ABSTRACT

As we saw in Chapter 1, in approaching a subject for the first time it is useful to begin by obtaining an overview of the main conceptual approaches, themes and issues that comprise the field. In this chapter we describe the scope of urban geography and its links with other branches of geography. We define the concept of urban and explain the value of an urban geographical perspective for an understanding of contemporary towns and cities. We establish the academic context for the study of urban geography by providing a brief history of the subject. In this discussion we relate work in urban geography to the major theoretical developments in the discipline of geography. Finally, we employ the concept of levels of analysis to illustrate the kind of research undertaken by urban geographers from the global to the local scale.