Global cities like New York City and Tokyo, national capitals like Cairo and Dakar, and regional centers like Bangalore and Barcelona are powerful economic, political, and cultural hubs. Cities and Spaces surveys the development, transformation, and role of cities in a globalized world while exploring the history, methods, classic texts, and current discussions in urban anthropology.

Chapters examine urban dwellers’ lives, work, culture, and experiences in different yet closely linked cities worldwide. This concise introductory treatment illustrates how anthropologists address a wide range of questions like: What does it mean to work in an informal market in Lomé? How does gentrification affect a Mexican American neighborhood in Chicago? How do people experience urban environmental degradation and injustice? How do race and ethnicity shape the experiences of urbanites? How do immigrants create new urban religious communities?