1. Urban theory is useful in looking at the differences in culture and values between the Middle East and the United States because cities develop according to those factors (Drennan). Cities have been built up over many hundreds of years, and each successive wave of invaders or settlers has added its own character to the city. The urban landscape is composed of successive layers of new features superimposed on what has survived from previous cycles of development. The urban landscape expresses the social and economic development of society, and by constraining what alterations can be made, shapes future social and economic organization. The evolving global economy has an impact on urban areas. Their economies are restructuring, and some evolve successfully while others do not.
Changes in technology alter the organization of work and the behavior and opportunity structure of individuals. Technology has a spatial dimension because if affects what is done where. Although futurists have been saying for decades that technology has made urban concentrations redundant, the facts show this to be untrue: they still exist everywhere.
Some cities are positioned at the apex of the international capitalist system (Drennan). Increased world trade and capital flows have extended the power and reach of those cities. The world city concept is useful if measurable criteria are used. Economic transformation of large urban areas evident over the past three decades or more, particularly in world cities, has resulted in increased poverty, increased affluence, and a diminished middle class. In the United States, this urban distress is most evident in manufacturing centers that did not shift to a "yuppie" economy. Much of the difference between the United States and the Middle east can be attributed to the difference in their social and economic development, and their use of technology.
2. Ehrenreich gained a slight knowledge and unde...