Urban Social Geography. This item is unavailable.Urban Social Geography

Provides students with a critical yet balanced introduction to the social patterns and processes of Western cities, integrating the key themes of contemporary urban geography to give an emphatically social interpretation of the spatial structure and functioning of the urban environment, a unique approach among current urban texts.

A fully updated new edition of Urban Social Geography that takes account of recent developments in the field, but retains those elements of the book that serve as the basic elements of undergraduate courses. Additional chapters on gender, sexuality and disability enhance the appeal of the book, whilst the existing chapters are all revised to take account of new work on issues such as identity, consumption and social polarization.
In recent years traditional spatial mapping approaches in geography have been subject to extensive critique. It has been argued that they perpetuate the idea of an objective neutral gaze upon cities which conceals a wide range of assumptions about urban life. This new edition will take account of this recent critical work whilst at the same time presenting some of the well-established approaches, so that the student can be well-informed about all the issues.
The result is a topical book that is clear and accessible for students. It has an open, questioning, non-dogmatic approach that attempts to engage students of all political persuasions.
Paul Knox is Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech; Steven Pinch is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, University of Southampton.