ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines a distinctly geographical perspective on urban politics. It focuses on work from across the disciplinary range but will emphasize issues such as the importance of space, place and scale that are of particular interest to geographers and which have largely shaped their contribution to the field. Urban politics, though, embraces much more than just this formal political arena. Although drawing criticism and inspiring an extensive tradition of empirical research, from the likes of Robert Dahl, that seemed to highlight the pluralist nature of urban politics, elite theory has enjoyed some enduring legacy in the form of growth coalition theory. As with any attempt at neat periodization, the division of urban government into distinct managerial and entrepreneurial phases carries with it the risk of oversimplification. By contrast, entrepreneurialism in city government has seen more piecemeal approaches to managing the city prompted, some would argue, more by economic opportunity than public welfare strategy.
