New Forms of Urbanization—Beyond the Urban-Rural Dichotomy

Twenty-three international social scientists contribute 19 commissioned chapters reflecting the central concerns of the Working Group on Urbanization, established in 1999 by the Council of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population to determine the need for a review of current ways of monitoring urbanization and analyzing urban population change. Coverage includes an overview of the Working Group and current knowledge about urbanization worldwide; regional perspectives on settlement change; the nature of new forms of urbanization in less developed countries; issues to be addressed in developing new ways of conceptualizing settlement systems; moving from the conceptual to the operational aspects of the challenge; and a concluding summary and recommendations. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Tony Champion is Professor of Population Geography at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Graeme Hugo is Professor of Geography and Director of National Key Centre in Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems at the University of Adelaide, Australia.