The most comprehensive study of its kind. (III, 4; VII, 2; IX, 1.)
Wright, R. “Satellite Cities,” Bellman, XXV (November 16, 1918), 551–52.
5. The city has come to be recognized as the center of culture. Innovations in social life and in ideas gravitate from the city to the country. Through its newspapers, theaters, schools, and museums, through its traveling salesmen and mail-order houses, through its large representation in the legislatures, and through many other points of contact with the inhabitants of the rural periphery about it, the city diffuses its culture over a large area. The city is in this respect an important civilizing agent.
Desmond, S. “America’s City Civilization: The Natural Divisions of the United States,” Century, CVIII (August, 1924), 548–55.
Holds that America is creating a new type of city civilization of a decentralized type. Several outstanding American cities are described as cultural entities and as exerting a dominating influence over a large rural area, thus suggesting the emergence of cultural provinces. (III, 1, 2, 3; IX, 2.)
Petermann, Theodor. “Die geistige Bedeutung der Grossstädte,” in the volume, Die Grossstadt (Dresden, 1903).
One of the best concise statements on the cultural significance of the city from the standpoint of the rural periphery. (IV, 6; IX, 1, 2; X, 1, 2, 3.)
Wells, Joseph. Oxford and Oxford Life (London, 1899).
An example of a cultural type of city from the functional standpoint, and its influence. (II, 2, 3; III, 4.)
There are a number of studies of cities as cultural centers. The city of Moscow has often been described as the city of churches, for instance, and as such has exercised an influence over the life of Russia all out of proportion to its function in other respects. Similar studies are available of Rome, Venice, Dresden, and a number of others.