Book excerpt: "This book pulls together an exceptional range of literature in addressing the complexity of contemporary patterns and processes of urbanization. It offers a rich array of concepts and theories and is studded with fascinating examples that illustrate the changing nature of cities and urban life" - Paul Knox, Virginia Tech University "The SAGE Companion to the City is a tour-de-force of contemporary urban studies. At once a stocktake, showcase and springboard for scholarly approaches to cities and city life, the editors have assembled a cohesive and convincing set of lucid, insightful and critical essays of great quality. Eschewing grand theory and deadening encyclopediasm, the contributors refresh both longstanding concerns and explore new themes in ways both brilliantly accessible to newcomers and satisfying to the cognoscenti." - Robert Freestone, University of New South Wales Organized in four sections The SAGE Companion to the City provides a systematic A-Z to understanding the city that explains the interrelations between society, culture and economy. Histories: explores power, religion, science and technology, modernity, and the landscape of the city. Economies and Inequalities: explores work and leisure, globalisation, innovation, and the role of the state. Communities: explores migration and settlement, segregation and division, civility, housing and homelessness. Order and Disorder: explores politics and policy, planning and conflict, law and order, surveillance and terror. An accessible guide to all areas of urban studies, the text offers both a contemporary cutting edge reflection and measured historical and geographical reflection on urban studies. It will be essential reading for students of any discipline interested in the city as an object of study.