Briefly reviews the papers in this journal issue, which focuses on the application of a social psychological perspective to the study of urban life. (Author/GC)

Reviews a book that surveys the field of human urban biology and assesses the needs for further research. Summarizes seventeen chapters which include topics such as human genetics, the human biology of buildings, social disturbances affecting young people, and various urban-rural comparisons. (CS)

Using a tour of Detroit as a case study, this article explains how a well-designed urban tour can make large-scale processes visible to students. Information is presented on ways in which the Detroit tour helped students think analytically about large-scale processes and about how teachers can adapt the Detroit format to tours of other cities. (DB)

Reviews the "risks" and "benefits" inherent in the field-oriented urban anthropology courses described in the preceding articles and recommends the development of more long-term large-scale research projects within such courses. (CJM)

Considers differing systems and variables used to distinguish city from city, and city from non-city. Reviews various approaches to urban description and classification, including those of novelists, social critics, and social scientists. Suggests that the uses of objective and subjective data are complementary rather than competing systems of…

Challenges assumptions and research procedures leading to the position that below-average intellectual potential is an integral part of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. A study of 58 boys (ages 5 to 18) from urban, suburban, and rural settings indicated IQ range of 59 to 131 and no evidence of significant verbal deficit (reported in earlier studies).…

Describes a group work project designed for a large urban probation department. Targets 16- to 20-year-old African American and Latino men on probation at high risk of rearrest. Uses cognitive-behavioral approaches reflecting the culture of contemporary urban youths. A case example illustrates how officers help group members sort out personal…

Investigates the myth of the inner-city elderly as isolated. Suggests: there are severe limitations to traditional measures of determining sociability; social network analysis can overcome many of the deficiencies of other methods; and a synthesis of the anthropological and sociological approaches to network analysis can optimize data collection.…

Reexamines the author's 1969 paper "The Geography of the U.S. in the Year 2000." Discusses the new interplay of countervailing pressures that bring about change in the urban environment. Discusses the effects of information-age technologies. States that change in the nature of change should be probed continually. (DB)

This document contains the proceedings of a conference dealing with the issues that face U.S. cities today. Convened in October of 1979, the conference was sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The document contains addresses and comments by six authorities on the current fiscal situation of large cities. The presentation…

Examines three hypotheses regarding the relationship between nativity, language affiliation, and interurban mobility in Canada during the intercensal period 1976-81. A series of crosstabular and logistic regression analyses provide support for all three hypotheses. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed in the context of ethnic…

Reviews literature of controversies surrounding the rise of big cities in Western Europe and the United States. Comments that popular concepts of unspoiled nature and biblical tradition influenced antiurbanism. Notes fears of disease, breakdown of families, and rising crime rate were major concerns. Defenders countered cities would become centers…

The essay discusses seminal contributions to the field of "new" Chicano history of the 1970's which focused on urban themes, labor and the working class, and women and were produced by a young, formally trained corps of historians (some Latin American, but increasingly United States historians), principally from the major universities of…

Addresses the relationship between cities and technology. Reviews various interpretations of scholars writing about consequences of urban technology and infrastructures. Notes current scholarship concentrates on segments. Contends the past can shape urban future and historians need a sense of the whole. (NL)

Traces development of U.S. cities through the colonial town, market place town, radial center, fringe city, and the multicentered metropolis. Notes the 1970 census showed the United States as a suburban nation. Examines the housing patterns of urban cities that continue to lose population. (NL)