Urban Literacy: Learning to Read the City Around You

Reviewed by Sanaa Riaz, Associate Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 9/29/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text does not provide an index or glossary. However, it contains an accessibility containing information about a web version, text optimization for screen readers and file formats. The footnotes in each chapter are extensive. That said, it is a comprehensive source written in clear, accessible language free of academic jargon on the characteristics and types of city. It presents an assessment of urban subcultures and the kinds of cultures that urban neighborhoods and relationship networks create. It also elaborate on the nature of public spaces in the city, both as spaces where urban life plays itself out and where urban relations and conflicts are mediated, but also as the space designs that people regularly navigate to find their peace away from the city. It highlights paradigms in development and redevelopment politics at the intersection of gentrification and segregation and in relation to changing transportation, family and suburban cultures. It is rare to see beginner reader or graduate level text on urban studies dedicate an entire chapter to the sociopolitics of the physical environment in the city. Not only does this textbook undertake this task using ethnographic examples of environmental justice movements, grassroots organizations, but also builds on students' critical thinking skills by engaging them in research projects exploring the social distribution of pollution within a city thus examining clean natural environment to discriminatory social and revenue politics. What is also unique about the textbook is that it keeps the global perspective intact in all chapter discussions. A particular highlight in this regard is the cutting-edge topic of cities bidding to host global sports discussed in relation to development.
The real strength of the book is the student activities included in the "Test your Urban Literacy" section at the end of each chapter. It allows students to apply their knowledge from the course to studying programs, issues and phenomena in an urban environment. Topics range from face-block maps to observations of urban public spaces to identifying vernacular design features to examining infrastructural potential and its impact on human and natural environments in the city. The activities can be used in any interdisciplinary course on urban cultures and in both face-to-face and online classes.
All tables included in the book are accessible. There are no problems saving the book as a pdf document or accessing it online to customize it. Saving the book as a PDF file may change image rotations and table column width and text alignment, but those interface issues are minimal and do not distract or confuse the reader.
The textbook uses information from studies conducted on cities around the world accurately from New York to Iceland. It is interesting how the book includes a chapter titled Culture in which the author has chosen culture as a point of departure to study ethnic enclaves, ghettoization, representation, development in the backdrop of colonization and related concepts.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The textbook is accurate, error-free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content references in the text go through 2010. The text and related ethnographic examples in box sections are arranged in a manner that necessary updates and additions will be easy to implement.

Clarity rating: 5

One of the ways in which the text avoids discipline-specific jargon and works for interdisciplinary readership is by choosing a framework of culture concepts to introduce concepts and terminologies integral to urban studies. This allows the readers to contextualize information within a cultural framework. For example, the chapters titled Representation brings forward discussions on the politics of decision-making, growth-oriented policies, social services, built-environment as well as terminologies like Fordism in a city.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is accessible and is not self-referential. Each chapter is self-contained in the topics and sub-topics it elaborates on and can be assigned as a standalone reading or as part of the textbook.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book follows a logical and clear organization accessible to experts and non-experts. Topics move from the natural setting of cities to infrastructural and architecture aspects to transportation, development and redevelopment, from impact of colonization and ecological footprint to segregation, ghettoization, homelessness and globalization in the city to the politics of decision-making, housing, representation, movements and representation in the city.

Interface rating: 5

All tables included in the book are accessible. There are no problems saving the book as a pdf document or accessing it online to customize it. Saving the book as a PDF file may change image rotations and table column width and text alignment, but those interface issues are minimal and do not distract or confuse the reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The textbook contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Typically, books on urban cultures are either graduate studies level analyses of particular ethnographic studies on cities or else are organized around topics such as development or neighborhoods, which distances the informational narrative from culture, particularly for beginning learners. Not only is this textbook not culturally insensitive or offensive, it actually takes culture as a point of departure to examine various interdisciplinary approaches and terms important to urban cultures.

Comments

It would be great to see hyperlinks to resources in the text.
As the textbook is revised, it would be good to see more ethnographic examples from all around the world added, such as from Dubai to Malaysia, etc. It would also be great to see a discussion on city dystopia as it would be very relatable to non-expert readers and students from various fields of fine arts and performing arts.