ABSTRACT
It has been the intention of this collection to understand and critically explore the ways in which the term cosmopolitanism is deployed and mobilised in a variety of different urban contexts. With regard to this aim, the contributors to this book have sought to ground cosmopolitanism in the development and processes of the urban. What these different case studies most tellingly reveal is the multiple characteristics of this term as it is differently deployed in practices and discourses of the contemporary city. Our contributors have thus highlighted the multiple, contested and often contradictory ways in which cosmopolitanism has been applied to the city, in both academic and non-academic contexts. Moreover, the multiple contexts of cosmopolitanism’s deployment reveal a number of critical issues that are central to any understanding of the term. So, whether it be in the literature of the political and social sciences, or its application in (nonacademic) policy-related networks, or even its vernacular or ‘lay’ usage, visions and practices of cosmopolitanism are far from unproblematic. In this conclusion, therefore, we seek to review these issues and thereby generate a critical research agenda for further studies of cosmopolitan cities. We finish with some speculations, informed by the different case studies discussed herein, as to the future of the so-called cosmopolis.
