Small Cities USA: Growth, Diversity, and Inequality (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780813552781)

While journalists document the decline of small-town America and scholars describe the ascent of such global cities as New York and Los Angeles, the fates of little cities remain a mystery. What about places like Providence, Rhode Island; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Laredo, Texas; and Salinas, California--the smaller cities that constitute much of America's urban landscape? In Small Cities USA, Jon R. Norman examines how such places have fared in the wake of the large-scale economic, demographic, and social changes that occurred in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Drawing on an assessment of eighty small cities between 1970 and 2000, Norman considers the factors that have altered the physical, social, and economic landscapes of such places. These cities are examined in relation to new patterns of immigration, shifts in the global economy, and changing residential preferences. Small Cities USA presents the first large-scale comparison of smaller cities over time in the United States, showing that small cities that have prospered over time have done so because of diverse populations and economies. These "glocal" cities, as Norman calls them, are doing well without necessarily growing into large metropolises.

Author: Jon R. Norman
ISBN-10: 0813552788
ISBN-13: 9780813552781
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Language: English
Published: 02/22/2013
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.69lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.48d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2013