Urban Studies: Overview

Abstract

Urban studies is the interdisciplinary field concerned with understanding cities. Scholars from the social and behavioral science disciplines of history, sociology, geography, economics, political science, and anthropology and the professional fields of urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design have produced most substantive urban studies knowledge. Many universities offer degrees in urban studies. Courses in urban sociology, geography, and other disciplines also teach urban studies material. There are many niche specialities in which two or more subfields within urban studies intersect. Urban studies employs methods from the social sciences. The field has its own professional associations, journals, and theory. Systematic study of cities began in the nineteenth century. The field gained academic acceptance in the early twentieth century, remained small through the 1950s, and expanded rapidly in response to the urban unrest of the 1960s and early 1970s. Twelve core urban studies concerns are: the evolution of cities; urban culture; urban society; urban politics and governance; urban economics, public finance, and regional science; urban and metropolitan space and form; mega cities and global city systems; technology and cities; urban planning, urban design, landscape architecture, and architecture; race, ethnicity and gender in cities; urban issues and policy; and urban futurism.