POSTMODERN URBANISM

Theories of urban structure are a scarce commodity. Most twentieth-cen tury analyses have been predicated on the Chicago School model of conc entric :ones, despite the obvious claims of competing models. This pap er examines the contemporary forms of Southern California urbanism as an initial step toward deriving a concept of ''postmodern urbanism.'' The Los Angeles model consists of several fundamental characteristics, including a global-local connection, a ubiquitous social polarization , and a reterritorialization of the urban process in which hinterland organizes the center (in direct contradiction to the Chicago model). T he resultant urbanism is distinguished by a centerless urban form term ed ''keno capitalism,'' which we advance as the basis for a research a genda in comparative urban analysis.