The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for urban politics. The scope of this handbook's coverage and contributions engages with and reflects upon the most important, innovative and recent critical developments to the interdisciplinary field of urban politics, drawing upon a range of examples from within and across the Global North and Global South.
This handbook is organized into nine interrelated sections, with an introductory chapter setting out the rationale, aims and structure of the Handbook, and short introductory commentaries at the beginning of each part. It questions the eliding of 'urban politics' into the 'politics of the city', reconsidering the usefulness of the distinction between 'old' and 'new' urban politics, considering issues of 'class', 'gender', 'race' and the ways in which they intersect, appear and reappear in matters of urban politics, how best to theorize the roles of capital, the state and other actors, such as social movements, in the production of the city and, finally, issues of doing urban political research. The various chapters explore the issues of urban politics of economic development, environment and nature in the city, governance and planning, the politics of labour as well as living spaces. The concluding sections of the Handbook examine the politics over alternative visions of cities of the future and provide concluding discussions and reflections, particularly on the futures for urban politics in an increasingly 'global' and multidisciplinary context.
With over forty-five contributions from leading international scholars in the field, this handbook provides critical reviews and appraisals of current conceptual and theoretical approaches and future developments in urban politics. It is a key reference to all researchers and policy-makers with an interest in urban politics.
"The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics is a state-of-the-art guide to the diverse and dynamic worlds of urban politics-from environmental activism to local labor organizing, from growth elites to community gardeners, from austerity to utopia. Featuring new voices in urban studies alongside established scholars, this fine collection goes beyond a conventional tour d'horizon to open up new horizons for the field." - Jamie Peck, University of British Columbia, Canada
"The editors of the Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics have done a magnificent job: A stellar cast of authors, a global perspective, relevant thematic choices, topical case studies, and animated writing make this Handbook an indispensible companion to students of local and urban politics everywhere." - Roger Keil, York Chair in Global Sub/Urban Studies, York University, Canada
"This Handbook's carefully crafted collection of essays reviews and appraises the panoply of conceptual and theoretical approaches to urban politics as an inter-disciplinary field, and it provides a vivid portrayal of how 'the (urban) political' itself is evolving. It will be a key reference point for students and researchers seeking to comprehend continuity and change in the (urban) political, as it is shaped across places, spaces and scales, and through shifting constellations of actors, interests, issues, strategies and practices." - Professor Pauline McGuirk, Head of Research, School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, The University of Wollongong, Australia
