Platform for Avant-garde & Urban Media Explorations

[ Originally posted by LG on his Cityness Blog ]

Last year I came across this book during a conference in Miami, US. It was the book’s subtitle that attracted my attention because the book promises to present three perspectives on urban development, from economics to sociology, to public policy and administration. Such books are rare and books that do it well are even rarer. Such books have to find a balance between in-depth knowledge and broad scope and are limited by the fact that you can’t cramp three books into one. ‘The Urban Experience; Economics, Society and Public Policy’ is written by Barry Bluestone, Mary Huff Stevenson and Russell Williams and was published in 2008.

The book is divided in four parts. Part 1 introduces the main issues of urban development; part 2 presents a historical overview of the growth (and decline) of cities in the US; part 3 discusses the conditions that shape and promote urban growth and prosperity; and part 4 discusses a range of current policy issues. Experienced readers and urban researcher will feel familiar with the themes discussed in this book. It provides a fair overview of many urban issues, but could come across as a bit shallow. However, for those who need a good introduction into urban issues, this book is an excellent starter. Which brings me back to the reason why I bought this book in the first place: I needed an introductory reader for students who enrolled the minor program ‘Cities: People, Power and Money’ (at the Erasmus University Rotterdam), of which I’m one of the founders. The minor lasts for about 6 weeks and it is impossible to move from lay-knowledge (students who enroll haven’t had any education about urban issues before) to advanced knowledge in the traditional sense. This book could serve as a kick-starter for those students.

Cover of "The Urban Experience"

The course has come to an end now and the students all experienced the book as being accessible, well-written and insightful. Exams (the best way to measure impact…) showed that those who studied the book passed with ease, whereas those who didn’t felt miserably. As an instructor I felt that the book covered all the subjects I wanted to discuss. Where necessary I added a few articles to complement the material from this book. This mainly concerned some more information about spatial and urban planning (this is probably exclusively a European concern where planning as a governmental activity is very important) and about project management (which I personally find very important but is conceivably beyond what the authors wanted to convey). I shared the book with my colleagues from the departments of Economics and Sociology. The economists reported that the book proved easy to use and to cover the essentials. The sociologist complained that the book paid too little attention to gentrification and neglected neighborhoods. I tend to agree with both comments. This book is really an introduction and as such it is really useful. For anything beyond that, I recommend using additional materials.