Third world cities in global perspective : the political economy of uneven urbanization

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Bibliographic Information

Third world cities in global perspective : the political economy of uneven urbanization

David A. Smith

Westview Press, 1996

  • : hbk
  • : pbk

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Note

Bibliography: p. 167-189

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780813329987

Description

In this innovative book, David Smith ultimately links what happens on the ground in the neighbourhoods where people live to the larger political and economic forces at work, putting these connections in a historical framework and using a case study approach.The societies of the world's underdeveloped countries are now undergoing an urban revolution that is drastically altering the fabric of their predominantly rural agrarian societies. Smith takes the emerging political economy perspective on urbanization, with its focus on global inequality and dependency, as the context for city growth in the Third World.This perspective allows Smith to critique the conventional ecological view of the city, not by rejecting traditional analyses out of hand, but by reformulating the crucial questions. The conventional ecological perspective assumes an equilibrium model, where very rapid city growth and the various types of urban imbalances are transitional phases on the path to modernity in contrast, the comparative political economy approach conceptualizes uneven development and inequality as an inevitable result of the expansion of the capitalist world-system.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures, Preface, Introduction, Urbanization Theory, Developing an International Political Economy Approach, Dominance and Dependency: A Theoretical Reprise, Cities in the World-System: Previous Research, World-System Hierarchy and Vertical Linkages: Beyond Core and Periphery, Summary and a General Model, Global Patterns: A Cross-National Analysis of Urbanization, Measuring Urbanization and World-System Status, Urbanization and the World-System: Results, Conclusion, The Logic of Comparative Historical-Structural Analysis, Sociology Reaches for History, Theoretical Methods for Comparative History, The Logic of Regional and National Case Studies, Organization of the Case Studies, Dependency, Development, and Urbanization in West Africa, West Africa: Uneven Urbanization and Inequality, Politics, Power, and the Form of Urban Growth, Dependent Urbanization in West Africa, Conclusion, Nigerian Urbanization: A Semiperipheral Case?, Indigenous Urbanization: Towns and Trade, Colonial Urbanization and Peripheralization: A Drift Toward Primacy, Lagos and "The Open Economy," Dependent Urbanization and Incipient Primacy, Indigenous Regional Centers and "Counter-Primacy," Present and Future: Semiperipheral Urbanization?, Concluding Note on Conjunctural Causation, Urban Diversity in East Asia: Toward a Political Economy Approach, East Asia: Divergent Urban Trajectories, Southeast Asian Cities: The Search for a Theory, Dependent Urbanization in Southeast Asia, Disclaimer, South Korean Urbanization and Semiperipheral Development, Indigenous Urbanization: Cities and Agrarian Kingdoms, Japanese Colonialism: Imperialism and Rational Planning, U.S. Domination and "Dependent Development," Urbanization in the Late 1980s: Some Unexpected Changes?, Present and Future: Semiperipheral Urbanization, Conclusion, Urbanization in Global Perspective: Summary, Synthesis, and Policy Recommendations, Building Synthetic Urban Theory, Practical Implications, Global Urbanization: A Research Agenda, Notes, References, About the Book and Author, Index
Volume

: hbk ISBN 9780813387208

Description

Explaining the relationship between a seemingly abstract framework and national and municipal dynamics, this book ultimately links what happens "on the ground" in the neighbourhoods where people live to the larger political and economic forces at work, grounding this relationship in historical realities. The author takes the emerging political-economy perspective on urbanization, with its focus on global inequality and dependency, as the context for city growth in the Third World.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction: developing an international political-economy approach
  • world patterns - a cross-national analysis
  • the logic of comparative historical-structural analysis
  • dependency, development and urbanization in West Africa
  • Nigerian urbanization - a semi-peripheral case?
  • urban diversity in Asia - toward a political-economy approach
  • South Korean urbanization and semi-peripheral development
  • urbanization in global perspective - summary, synthesis and policy recommendations.

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