Globalization and Urbanization

James H. Spencer is professor of city and regional planning and chair of the Department of Planning, Development and Preservation at Clemson University.

• IntroductionChapter 1: Urbanization and the Construction of the Global Urban EcosystemChapter 2: Urban Histories: Arriving at the Global Urban EcosystemChapter 3: Saigon’s “Do-Your-Timers”: Rural Transformation and the Urban Transition in SaigonChapter 4: “Do-Your-Timers” African Style: Addis Ababa, the Unlikely Capital of AfricaChapter 5: The Indigenous City? Reconciling an Old-Timers' Honolulu with a Global SocietyChapter 6: “For-All-Timers”: New York City’s Empire State of MindChapter 7: The Global Urban Ecosystem: A Globally Integrated Ecology of Everyday LifeBibliography

Whether from the perspective of supporters/critics or specialists/nonspecialists, the related processes of globalization and urbanization are two of the defining trends of the 21st century. Spencer utilizes secondary scholarly literature, life stories, popular media, and personal experiences to make sense out of the diversity of the ‘global urban ecosystem.’ While each city has its own history, culture, and physical environment, the attractive ones benefit from three characteristics: economic and productivity efficiencies, differences and diversities, and a global connectivity. In order to provide a picture of what this ecosystem looks like, Spencer devotes four of his seven chapters to a tour of cities that illustrate each of his three types. Two of these cities are from the Global South and represent ‘Do-Your-Timers’ (Saigon and Addis Ababa), and two are from the Global North and represent ‘Old-Timers’ (Honolulu) and ‘For-All-Timers’ (New York). However, ‘every city has elements of each, but it is the particular combination and concentrations that give individuality to any case.’ This well-written, insightful, and informative book should appeal to all professionals and nonprofessionals interested in acquiring a new lens through which to make sense of the interrelated processes of globalization and urbanization. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.