ABSTRACT
This book is the culmination of a number of years of research by scholars across the US and Canada. And, since academic research, like nature, abhors a vacuum, there has been new and important work on local culture—be it called civic, political, ideological, progressive, or a number of other names—in the period between when the project was conceived and the book completed. This expansion of the cultural focus reinforces the sense that the volume is right on target in proposing that urban theory and the understanding of urban policy-making processes could only be advanced with a focus that went beyond economism, power studies, or even regime approaches. The quotations below represent some of the most persuasive calls for a renewed attention to culture in urban studies and politics.
One of the most interesting challenges facing political science (and, indeed all the social sciences) today is to identify and measure the role of values, culture, and beliefs in explaining policy outcomes (Rosdil 2010: 105).
