From Chicago to L.A. by Dear, Michael;

Short description:

From Chicago to L.A. begins the task of defining an alternative agenda for urban studies and examines the case for shifting the focus of urban studies from Chicago to Los Angeles. The authors, experienced scholars from a variety of disciplines, examine:

• The concepts that have blocked our understanding of Southern California cities


• The imaginative structures that people have been using to understand and explain Los Angeles


• The utility of the "Los Angeles School" of urbanism

Long description:

For most of the twentieth century, the principles of the "Chicago School" have guided urban analysts throughout the world. Los Angeles has been regarded as an exception to the rules governing the growth of American cities. But just as the Chicago School emerged at a time when that city was reaching new national prominence, Los Angeles is now making its impression on the minds of urbanists across the world.

From Chicago to L.A. begins the task of defining an alternative agenda for urban studies and examines the case for shifting the focus of urban studies from Chicago to Los Angeles. The authors, experienced scholars from a variety of disciplines, examine:

• The concepts that have blocked our understanding of Southern California cities
• The imaginative structures that people have been using to understand and explain Los Angeles
• The utility of the "Los Angeles School" of urbanism

Table of Contents:

LOS ANGELES AND THE 'LA SCHOOL'
The Resistible Rise of the Los Angeles School - Michael J Dear and Steven Flusty
Demographic Dynamism in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC - Dowell Myers
Los Angeles as Postmodern Urbanism - Michael J Dear and Steven Flusty
CITY OF INDUSTRY
Industry and the Landscapes of Social Reform - Greg Hise
Los Angeles as a Developmental City-State - Steven P Erie
Industrial Urbanism in Late Twentieth-Cenctury Southern California - Allen J Scott
RECONSIDERING COMMUNITY
From Immigrants in the City, to Immigrant City - Jerome Straughan and Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo
The Globalization of Urban Homelessness - Madeleine R Stoner
'Play Groups' no Longer - Cheryl L Maxson & Malcom W Klein
Urban Sreet Gangs in the Los Angeles Region
Religion in Los Angeles - Donald E Miller
Patterns of Spiritual Practice in a Postmodern City
Ecologies of Cyberspace - J Dallas Dishman
Gay Communities on the Internet
RE-VISIONING URBAN THEORY
Representing "Los Angeles" - Darnell M Hunt
Media, Space, and Place
Returning to Ecology - Ashwani Vasishth and David C Sloane
An Ecosystem Approach to Understanding the City
Urban Nature and the Nature of Urbanism - Jennifer Wolch, Stephanie Pincetl and Laura Pulido
Saber Y Conocer - Phillip J Ethington and Martin Meeker
The Metropolis of Urban Inquiry
The LA School - Michael J Dear
A Personal Introduction