The city unbound: qualitative approaches to the city

The review begins by briefly outlining the lineage of qualitative approaches in urban studies. The various developments which have led to a revitalisation and diversification of qualitative approaches to the city and to a transcending of traditional confines of qualitative work are then considered. Studies drawing on representational methods are reviewed, with specific attention to work on residential and retail consumption processes. The review then examines a range of qualitative work emerging from feminist analyses of the city, and studies of sexuality and the city. Following the theme of marginal urban groups, new material on "race' and social "disorder' is considered. Finally, two spatial extremes of recent urban work are detailed the re-emergence of micro-scale street studies and the growth in bold, eclectic, city commentaries. -from Author