Delivery included to the United States

Is the World Urban?

Is the World Urban? Towards a Critique of Geospatial Ideology

English edition

Hardback (30 Apr 2020)

Not available for sale

Out of stock

This service is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Publisher's Synopsis

Geospatial datasets and remotely sensed images have become ubiquitous in scholarly and public discussions of urbanization.

This book evaluates the limits and potentials of remotely sensed data and other forms of geospatial information as a basis for mapping and understanding urbanization processes under modern capitalism. Against the prevalent trend towards cartographic positivism, in which such data are presented as neutral, photographic "captures" of ground conditions, our analysis reveals the hidden, pre-empirical interpretive assumptions that mediate the construction and visualization of geospatial data.

By critically interrogating geospatial data on the most commonly used indicators for mapping urban space, the book casts doubt on the widely naturalized assumption that cities are bounded settlement units, and the concomitant understanding of urbanization as an expansion in the size and distribution of such units.

Book information

ISBN: 9781940291932
Publisher: Actar D
Imprint: Actar
Pub date:
Edition: English edition
Language: English
Number of pages: 256
Weight: -1g
Height: 234mm
Width: 163mm