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Urban Political Geographies
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Urban Political Geographies
A Global Perspective

  • Ugo Rossi - Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italy, University of Turin, Italy
  • Alberto Vanolo - University of Turin, Italy


November 2011 | 232 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

How can we think about the urban within a political and geographical framework? This compelling new textbook scrutinizes urban politics through a theoretical and empirical lens to provide readers with a clear understanding of the relationship between political, spatial and economic issues on the urban environment.

Taking a truly global analysis, the book uses international comparative case studies from cities across the world including London, Beijing, Austin, and Vancouver. It draws on ideas and theories from human geography, politics, sociology, economics, and development.

Engaging in style and thorough in its coverage of the key issues, the book is essential reading for students and scholars looking for a book that deals with contemporary urban debates from a political, economic and geographical perspective.

Foreword: The Athenian Symptom by Ola Söderström

 
Foreword: The Nine Lives of Neoliberalism by Jamie Peck

 
Foreword: Politics Between the Lines by AbdouMaliq Simone

 
 
Introduction
Globalization and the Urban Experience

 
The Triad of Urban Politics

 
Overview of the Book's Structure

 
 
PART ONE: POLITICS AS REPRESENTATION
 
Urban Development and the Politics of Representation
Introduction: towards a political economy of representation

 
Governing the image of the city

 
From Fordism to post-Fordism: reinventing cities in a context of economic transition

 
Postmodernizing the capitalist city

 
Celebrating the global city

 
The environmentalization of the urban experience

 
Concluding reflections: the Eurocentrism of urban scholarship

 
 
Making Culture Work: The Rise of the Creative City
Introduction: urban development in a knowledge-based capitalism

 
Creative cities: economies of diversity and discursive strategies in North America

 
Governmentalizing the cultural city in Europe and Asia

 
Conclusion: culture beyond representation

 
 
PART TWO: POLITICS AS GOVERNMENT
 
Urban Neoliberalism: Ascent and Crisis
Introduction: the irresistible rise of neoliberalism

 
At the origins of neoliberalism: the urban question in the 1970s

 
The 'new urban politics'

 
The practice of urban neoliberalism

 
Neoliberalizing urban economic spaces

 
The expected unforeseen: the housing bubble and the global recession

 
 
Urban Geopolitics: Legitimate Violence, Terrorism and Militarization
Introduction: the governmentalization of the urban experience

 
The politics of fear

 
From fear to communitarian self-defence

 
The use of force as a threat: terrorism, urban marginality and the politics of pre-emption

 
Cities at war/the war against cities

 
Conclusions: the visible and the invisible in urban geopolitics

 
 
PART THREE: POLITICS AS CONTESTATION
 
Urban Justice: Struggles and Movements
Introduction: the ethical turn in democratic politics

 
Social justice in question: equality, recognition, domination

 
Rights to the city

 
Justice movements: limits and potentialities

 
Justice, globalization and the environment

 
Conclusion: the encounter between institutionalist and Marxist perspectives

 
 
Urban Citizenship: Insurgencies and the Politics of Presence
Introduction: the crisis of national citizenship

 
The promises of urban citizenship

 
The globalization of migration and the multiple geographies of belonging

 
Dissidence or normalization: the quandaries of sexual citizenship

 
Conclusion: the 'common place' of citizenship

 
 
Conclusion: Beyond Post-Neoliberal Melancholia
Glossary

 

Ugo Rossi and Alberto Vanolo take us on a journey around the ascent and crisis of urban liberalism, providing a clear and highly readable analysis of key issues and debates in the field of urban political geography.

Ola Söderström
Institute de Géographie, Université de Neuchâtel

It is in the city trenches that the crises, contradictions, and counterpolitics of neoliberalization are finding some of their most vivid and consequential expressions, where new worlds are being imagined, made, and unmade. This has yet to be mapped. But in Urban Political Geographies, we have a timely and astute field guide to this unfolding process.

Jamie Peck
University of British Columbia

An incisive and lucid account of contemporary urban politics.

AbdouMaliq Simone
Goldsmiths, University of London

This is an ambitious but fairly comprehensive overview of contemporary urban politics. Its value lies in its use of illustrations from a range of countries, both in the 'Global North' and the 'Global South'. It is a good introductory text to the subject, especially for postgraduate students with an interest in contemporary cities from around the world.

Professor Julio Davila
Dvpt Planning Unit, University College London
May 22, 2013

a most interesting nexus explored in a theoretically novel way

Mr Richard Kotter
Dept of Geography, Northumbria University
July 3, 2012

Interesting and unique scientific perspective. New insights into the theory. Offering good prospects for understanding global urban up-to-date praxis. Best for urban political studies and supplementary for urban economic studies. Advanced level of knowledge required. Might challenge some of students thus offfers supplemental value.

Dr Artur Ochojski
Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Economics in Katowice
March 12, 2012

Sample Materials & Chapters

Introduction


Ugo Rossi

Ugo Rossi is Professor of Economic and Political Geography at the Gran Sasso Science Institute university in L'Aquila, Italy More About Author

Alberto Vanolo

For instructors

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ISBN: 9780857028846
£41.99

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