ABSTRACT
In the last decade a new wave of urban research has emerged, putting comparative perspectives back on the urban studies agenda. However, this research is frequently based on similar case studies on a few selected cities in America and Europe and all too often focus on the abstract city level with marginal attention given to particular local contexts.
Moving away from loosely defined urban theories and contexts, this book argues it is time to start learning from and compare across different ‘contested cities’. It questions the long-standing Euro-centric academic knowledge production that is prevalent in urban studies and planning research. This book brings together a diverse range of international case studies from Latin America, South and South East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East to offer an in-depth understanding of the worldwide contested nature of cities in a wide range of local contexts. It suggests an urban ontology that moves beyond the urban ‘West’ and ‘North’ as well as adding a comparative-relational understanding of the contested nature that ‘Southern’ cities are developing.
This timely contribution is essential reading for those working in the fields of human geography, urban studies, planning, politics, area studies and sociology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|2 pages
Comparative urban geopolitics
chapter 1|15 pages
Post-war reconstruction in contested cities
part II|52 pages
Urban geopolitics
chapter 4|17 pages
The Tale of ethno-political and spatial claims in a contested city
chapter 6|16 pages
The politics of doing nothing
part III|48 pages
Urban Geopolitics
chapter 7|15 pages
The camp vs the campus
chapter 8|14 pages
Urban planning, religious voices and ethnicity in the contested of Acre
chapter 9|17 pages
Exploring the Roots of Contested Public Spaces of Cairo
part IV|57 pages
Urban geopolitics
chapter 10|18 pages
Unpacking narratives of social conflict and inclusion
chapter 11|19 pages
The Medellín’s shifting geopolitics of informality
part V|10 pages
Comparative discussion