Urbanism in the Digital Age

"Urbanism in the Digital Age is a sharp, timely intervention in urban studies, refusing comfortable myths of city-centered analyses and confronting realities of our sprawling, deeply unequal metro regions. Gottdiener's critical MCMR framework offers a powerful lens for understanding how digital technologies, entrenched racial/class inequalities, and neoliberal governance shape everyday lives and futures of global millions. An essential book for all who care about our urban futures and those committed to building much more just, democratic, and inclusive urban regions." -JOE FEAGIN, University Distinguished Professor, Texas A&M University Rethinking Urbanism: A Revolutionary Approach to Urban Studies The traditional city-centered approach to urbanism no longer reflects the realities of contemporary life-a new approach is needed to understand cities, regions, and digital influence. In Urbanism in the Digital Age, Mark Gottdiener challenges outdated city-centric models, introducing the Multi-Centered Metropolitan Region (MCMR) as a revolutionary framework for analyzing urbanization. By integrating spatial theory with digital media's impact on society, this volume provides a fresh perspective on the forces shaping our built environment. Addressing a broad range of topics, from the housing crisis and racial segregation to transportation failures and neoliberal governance, Gottdiener critically examines the challenges facing urban regions today while exposing the limitations of neoliberal governance, outdated urban theories, and dominant economic structures. Using historical analysis, census data, and compelling case studies, he offers new insights into urban planning, architecture, and public policy and provides real-world solutions for some of the most pressing social and spatial issues of our time. Urbanism in the Digital Age is designed for students, scholars, and professionals in urban studies, sociology, geography, political science, architecture, and urban planning. Whether used in undergraduate or graduate courses on urbanism and public policy or as a resource for policymakers and researchers, this book is essential for understanding the cities and regions of the future.

List of contents

Table of Contents
Chapter 1   What's Wrong with this Picture?
The Multi- Centered Metro Region is the New Spatial Form of Urbanism
            Lefebvre Anticipates the MCMR
            Castells Anticipates the Digital Age
What Follows
 
Chapter 2   The City is Dead. Long Live the City
The New Form of Urban Space
Early Approaches to Regional Multi- Centered Growth:  Geddes and Gottmann
Metropolitics: One story of attempted regional policy for the MCMR
The Digital Age
Chasing after the MCMR by the U.S. Census over Time
Regional Studies as a better means of capturing Social Space
Moving On
 
Chapter 3  Henri Lefebvre's Urbanism:  Right and Wrong
Lefebvre's Urbanism Theory
The Production of Space: Understanding Why Space is a Force of Production
            The Stages of Society and Their Spatial formations
            The Second Circuit of Capitalism
            Capital Logic Theory and Reductionist Marxism
            The difference in returns on land between the city and the MCMR
The Current Crisis
Chapter 4  How the Modernist City of Corporations Transformed into the MCMR
Breaking the Ideological Bias Favoring the City
The Modern City of Corporate Capitalism
The Capitalism of Corporations and the Metropolitan City Form
The Burgess Model and Post- War Suburbanization
The Chicago School of Sociology
The Limited Relevance of Urban Density
Mass Suburbanization and the Birth of a Mass Consumer Society
The Role of Racism in Mass Suburbanization
Mass Suburbanization Leads to the Mass Consumer Society.
            The Shift to the Sunbelt and the Dominance of the MCMR form
The Scale Perspective
 
Chapter 5    How the MCMR Functions as the
New Form of Urban Space
Deconcentration and Reconcentration-The Dual Forces Creating the MCMR
            Deconcentration
            Reconcentration
New Spaces of Consumption and Business Anchoring the MCMR
            The Regional Mall
            The Airport as a Growth Pole
            Scientific, Industrial and Commercial Parks
                        Science and High Tech Mini- Centers
The Golden Age of Supermarkets, The Commercial Strip:  Mini- Centers Anchor MCMR Living
Theming Sustains Business in the MCMR
The MCMR and the Digital Media Revolution 
 
Chapter 6 The Space of Flows--  Part One: Transportation
Poor Public Transportation is a National Disgrace
            The Unbelievable Story of Mass Transportation Destruction
            Creating An Automobile Culture: Power not Preference Rules the Day
Shameful Neglect of Our Historical Mass Transport Legacy
Can We Rebalance our Auto/Mass Transit Society?
The Mixed Case of Government Spending on Mass Transit
            What we can learn from previous projects wasting money and time
High Speed Transport as The New Hope
 
Chapter 7  The Space of Flows---  The Digital Age
Digital Media and Everyday Life-Negotiating the MCMR Space
Manuel Castells and the Network Society
Critiques-Relevance to the MCMR
Digital Technology and The Smart City
            Transforming Settlement Space for Smartphone Applications
            Equality Assessment for Digital Access
            New Developments Advertising "Wired" Access- the "smart city"
 
Chapter 8   Affordable Housing and the MCMR
The Affordable Housing Crisis 
What is the Crisis About?
What Are the Causes of Crisis?
            Housing Speculation and the Truth inside Lefebvre's Second Circuit
            Covid and Inflation as Causes for Housing Crisis
Some Solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis
            How the Federal Government Dealt with Housing in the Past- Bounty and Corruption Together
How Tokyo Created Affordable Housing
Some Creative Cases from the U.S.
            Minneapolis Downzoning
            Habitat For Humanity
            Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU)
 
How European Cities Created Affordable Rental Housing
 
Chapter 9  The Unhoused Crisis: Shame of a Nation
Falling Down the Rabbit Hole of Cruel and Unusual
Eviction: Capitalism as Inhumane
            Some Results From the Study
            What About Desmond's Proposed Solutions?
Solutions to the Unhoused Crisis: Case Studies
            UK: Monitoring is Right and Wrong
            Finland: A Simple Plan
            What Worked in Finland is Attacked in the U.S.
Using the MCMR Expanse to Find Shelter for the Unhoused
            Houston Case Study
            Cincinnati Case Study
The War Against the Unhoused
            Cities Alone Cannot Bear the Burden
 
Chapter 10  Perpetual Problems:  Racism, Segregation, Their Effects and the MCMR solution
White Racism is a Cultural Problem; Black Culture ChangesCan Help
African American Segregation-the material sign of racism and poverty
The Costs of Involuntary Segregation
Measuring Segregation
            The Taubers
            Hypersegregation        
Ghettoization
            Massey and Denton's Measure of Isolation
The Barrio as Ghetto and Hispanic Segregation
            Understanding the Barrio
            Mexican American Urban Removal
            The Crisis in Mexican American Education
            The Useless Class and the White, Blue Collar Education Problem
 
Does MCMR Residency Have an Effect on Segregation?
            Analytical Research of Data Says a Qualified "Yes"
Table 1  Total Metropolitan Segregation and Isolation, Weighted Averages, 1980 to 2020 
America's MCMRs are on the frontline of racial and ethnic neighborhood change.
White Racism and the Effect of Central City Gentrification
Before and After Covid: Is Gentrification All Bad
 
Chapter 11  Urban Planning in the MCMR
Regional Urban Planning vs. City Urban Planning: Understanding the Differences  
            Defining Regional Urban Planning 
            Defining City Urban Planning  
The MCMR and Regional Planning 
            The Regional Planning Authority Dilemma
Anti- Planning Ideologies 
            The ideology of Privatism  
            Exclusionary Zoning
            The Ideology of NIMBY  
How Local Political Control Undercuts Regional Planning 
            Planned Sprawl 
            Zoning and Its Discontents
New Urbanism, Old Urbanism, City of the Future: Planning Strategies to Preserve Urban Life 
            New Urban Planning for Pedestrians but Not Local Shops
 
Chapter 12   Architecture and the MCMR-- The Crisis of Environmental Sustainability and Landmark Building
Urban Heat Islands
Environmental Solutions to Mini- Center Pollution
Climate Change and the Need for Innovation
The Important Role of Architecture for Sustainable Building 
            Sustainable Design and Passive Strategies 
            Green Roofs and Walls
The Well Building Movement and the European Commissions New Bauhaus
Architecture and the MCMR--  Signature Buildings as Landmarks
Attracting Consumers to Locations in the MCMR-Themes and Landmarks
            Signature Architecture  vs  Landmarks
 
Chapter 13   Public Policy and the MCMR: Political Fragmentation, Social Polarization, and Some Possible Solutions to Regional Governance
The Government Eating Itself
Fragmentation of Local Government
            Hung Up by the Historical Artifact of Many Local Governments
            The Lasting Effects of Covid on Regional Governance
            Failing Infrastructure Cost Outstrips Local Government Resources
Some Possible Solutions:
Switching to a MCMR Perspective and Using Digital Technology
The Need for Professional Local Managers
The Mass Immigration Problem Requires a Regional Solution
The State versus City Dilemma Paralyzing Policy Progress
An MCMR Solution via "Multi- Stakeholder Collaboration"
            MSI Morphs to Ethical Considerations
 
Chapter 14  Neoliberalism and its Failure to Contain Social Problems: The Current Crisis and the Need for Social Action and The Fallacy of the "Right to the City"
The New Regime of Accumulation: Global Capitalism and Neoliberalism
Post- 1975 Transformation-Direct Forms of Intervention for Capital
Austerity
Why Lefebvre remains Important
Tax the Super Rich
The Right to the City Fallacy and the Importance of Urban Social Movements
Castells vs. Lefebvre

About the author

MARK GOTTDIENER is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a pioneering urban theorist. He developed the socio-spatial perspective on urbanization and is the author of The Social Production of Urban Space and The New Urban Sociology. His influential research on theming, spatial analysis, and urban theory continues to influence urban studies worldwide.

Product details

• Authors: Cu, Mark (University of California Gottdiener, Gottdiener Mark
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 18.09.2025
• EAN: 9781394295623
• ISBN: 978-1-394-29562-3
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban, Sociology & anthropology, Urban communities