Recommended Books on Urban Geography

Brenner, Neil, and Roger Keil (eds.). 2006. The Global Cities Reader. New York: Routledge. A rich collection of essays that explore the rise of the concept of the global city and examine a range of case studies of global cities throughout the world.

Colten, Craig E. 2006. An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. An award-winning study of how backers of New Orleans attempted to conquer nature, marginalizing the poor and powerless in the process and leading to one of the worst “natural” disasters in American history.

Davis, Mike. 2007. Planet of Slums. New York: Verso. A devastating overview of people’s everyday struggles to maintain decent lives in the world’s urban slums.

King, Anthony D. 2004. Spaces of Global Culture: Architecture, Urbanism, Identity. New York: Routledge. A fascinating examination of transnational urban forms.

Krueger, Rod, and David Gibbs (eds.). 2010. The Sustainable Development Paradox: Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe. New York: Guilford. An incisive overview of the politics of sustainability within urban contexts, explored through a series of case studies.

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Legates, Richard T., and Frederic Stout (eds.). 1999. The City Reader, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. An extensive edited collection of readings covering the evolution of cities and the contemporary forces that are restructuring them.

Olds, Kris. 2001. Globalization and Urban Change: Capital, Culture, and Pacific Rim Mega-Projects. New York: Oxford University Press. An in-depth examination of how globalization actually operates in terms of large-scale urban developments in Vancouver and Shanghai.

Sassen, Saskia (ed.). 2003. Global Networks, Linked Cities. New York: Routledge. A collection of essays examining the emerging networks of global commerce and communication that are reshaping the world’s cities.

Taylor, Peter. 2003. World City Network: A Global Urban Analysis. New York: Routledge. An empirically rich accounting of the myriad commercial and financial connections between cities that form a global network.