ABSTRACT
One of the best descriptions of the modern city is in Friedrich Engels' The Condition of the Working Class in England. The crystallization of a new social order in the city is a recurring theme. Even as Walter Benjamin pessimistically surveyed the temples of urban consumerism, he caught glimpses of a better world. Central government plays an especially important role in primate cities that squat over the national urban hierarchy and the national economy. Urban regimes take different forms of economic muscle and political power. Cities are strategic sites for the implementation of, and resistances to, neoliberal policies. The growth machine model is a particular pro-growth urban regime. The entrepreneurial city combines with private capital to promote capital accumulation. There is a hard core of material interest generating community interest in urban politics. The requirements of capital have been tempered in many cities making progressive political choices.
