Introduction to Cities: How Place and Space Shape Human Experience

Cities and People: How Cities Shape Lives

Human beings and cities are inextricably intertwined. Human beings make cities, and they live and work in them. Although the pace at which cities grow and change may sometimes be so slow as to avoid detection, and while the scales of urban places may confound any sense of human efficacy, we must bear in mind that these are objects of our own making. Not only do human beings shape the physical structures of cities but they also decide what those structures will mean and, as a result, suggest how other human beings will use them. We offer these insights to stir your curiosities, and as a source of empowerment. Whatever is built by human hands is, by definition, within our power to change. Indeed, throughout the book we offer examples of individuals and groups who are working to change cities in ways that in turn improve the lives of residents.

This brings us to perhaps the most important point of the book: places, whether cities, neighborhoods, or even smaller units therein, have the power to shape human lives. The structures of inequalities found within and across societies are quite literally made concrete in cities. Add to these a host of place-specific threats stemming from political and environmental instability, and we can trace many of the factors that diminish individuals’ lives to the places where they live. Places are not the only culprit here – in many instances, places are the sites where problems stemming from larger structures manifest themselves – but understanding places allows us to understand the ways in which these forces intersect with specific populations and resources.

We hope that this excerpt leaves you with a sense of why cities are compelling topics of study. Some of you likely needed little convincing: you may have had questions about why cities take the forms they do, how immigrants create communities in a new place, or why some neighborhoods are luxurious and opulent while others are sites of danger and despair. We encourage those of you who have come to this field accidentally or even reluctantly to consider cities as sites where you can readily see social processes at work, whether the construction of meanings and memories as they become attached to places or the unequal distribution of economic opportunities. Whatever path you have taken in becoming a student of cities, we hope that this book, and the concepts of space and place at its core, will help you to recognize and understand the ways that humans experience an urban world.