ABSTRACT
Neoliberal urbanism is a wider phenomenon that can be studied in cities all over western societies. In some cities, the ascendance of right-wing urbanism coincided with the restructuring of governance systems that provided the background for exemplary struggles over issues of local democracy, urban citizenship, and social justice. Third Way and New Labour politics are mostly discussed in the traditional framework of national and international politics. Los Angeles in the 1990s faced a choice between 'an urban republic and republican urbanism'. It is quite possible to argue that the left has historically built much of its identity and meaning around the struggle of urban populations for economic justice and political democracy. The city used to be 'naturally' the locus of left-wing politics. Cities are the multicultural, diverse, complex frontiers of modern societies. They are also a constant hearth of societal innovation and social revolt.
