Urban communities / city life Books

Book SynopsisSoutheast Asia contains four urban conglomerates of the sort that this study characterizes as Mega-Urban Regions - Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh. These locations are examined in this book, along with Taipei and Shanghai. Because the administrative boundaries of the cities at the core of these zones do not include the entire urban area, the significance of the broader urban community has largely escaped scholarly attention. The authors base their analysis on actual agglomeration size rather than administrative boundaries, and draw on unpublished census data to study the dynamics of these massive urban zones, considering area and population size as well as social and demographic patterns of change in core, inner and outer zones. They conclude that these mega-urban regions continue to increase their share of national populations, and zones immediately beyond the official metropolitan boundaries are where the most dramatic changes are occurring.

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Book SynopsisArguably Southeast Asia's most spectacular city, Kuala Lumpur - widely known as 'KL' - has celebrated 50 years as the national capital of Malaysia. But KL now has a very different twin in Putrajaya, the country's new administrative capital. Where KL is a diverse, cosmopolitan, multi-racial metropolis, Putrajaya fulfils an elitist vision of a Malay-Muslim utopia. KL's multicultural richness is reflected in the brilliance and diversity of its architecture and urban spaces; Putrajaya, by contrast, is an architectural homage to an imagined Middle East.The 'purity' of Putrajaya throws the cosmopolitan diversity of Kuala Lumpur into sharp relief, and the tension between the two places reflects the rifts that run through Malaysian society. The author considers what form of metropolis the Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya region might foreshadow, arguing that signs of this future city are to be sought in the collision points between the utopian dreams of imagined futures and the reality of purposely forgotten pasts.The book includes copious illustrations of the wider Kuala Lumpur metropolitan region. It is directly applicable to studies in architecture, urban planning, urban design, and Malaysian politics and society. It also has relevance to the fields of postcolonial studies, media studies and critical social theory.

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Book SynopsisWith the shift to a market economy, Ho Chi Minh City became a magnet for migrants and experienced rapid growth. Migration provides labor for economic growth in Ho Chi Minh City, and remittances sent by migrants to rural communities help to limit urban-rural inequality. But rural-urban migration creates a heavy burden for the city's physical and social infrastructure. ""Urbanization, Migration, and Poverty in a Vietnamese Metropolis"" presents the results of a major interdisciplinary research project that gathered data on more than one thousand households in Ho Chi Minh City over a three-year period, and on migration flows at the urban destination and in four sending communities in different regions of Vietnam. The study shows that migration to Ho Chi Minh City has been shaped both by urban-rural inequality and by regionally diverse socio-cultural dynamics. It also demonstrates that despite official claims concerning poverty reduction in Ho Chi Minh City, urban poverty rose, particularly among migrants. The research findings indicate that microcredit and other poverty reduction programs had little impact on the socio-economic mobility of households, but that the well-being of many households improved as a result of growth-related economic opportunities as well as the effects of social networks and processes of household formation.

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Book SynopsisThe study of Roman urbanism – especially its early (Republican) phases – is extensively rooted in the evidence provided by a series of key sites, several of them located in Italy. Some of these Italian towns (e.g. Fregellae, Alba Fucens, Cosa) have received a great deal of scholarly attention in the past and they are routinely referenced as textbook examples, framing much of our understanding of the broad phenomenon of Roman urbanism. However, discussions of these sites tend to fall back on well-established interpretations, with relatively little or no awareness of more recent developments. This is remarkable, since our understanding of these sites has since evolved thanks to new archaeological fieldwork, often characterised by the pursuit of new questions and the application of new approaches. Similarly, new evidence from other sites has since prompted a reconsideration of time-honoured views about the nature, role and long-term trajectory of Roman towns in Italy.Tracing its origins in the Laurence Seminar on Roman Urbanism in Italy: recent discoveries and new directions, which took place at the Faculty of Classics of the University of Cambridge (27–28 May 2022), this volume brings together scholars whose recent work at key sites is contributing to expand, change or challenge our current knowledge and understanding of Roman urbanism in Italy. The individual chapters showcase some of the most recent methods and approaches applied to the study of Roman towns, discussing the broader implications of fresh archaeological discoveries from both well known and less widely known sites, from the Po Plain to Southern Italy, from the Republican to the Late Antique period (and beyond).Table of ContentsList of Contributors 1. Introduction Alessandro Launaro Part I. Methods and approaches 2. Approaches of Roman urbanism in Italy: the example of Falerii Novi Martin Millett 3. The changing face of the eastern Caelian in the 1st–2nd centuries AD: work by the Rome Transformed Project Ian Haynes, Paolo Liverani, Thea Ravasi & Stephen Kay 4. Luck is in the Research Method: Aquinum, the Rediscovery of an ‘Invisible’ Town Giuseppe Ceraudo Part II. Beyond the textbook 5. Cosa, Orbetello, and the Genesis of a Colony. Andrea U. De Giorgi 6. The archaeology of Fregellae: an update Francesca Diosono 7. One should always dress like a marble column (Jackie Kennedy-Onassis). New insights on the urbanism of Alba Fucens Cécile Evers Part III. Not your standard Roman town 8. From sanctuary to settlement. Mapping the development of Lucus Feroniae through geophysical prospection Stephen Kay, Sophie Hay & Christopher Smith 9. Septempeda: integrated approaches for revealing a ‘small town’ in Picenum Frank Vermeulen Part IV. Roman towns in the longue durée 10. Lunae: New Perspectives from Recent Archaeological Fieldwork Simonetta Menchelli, Paolo Sangriso, Silvia Marini & Rocco Marcheschi 11. Interamna Lirenas: how special? Alessandro Launaro 12. A Town and its Road: Aeclanum on the via Appia Ben Russell & Girolamo F. De Simone Part V. Late Antiquity and beyond 13. New archaeological perspective on Late Antique Aquileia Patrizia Basso 14. Bridging the gap. Bridging the gap: new data on the settlement continuity in Parma from the stone bridge Alessia Morigi 15. Conclusion: recent discoveries and new directions John Patterson

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Book SynopsisFor the late great Mike Davis, the ravaging of the climate by capitaland his prescient analysis of its consequences for those of us left to deal with the resulting criseswas always a central part of his urban geography.In these wide ranging, incisive, and hauntingly relevant essays, Davis asks us to consider what we would find if we put a microscope to the ruins of Metropolis, and provides a riveting account of the disastersnatural, man-made, and those (as in the case of climate calamity) where the distinction is impossible to makethat he finds on the other end. He begins his examination by sifting through the rubble of the twin towers in the wake of 9/11, presciently identifying the seeds of war already germinating in the scorched soil of ground zero, and closes by considering how little prepared our hollowed out urban infrastructure is to deal with shocks of any kind, be they from car bombs or ice storms. In between we are treated to tours of blasted wastelands where American generals built and destroyed replicas of Berlin, glimpses of Las Vegas's penchant for annihilating its own best-known landmarks, and other riveting tales of the dialectic between nature and the city.Dead Cities, written over twenty years ago, abounds with prophecies fulfilled, contains echoes of our current moment where conspiracies abound and anxieties drown out official celebrations of prosperity, and offers dreams of alternative paths not taken.

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