NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BOOK EXAMINES TECHNOLOGY'S EFFECT ON CITIES

We've all studied the industrial revolution in our history classes. We've been taught how pre-industrial and industrial changes have affected big cities. But what about post-industrial change? What impact does the latest technology have on the cities of today?

In his recently published a book, "Cities in the Third Wave: The Technological Transformation of Urban America," Leonard I. Ruchelman discusses exactly how new technology is affecting and transforming the cities of the 21st century.

"In the belief that technology is a force that has created and recast cities throughout history, my book attempts to address the important question of how cities are presently being affected by new technology and what they will be like in the future," said Ruchelman, eminent scholar of urban studies and public administration.

Ruchelman said he spent approximately two years writing the book after thinking about the topic for about five years. "These issues just weren't covered in the older textbooks," he explained.

He believes it is important for civic leaders to recognize and closely study the factors relating to the Third Wave in order to be successful. In the preface, he writes, "It is anticipated that this book will help readers understand what it will take for their cities, and other cities, to survive and even thrive in their changing environment."

Ruchelman, who has taught at Old Dominion since 1975, has published nine other books on issues within the public affairs arena, including "Big City Mayors," "Political Careers" and "Police Politics." "Cities in the Third Wave" was published by Burnham Inc. in Chicago.