Theoretical Collision in Urban Sociology: Chicago Legacy and L.A. School

The key point of reference for the field of urban studies is the classical Chicago School of Sociology. The paper evaluates the development of urban theory since the Chicago School using the so-called Los Angeles School of Urbanism as a second point of reference and presents an attempt to chart the current status of the field. It is argued that urban theory has gone through a radical theoretical change. This change is evaluated on the basis of comparison of Los Angeles School and Chicago School along three crucial dichotomies-transitions: from human ecology to postmodern theoretical fragmentation, from concentric ring model of urban structure to regional approaches and the vision of sprawl, and from the understanding of urban process as natural to the understanding of it as driven by power and interest groups conflicts. An account of the contemporary theoretical landscape and descriptions of the two Schools are provided in order to frame the comparison. An excursus into the way Los Angeles School uses the legacy of the Chicago School and into the ensuing reductionist image of Chicago School serves as a starting point for the discussion of theoretical (r)evolution. The key reported finding is the paradoxical coexistence of a theoretical collision and a methodological affinity embodied by the Los Angeles School that powerfully reinstitutes the methodological principle of ‘paradigmatic city’ originating in the works of Robert Park and his collaborators. The paper concludes with a discussion of this principle.