The Humanity of Cities: An Introduction to Urban Societies (Paperback)

by John Gulick (Author) "What is a city?..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, United States, Third World (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
John Gulick's thesis in this informative and insightful book is that cities should not be viewed only as crowded, dehumanized, violent, and impersonal aggregations of misery, the perspective most often encountered in popular and academic literature. Without denying that cities often present some fairly awfill social and economic problems, Gulick argues against the notion that city life is one of unmitigated evil, and against the assurnption that such ills are intrinsic to urbanization. Rather, he presents abundant evidence that cities have many humanizing aspects which. on balance, outweigh the negatives for most city dwellers. He advocates that the negative paradigm of the inhumanity of cities should be replaced, as a basis for the study of urban society, with a positive paradigm that recognizes the humanity of cities. The book contains a wealth of empirical data from around the world, and while the author admittedly and unabashedly argues only his own side of the question, I was beginning to be convinced that life in the big city wasn't so bad after all. Then, as I left my house for work one recent morning, I saw the police removing a murder victim's corpse from the yard across the street, where it had lain since 3:00 am. They said it was another drug deal gone sour. So. I withhold judgment about how humane cities really are. But I strongly recommend this book for urban libraries and bookstores, because of its wealth of data, its good writing, and its challenging theses. -- From Independent Publisher --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
“In this introduction to urban sociology, it is argued that the concept of the inhumanity of cities--as contrasted with human settlements of other forms--is empirically and intellectually unsound, and that it is also a deterrent to peoples' constructive thought and action in urban everyday life. Humanity of cities represents a realistic and constructive base concept, while inhumanity of cities as a base concept is both the product of and the generator of destructive illusions. By no means, however, is any sort of utopian view of cities promulgated here. The agenda for concerned and involved people is to identify all the ways in which the humanity of cities is actually experienced, so that city dwellers may heighten their awareness of how to enhance the humanity of cities. Static utopia is not the goal, but instead well-informed, constant mobilization for improvement. Bureaucratic subcultures, which seem so often to ordinary people to be antagonistic and inhumane, are investigated here with a view to digging beneath their monolithic facades. Also discussed are grass-roots movements in which ordinary citizens mobilize themselves against bureaucratic and other powerful urban structures.”–Sage

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Product Details

• Paperback: 329 pages
• Publisher: Bergin & Garvey Paperback (November 30, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897891597
• ISBN-13: 978-0897891592
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,958,379 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)