The Network City

The network approach to urban studies can be differentiated from other approaches by its insistence on the primacy of structures of interpersonal linkages, rather than the classification of social units according to their individual characteristics. Network analysis is an approach, leading to the formulation of particular kinds of questions, such as "who is linked to whom?" and "what is the structure and content of their relational network;" at the same time it is a methodology for their investigation. Following a discussion of network analytic methods, several of the key issues in urban studies are investigated from this perspective. Interpersonal ties in the city, migration, resource allocation, neighborhood and community are examined in terms of the network structures and processes that order and integrate urban activities. These structures and processes reveal themselves to be ever more complex and extensive at each level of the investigation. A view of the city itself as a network of networks is proposed. It is the organization of urban life by networks that makes the scale and diversity of the city a source of strength rather than chaos, while it is precisely that scale and diversity which makes the complex and widely-ramified network structures possible. The flexibility inherent in network structures can accommodate a variety of situations, while variations in the content and intensity of network linkages allows for the co-ordination and integration of widely different people and activities. It is the structural and processual adaptability of networks which fits them so admirably for their role as a central organizing principle in urban life