skip to content
The promise of the city : space, identity, and politics in contemporary social thought Preview this item
ClosePreview this item
  • Preview this Item (Questia)

The promise of the city : space, identity, and politics in contemporary social thought

Author: Kian Tajbakhsh
Publisher: Berkeley : University of California Press, ©2001.
Edition/Format:   Book : State or province government publication : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
"The Promise of the City proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of cities and urban life. Finding the contemporary urban scene too complex to be captured by radical or conventional approaches, Kian Tajbakhsh offers a threefold, interdisciplinary approach linking agency, space, and structure. First, he says, urban identities cannot be understood through individualistic, communitarian, or class perspectives  Read more...
Rating:

(not yet rated) 0 with reviews - Be the first.

 

Find a copy online

Links to this item

Find a copy in the library

Retrieving... Finding libraries that hold this item...

Details

Material Type: Government publication, State or province government publication, Internet resource
Document Type: Book, Internet Resource
All Authors / Contributors: Kian Tajbakhsh
ISBN: 0520222776 9780520222779 0520222784 9780520222786
OCLC Number: 42786256
Description: xv, 229 p. ; 24 cm.
Contents: Introduction : Identity, structure, and the spaces of the city --
1. Marxizn class analysis, essentialism, and the problem of urban identity --
2. Beyond the functionalist bias in urban theory --
3. Toward the historicity and contingency of identity --
4. Difference, democracy, and the city.
Responsibility: Kian Tajbakhsh.
More information:

Abstract:

"The Promise of the City proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of cities and urban life. Finding the contemporary urban scene too complex to be captured by radical or conventional approaches, Kian Tajbakhsh offers a threefold, interdisciplinary approach linking agency, space, and structure. First, he says, urban identities cannot be understood through individualistic, communitarian, or class perspectives but rather through the shifting spectrum of cultural, political, and economic influences. Second, the layered, unfinished city spaces we inhabit and within which we create meaning are best represented not by the image of bounded physical spaces but rather by overlapping and shifting boundaries. And third, the macro forces shaping urban society include bureaucratic and governmental interventions not captured by a purely economic paradigm. Tajbakhsh examines these dimensions in the work of three major critical urban theorists of recent decades: Manuel Castells, David Harvey, and Ira Katznelson. He shows why the answers offered by Marxian urban theory to the questions of identity, space, and structure are unsatisfactory and why the perspectives of other intellectual traditions such as poststructuralism, feminism, Habermasian Critical Theory, and pragmatism can help us better understand the challenges facing contemporary cities."--Publisher's description.

Reviews

User-contributed reviews
Retrieving weRead reviews...
Retrieving GoodReads reviews...
Retrieving Amazon reviews...

Tags

Be the first.
Confirm this request

You may have already requested this item. Please select Ok if you would like to proceed with this request anyway.

Close Window

Please sign in to WorldCat 

Don't have an account? You can easily create a free account.