ABSTRACT
Cities are focal arenas for the contemplation of the human condition and man’s struggle for self-expression. Cities are landscapes of cultural diversity and subcultural differentiation, what Robert Park called a “mosaic of social worlds.” The bohemias, bright light districts, and red light districts of the city are crucibles for the exploration of artistic, cultural, and sexual expression. The city contains our workplaces, our residences, and our commercial marketplaces. The metropolis is a terrain of social inequality, from the decline and deterioration of marginal places like the Southside of Chicago and New York’s Bowery to the affluence of prime spaces like Midtown Manhattan and Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. Cities are landscapes of gender inequality and social differences in sexuality. Cities are key sites in the transformation of the global economy. There is a new cultural economy of cities that gives us an analytic window on the character of our postindustrial society. Rising inequality has led to a climate of fear in cities, which have become high-security fortresses. Urban social movements have arisen to articulate the demands of the socially and economically disenfranchised in our cities. Urban protests erupted in 2011 with renewed fervor in the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement.
