ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author argues that new understandings of the grounds or territorializations of 'urban agency' need to be developed, not least in response to the changing empirical realities of urban politics and globalization. It shows the value of bringing the various cases into conversation with each other in order to enrich understandings of urban politics in each context. The author also argues that genetic grounds for comparison, based on the extraordinary array of interconnected processes which lead to often repeated, but distinctive, urban outcomes around the globe. The London Plan itself is a circulating practice, a form of strategic planning drawn on and promoted by the United Kingdom national government. As in London, international policy circuits are an presence for Johannesburg's officials, through their own professional training, internet and institutional connections. Johannesburg has prepared a sequence of city strategies, with different emphases.
