the countryside.

Uma cidade em convulsão na imprensa, na literatura, na música popular, na ópera, no teatro, nas artes plásticas, no cinema, na caricatura, na praia, na ciência, na arquitetura, no futebol, na luta das mulheres, nos costumes, no sexo e nas drogas. Se o Brasil dos anos 20 ainda engatinhava rumo à modernização, o Rio de Janeiro tinha vida própria e já era sinônimo de arrojo e vanguarda. É essa capital fervilhante o cenário e a protagonista do novo livro de Ruy Castro.

The promise of the so-called smart city has been at the forefront of urban planning and development since the early 2010s, and the tech industry that supplies smart city software and hardware is now worth hundreds of billions a year. But the ideas and approaches underpinning smart city tech raise tough and important questions about the future of urban communities, surveillance, automation, and public participation. The smart city era, moreover, belongs firmly in a longer historical narrative about cities.

Sembrano ormai lontani i tempi della Cool Britannia, quegli anni "ruggenti" a cavallo tra il XX e il XXI secolo in cui la stella di Londra brillava più che mai, rappresentando nell'immaginario collettivo un faro a cui guardare per capire dove stesse andando il mondo. Dalla musica delle Spice Girls all'arte di Damien Hirst, dal fenomeno David Beckham alla moda di Alexander McQueen e Vivienne Westwood fino al cinema di Danny Boyle, c'è stata un'epoca in cui la Gran Bretagna era il centro nevralgico di tendenze e rivoluzioni, all'avanguardia in tutti i campi.

Bicycle/Race paints an unforgettable picture of Los Angeles—and the United States—from the perspective of two wheels. This is a book of borderlands and intersections, a cautionary tale about the dangers of putting infrastructure before culture, and a coming-of-age story about power and identity.

Le città europee sono più di un luogo fisico, più della somma dei loro edifici, sono l'esito di una "intenzione estetica" che nasce dalla quotidianità dei cittadini. Marco Romano ripercorre le origini storiche di questa lunga ricerca della bellezza, individuando così il contributo fondamentale, sebbene poco raccontato, che le donne hanno dato a questo sviluppo. È stato infatti l'intuito e il desiderio femminile a suggerire ieri come oggi molte soluzioni che hanno dato forma alle nostre città, dalle capitali ai villaggi.

Gaby and her husband Sean and their four children live in a flat across from Grenfell Tower, and Sean (a Church of England minister) was the first clergy person on the scene. This book stems from personal experience of the impact of the fire. It features the testimony of and commentary on the community that experienced it, and the amazing stories of hope that followed in its wake.

Black Picket Fences is a stark, moving, and candid look at a section of America that is too often ignored by both scholars and the media: the Black middle class. The result of living for three years in "Groveland", a Black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, sociologist Mary Pattillo-McCoy has written a book that explores both the advantages and the boundaries that exist for members of the Black middle class.

Deutschland im Sommer 2019: Die AfD wird zur Volkspartei im Osten. Merkel hat Zitteranfälle. Vor zehn Jahren stattete der Reporter Moritz von Uslar der Kleinstadt Zehdenick im Landkreis Oberhavel in der brandenburgischen Provinz einen Besuch ab. Nun kehrt er zurück, er bleibt vier Monate und - wie schon in seinem damaligen Buch Deutschboden - lässt er die Geschichte und die Einwohner des Städtchens auf sich zukommen. Anders als vor zehn Jahren ist der Reporter in der Kleinstadt aber kein Fremder mehr.

L'inizio del nuovo millennio sta portando alla ribalta le grandi città del mondo come luoghi della sperimentazione del futuro del pianeta e insieme come protagoniste della competizione a livello globale: città come Los Angeles, Londra e Tokyo hanno un ruolo di guida economica e identitaria sia per se stesse sia per i Paesi che rappresentano. L'Italia è un Paese fondato sulle città e la nostra storia - dall'epoca dei comuni alle istanze autonomiste odierne - ci ricorda quanto l'attaccamento alla comunità locale sia spesso più forte del legame con lo stato centrale.

Remember when an unattended package was just that, an unattended package? Remember when the airport was a place that evoked magical possibilities, not the anxiety of a full-body scan? In the post-9/11 world, we have become focused on heightened security measures, but do you feel safer? Are you safer? Against Security explains how our anxieties about public safety have translated into command-and-control procedures that annoy, intimidate, and are often counterproductive.

In our daily lives, we're surrounded by wires, pipes, utility poles, cell phone towers, and myriad other infrastructure that facilitates almost everything we do. Even though these systems are essential, when was the last time you gave them much thought? In On the Grid, Scott Huler sets out to understand all of the systems that shape our society - from transportation, water, and garbage to the Internet coming through our cable lines.

Żadne inne duże polskie miasto nie ma tylu tajemniczych i niezwykłych historii co Szczecin. Dlaczego? Bo nigdzie indziej losy nie potoczyły się w tak skomplikowany sposób. W ciągu wieków miastem władali na przemian Niemcy, Polacy, Francuzi i Szwedzi. W czasie II wojny światowej największe zniszczenia spowodowali w nim nie Rosjanie, lecz... Anglicy. Wiele razy w oficjalnej historii Szczecina próbowano przemilczać niewygodne fakty lub wymyślać nieprawdziwe propagandowe hasła. Tymczasem na przełomie XIX i XX wieku było to jedno z najważniejszych miast Europy.

Katowice nieustannie intrygują odwiedzających je podróżnych i zachwycają swoich mieszkańców. Wśród efektownej architektury i urokliwych zakątków górniczych osiedli miasto skrywa nieznaną stronę. Autorzy odnajdują tajemnicze historie i zapomniane miejsca. Z pasją opowiadają o zaskakujących wydarzeniach i niezwykłych ludziach. Przeszłość nieustannie splata się z teraźniejszością.