Introduction

This book is dedicated to John Urry and his path-breaking work as one of the most influential sociologists of his generation. He helped to identify the deep histories, emergent patterns, and key issues that are reshaping the contemporary world. But beyond that he also made many of us more excited about sociology as a vital field of study that could move beyond disciplinary boundaries to engage a more far-reaching social science and humanities perspective. Whether focusing on shifting economies and the consumption of place, human senses and the body, landscape and place-making, mobilities and complex systems, or recent phenomena such as offshoring and climate change, John Urry was a perpetually innovative scholar, blowing away cobwebs and putting things in a new light. He built on the best traditions of social theory while always making it relevant to the concerns of today - as well as urgently necessary for envisioning and making better futures.