This book provides an up-to-date introduction to the important and growing field of urban anthropology. This is an increasingly critical area of study, as more than half of the world’s population now lives in cities and anthropological research is increasingly done in an urban context. Exploring contemporary anthropological approaches to the urban, the authors consider:

How can we define urban anthropology?

What are the main themes of twenty-first-century urban anthropological research?

What are the possible future directions in the field?

The chapters cover topics such as urban mobilities, place-making and public space, production and consumption, politics and governance. These are illustrated by lively case studies drawn from urban settings across the world. Accessible yet theoretically incisive, Introducing Urban Anthropology will be a valuable resource for anthropology students as well as of interest to those working in urban studies and related disciplines such as sociology and geography. The revised second edition includes updated theoretical discussions and new ethnographic case studies. It features a new chapter on neoliberalism and post-neoliberalism, and engages more extensively with digital transformations of urban life.