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Urban Canada: Sociological Perspectives.

Article Excerpt
Harry H. Hiller, ed. Urban Canada: Sociological Perspectives. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2005. ix + 350 pp. $65.50 paper.

Almost 80 percent of Canadians live in urban areas today, in contrast to about half the population in 1931. Urbanization is reflected in a number of fundamental ways--in the changing nature of the urban economy, in sprawl and the loss of farmland, and in the degradation of the urban environment.

Editor Harry Hiller begins by contrasting two views of urbanization. The demographic view refers to the population living in cities. The sociocultural view emphasizes the influence of urban-oriented thinking, culture, and organization in the way people live (1).

Urban Canada: Sociological Perspectives provides an excellent, brief discussion of the issues facing Canadian cities today. The chapters include all the standard subjects; additionally, there is a chapter on urban Aboriginal people, one on Quebec cities, and one on urban form in Toronto. These three are not standard and add to an original approach.

The idea is to bring together the work of Canadian experts to present a Canadian perspective to students. Ten of the thirteen...

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