Urban Sociology

Turkey's greatest living novelist guides us through the monuments and lost paradises, dilapidated Ottoman villas, back streets, and waterways of Istanbul - the city of his birth and the home of his imagination.

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.

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.

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.

A Montreal garbageman’s sharp and funny memoir/exposé, in which he attempts to convince people to “stop imagining that your garbage magically disappears” This fascinating no-bullshit account of twenty years in waste management paints a vivid portrait of the heroic labor, anarchic spirit...

Georg Simmel (1858–1918), Philosoph und Soziologe, war einer der bedeutendsten Kulturtheoretiker seiner Zeit. Sein Essay Die Großstädte und das Geistesleben gilt als bahnbrechend – denn er beschreibt eindrücklich, wie das urbane Leben auf das Individuum wirkt: Reizüberflutung, soziale Distanz, die Entwicklung von Individualität und intellektueller Abstraktion. Ein faszinierendes, zeitloses Werk der Soziologie, das bis heute aktuelle Fragen über das Leben in der Moderne stellt – psychologisch präzise, klar argumentiert und überraschend zugänglich.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Inner-city Black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence; in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. How you dress, talk, and behave can have life-or-death consequences, with young people particularly at risk. The most powerful force counteracting this code and its reign of terror is the strong, loving, decent family, and we meet many heroic figures in the course of this narrative.

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.

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.

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.

In American Indians and the American Dream, Kasey R. Keeler examines the long history of urbanization and suburbanization of Indian communities in Minnesota.

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.