Key Thinkers on Cities

Key Thinkers on Cities is an excellent assemblage of urban studies scholars who reflect insightfully on the major ideas and contributions of many of the most influential contributors to urban theory and practice of the past three decades. -- Michael Peter Smith Urban studies has experienced a theoretical renaissance of late, and the tumble dryer of ideas that has emerged underline the need to take stock. In this book, Koch and Latham are more than up to the task, bringing together a plurality of 40 thinkers on cities that spans economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, planning and beyond. The scope of the book is admirable, capturing the diversity of approaches and disciplines that builds on but also moves well beyond the usual suspects and trends. Indeed, and using a celestial analogy, the book covers not only the super-giant suns with their considerable gravity, but also those thinkers only emerging from the cosmic dust, rogue planets forging their own unique understandings, and the shooting stars that promise exciting new insights. But the edited volume goes one step further by relating theories across thinkers, thereby uncovering the rich relationalities that underpin urban studies today. -- Dr Geoff DeVerteuil The contributors to Key Thinkers weave together the personal and the professional to provide a wonderful set of insights into the people behind contemporary urban studies. And in the process they highlight the many and varied methods and theories that co-exist in this diverse and heterogeneous field. This book is a must-read for all of us who want to know more about why we understand cities in the way we do! -- Kevin Ward This is a fresh and comprehensive survey of the current state of urban theory, both revisiting the reputation of established experts as well as bringing forth new voices and theories that have enlivened the field in recent years. -- Donald McNeill