The Contribution of the Sociological Approach to Comparative Urban Studies

Comparison is a recurrent theme in sociology and the discussion on comparison crosses the discipline since its birth. In both sociology and urban studies as academic disciplines, the discussion on comparison has developed on a theoretical, methodological, and political-academic level, and contributed to a critical stance on the power centres of knowledge. The founding fathers opened the way to different sociological approaches and can be considered the starting point for a broader and still ongoing debate on the main aims of sociology and the role of comparison in achieving them. Despite the fact that the debate on social mechanisms remains complex and characterized by different positions, it shows the potential of sociological analysis through the social mechanisms and their role in comparison. However, the relation between the city and its surrounding environment in its institutional and spatial meaning questions the concept of city in its ontological character.