ABSTRACT

There is little question today that processes of globalization affect national and local economies, governance processes, and conditions for economic competitiveness in the major urban regions of the world. In most liberal-democratic countries, these processes are occurring according to a rationale which attempts to combine strategies of state-supported development with increasing local-regional governmental decentralization and autonomy. Against this background, the issue of metropolitan development is being redefined worldwide, along with its institutional frameworks, modes of governance, policy instruments, and spatial planning strategies.

The overarching assumption of this volume is that ‘metropolitan space’, far from being consolidated as a policy object, is currently being redefined and in some instances ‘constructed’ and contested as a scale, through a variety of policy practices related to spatial-economic development objectives. Through case studies drawn from across four continents, the authors reveal a range of interesting cross-national commonalities concerning the power that state actors, situated at various spatial scales, exert as agents in these processes. This volume interrogates key research issues raised by these developments, and is intended as a contribution to the establishment of a globally comparative analysis of the construction of metropolitan spaces and scales under conditions of globalization and neoliberalization.

part I|27 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|27 pages

Introduction

Actors, policies and processes in the construction of metropolitan space: conceptual and analytical issues

part II|36 pages

Constructing metropolitan space in world cities

chapter 2|36 pages

Berlin as an ‘implicit’ metropolitan space

Contradictions in the institutional construction of scale

chapter 4|21 pages

The governance of Istanbul metropolitan development

The role of the state and the private sector

chapter 5|23 pages

Contesting the region

Transportation and the politics of scale in New York

chapter 7|21 pages

Economic actors at odds with the metropolis

Rio de Janeiro in the context of mega-events

chapter 8|24 pages

The uncertain metropolization of Rome

Economy, space and governance

chapter 9|15 pages

Urban strategies for extended metropolises in Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta

State-firm dynamics in anchoring the new metropolitan center

part III|14 pages

Findings and conclusions

chapter 10|14 pages

The construction of metropolitan space

Comparative lessons