Urban Geopolitics

<p>In the last decade a new wave of urban research has emerged putting comparative perspectives back on the urban studies agenda. However this research is frequently based on similar case studies on a few selected cities in America and Europe and all too often focus on the abstract city level with marginal attention given to particular local contexts.</p><p></p><p>Moving away from loosely defined urban theories and contexts this book argues it is time to start learning from and compare across different ‘contested cities’. It questions the long-standing Euro-centric academic knowledge production that is prevalent in urban studies and planning research. This book brings together a diverse range of international case studies from Latin America South and South East Asia Eastern Europe Africa and the Middle East to offer an in-depth understanding of the worldwide contested nature of cities in a wide range of local contexts. It suggests an urban ontology that moves beyond the urban ‘West’ and ‘North’ as well as adding a comparative-relational understanding of the contested nature that ‘Southern’ cities are developing.</p><p></p><p>This timely contribution is essential reading for those working in the fields of human geography urban studies planning politics area studies and sociology.</p>