First published 2021
Urban populations are exploding worldwide, with 60 percent of people expected to live in cities by 2030. Kevin M. Kruse brings together leading scholars to examine how modern cities develop through the interplay between physical space and human imagination. This interdisciplinary collection spans continents and centuries, analyzing street design in Vienna, the film industry in Los Angeles, and architecture connecting Marseilles with Algiers. The contributors explore spatial politics across diverse settings: eighteenth-century Baghdad, nineteenth-century Morelia, Cold War West Berlin, and postwar Los Angeles. They investigate how everyday urban spaces shape daily life, from crime in metropolitan London to youth culture in Dakar, memory projects in Tokyo, and Bombay cinema. The book challenges standard concepts of city development by highlighting both local specificity and global patterns. Kruse offers readers a fresh perspective on urbanism that moves beyond traditional Western-centered narratives to embrace the full complexity of modern city life.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century, architecture, cities, academic, cultural-studies
Vibes: academic, analytical, thought-provoking
Tropes: global-perspective, interdisciplinary-approach
Setting: Vienna, Los Angeles, Marseilles, Algiers, Baghdad, Morelia, West Berlin, London, Dakar, Tokyo, Bombay
Period: 18th Century, 19th Century, Cold War, Postwar
470 pages · Kindle Edition · Princeton University Press