The Urban Experience provides a fresh approach to the study of metropolitan areas by combining economic principles, social insight, and political realities with an appreciation of public policy to understand how U.S. cities and suburbs function in the 21st century. The book is grounded in the real life experiences of students and their families on the premise that there is a fascination about one's own surroundings. It uses a great deal of historical and comparative data to explore the wide variation in how we experience urban and suburban communities. It addresses the changing role and function of U.S. metropolitan areas in an age of growing global competition and focuses on key contemporary problems facing cities and suburbs. The book introduces analyses from economics, sociology, and political science as useful tools to understand the evolution and current status of the nation's urban areas. The book will be a valuable text for urban scholars, public officials, and all those interested in understanding urban dynamics. A CD-ROM is packaged with the book containing census information from 1970 through 2005 for virtually every city and town in every metropolitan area in the United States. The data analysis engine on the CD permits the user to create tables and charts comparing municipalities across time with simple clicks of the mouse. Users can compare their own location or any other to others across the country, deepening their understanding of similarities and differences across urban areas.