“The term city means anything and everything” is the opening sentence of the introduction to this volume. This line illustrates from the outset how broad and diverse the subject of urbanisation is and how bold and ambitious Roger Caves and his editorial team have been in trying to provide an encyclopedia on this subject.
Much of the content is interesting and enlightening on a number of aspects of urbanisation, but my overall impression was that there were some significant omissions among the topics covered. The book does not make any claims to be a definitive work or to serve as the standard reference tool for students and researchers investigating urban issues. I did feel in general it was lacking substance to be considered an authoritative or comprehensive work in this area.
I would raise a minor quibble with the somewhat selective and random nature of the index. Railways – surprisingly overlooked as a main entry – is not listed but we do find Trainspotting in the index along with all the other films discussed in Andrew Kirby's interesting contribution on cities and film. In general, the relatively scant coverage given to transport is perhaps a weak point. Perhaps an encyclopedia does not lend itself to, nor is it intended to offer, a discussion on themes such as these. However, the impact of railways and station building in the nineteenth century upon the development of cities across the world is beyond dispute. This does seem to be a curious oversight, particularly in view of the fact that Editor Roger Caves writes at some length on the role of transportation in his engaging introductory chapter.
The bulk of the contributors appear to be from the USA and a slight slant towards American‐related topics seems to pervade this volume, particularly with regard to some of the socio‐economic issues investigated. The Civil Rights Movement of the twentieth century is discussed but there is no coverage of Chartism and other popular movements that coincided with the main phase of urbanisation and industrialisation in nineteenth century. Without wishing to pinpoint another slight on urban history from a British perspective, I also found it odd that while congestion has 16 references in the index, there is no mention of traffic congestion charging notably introduced in London since 2002.
More recent trends such as changes in retailing and environmental issues are covered but one might have expected more coverage of the impact of information technology upon cities over recent decades. Again, the introductory chapter does identify this as a major issue with a number of recent studies of these themes cited. The biographical entries are one of the impressive features, covering many key figures in the process of urbanisation. These include prominent architects, planners and academics from Europe, America and Asia. All contributors cite at least one, in many cases several, references of further reading. However, students seeking to use this publication as an authoritative starting point or gateway to research topics of interest might frequently be frustrated by these citations being slightly dated. While considering topics that continue to attract interest and debate such as the green belt, a more complete overview of current literature would be welcome.
Overall, I would consider this a worthy attempt to offer an encyclopedic approach to urban studies but with the main entries running to just over 500 pages it is perhaps too short to do justice to the extent of global urbanisation in the early twenty‐first century. Scholars seeking a fresh insight and comparative perspectives on urbanisation will be somewhat disappointed. The volume does serve as a quick and useful reference point to a number of key issues in the development of cities and a stronger index would enhance its functionality in this regard. However, the price and selective nature of the content would seem to inhibit it from becoming a fixture on most public library reference shelves.
