Indispensable overview and timely coverage of the major issues, debates, and research topics in urban and regional studies

Companion to Urban and Regional Studies offers an up-to-date view of the rapidly growing field, exploring a diversity of theoretical perspectives, current and emerging research, and critical global policy concerns. Uniquely broad in geographical and thematic scope, this comprehensive volume brings together essays by more than fifty international scholars and researchers to provide expert assessments spanning the many dimensions of urban studies.

Organized into five parts, the Companion begins with a review of the current state of cities across East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Europe, and Latin America, and all other world regions. Subsequent sections discuss contemporary theoretical perspectives, describe common methodological approaches used by urban scholars, and examine the political, social, and economic problems facing twenty-first century cities. Covering historical issues, current challenges, and comparative perspectives in urban studies, this timely resource:

• Addresses intensely debated policy issues such as governance, housing, immigration and migration, segregation, social mix, and gentrification
• Describes the use of demographic methods, advanced spatial analysis, social networks, policy mobilities, and ethnographies in urban studies research
• Discusses critical urban theory, feminist urban research, urbanization and environmental change, and the legacy of the Chicago School
• Covers contemporary research topics such as urban and regional inequalities, social heterogeneity and diversity, financialization
• Includes representative case studies of each region, including Australasia, Latin America, East Asia and South Asia

Companion to Urban and Regional Studies is essential reading for scholars, researchers, practitioners, urban activists, and students, and it represents a must-have complement to The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies.

Anthony M. Orum is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Illinois-Chicago, USA, and Editor-in-Chief of The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. His work has covered a variety of topics, including the growth and development of American cities and the social psychological roots of politics, voting, and political participation in the United States.

Javier Ruiz-Tagle is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He specializes in topics of residential segregation, housing policies, neighborhood effects, urban marginality, and comparative studies.

Serena Vicari Haddock is Senior Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, and is a member of the European Spatial Development and Planning (ESDP) network. Her primary research interests are urban development and regeneration policies and governance in Italian cities.