"A Center for Mexican American Studies book." Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-280) and index.

Introduction ---- Human settlements, space, and international boundaries in global perspective --- The formation of an urban system along the U.S.-Mexico boundary --- Urban space in cross-cultural perspective --- Comparative morphology and spatial structure in the San Diego-Tijuana Border zone --- Dimensions of transboundary urban space --- The politics of space in a transfrontier urban ecosystem --- Conclusion: the political economy of urban space on the U.S.-Mexico Border. This book embraces an emerging paradox of human geography: the growth of cities along international boundaries. For many years the world system was ordered in such a way that international boundaries remained essentially free of human settlement. In the last three decades, however, the axioms of traditional geopolitical organization have been shattered; in a number of areas in the world, including the United States-Mexico, United States-Canada, and western European border regions, boundaries have come to house large-scale cities. -- From Preface (page xi).