How Cities Matter

Cities are not just settings; they shape our experience with their fast-paced, artificial rhythm. They enable efficiency and innovation but also raise costs. They can alienate or provide anonymity, foster new forms of community, create congestion and pollution, and have cultural impacts that extend beyond urban borders. Understanding their generic qualities and path dependency requires a synthetic vision that is historically and geographically informed.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 75 pages
Publication date: 12 August 2021
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Historians and social scientists often view cities as mere backdrops, overlooking their profound impact on our lives. In reality, urban environments shape our experiences in significant ways. Here, the daily rhythm is faster, more artificial, and interwoven with the interactions of individuals and agencies, resulting in externalities (uncompensated effects) that have a geographically inherent impact. Economically, urban concentration brings about efficiency and fosters innovation, but it also elevates the costs of land, housing, and labor. Socially, cities can either alienate or offer anonymity, while simultaneously nurturing new forms of community. They generate congestion and pollution, presenting governance challenges. Some of these effects extend beyond urban boundaries, contributing to cultural change. While the character of cities may vary across countries and world regions, they share certain generic qualities that can be best observed through comparisons of places that differ the most. These qualities intertwine, giving rise to enduring built environments. To fully understand the complex web of path dependency, we must cultivate a synthetic vision that is informed by historical and geographical perspectives.

Weight: 152g
Dimension: 228 x 151 x 10 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108749268