The boundaries of this project may be defined as the various academic disciplines that contribute to urban studies more generally (urban anthropology, urban economics, urban geography, urban history, urban politics, urban sociology), academic programs that build upon three disciplines (cultural studies, public administration), and professional fields that comprise urban studies (architecture, economic development, urban planning). While defining "urban studies" in this manner is problematic because the field is more than simply the sum of its disciplinary parts, this encyclopedia serves an important purpose in bringing together research traditions that might receive only scant notice in particular disciplinary encyclopedia.