ABSTRACT
In many ways urban politics may seem a straightforward aspect of cities for us to consider. It appears to be about the city hall, the local authority, local elections and the like. However, this is actually a very restricted notion of urban politics; it refers to what we might think of as the formal urban political arena. This is undoubtedly extremely important and forms a considerable proportion of the writing on the subject, from a number of disciplines, that have emerged over the last fifty years or so. It is fascinating in itself, demonstrating considerable variation around the world and through
time in its nature and in the activities undertaken by local authorities (Haynes 1997; Judd and Swanstrom 1998; Herschel and Newman 2002; Savage et al. 2003; Sharpe 2005; Pacione 2009; Pasotti 2010). Urban politics, though, embraces much more than just this formal political arena. As Sophie Watson (1999) reminds us there are many ways that we can think about issues of power and politics in the city. As well as the formal political realm she, and others, cite struggles and conflicts over the provision of services and resources and issues of meaning, representation and identity that are embedded, in many ways, in the fabric of everyday life, as all constituting an expanded notion of urban politics.
