ABSTRACT
The renaissance in urban theory draws directly from a fresh focus on the neglected realities of cities beyond the west and embraces the global south as the epicentre of urbanism. This Handbook engages the complex ways in which cities of the global south and the global north are rapidly shifting, the imperative for multiple genealogies of knowledge production, as well as a diversity of empirical entry points to understand contemporary urban dynamics.
The Handbook works towards a geographical realignment in urban studies, bringing into conversation a wide array of cities across the global south – the ‘ordinary’, ‘mega’, ‘global’ and ‘peripheral’. With interdisciplinary contributions from a range of leading international experts, it profiles an emergent and geographically diverse body of work. The contributions draw on conflicting and divergent debates to open up discussion on the meaning of the city in, or of, the global south; arguments that are fluid and increasingly contested geographically and conceptually. It reflects on critical urbanism, the macro- and micro-scale forces that shape cities, including ideological, demographic and technological shifts, and constantly changing global and regional economic dynamics. Working with southern reference points, the chapters present themes in urban politics, identity and environment in ways that (re)frame our thinking about cities. The Handbook engages the twenty-first-century city through a ‘southern urban’ lens to stimulate scholarly, professional and activist engagements with the city.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|65 pages
Critical urbanism
chapter 7|14 pages
New Geographies of Theorizing the Urban
part II|67 pages
The urban: past, present, future
part III|113 pages
Global economic turbulence: (re)configuring the urban
chapter 16|18 pages
Steering, Speeding, Scaling
chapter 19|13 pages
Re-Evaluating the Influence of Urban Agglomeration in Sub-Saharan Africa
chapter 20|17 pages
The Urban Informal Economy
part IV|83 pages
Politics, transformation and the southern city
chapter 23|12 pages
Substantiating Urban Democracy
chapter 24|12 pages
The Politics of the Urban Everyday in Cairo
chapter 25|15 pages
Claiming ‘Rights' in the African City
chapter 26|13 pages
The Urban Poor and Strategies for a Pro-Poor Politics
part V|91 pages
Negotiating society and identity in urban spaces of the south
chapter 35|16 pages
Gender is Still the Battleground
part VI|109 pages
Conceptualizing the built environment: accounting for southern urban complexities
chapter 41|19 pages
The New Divided City?
part VII|89 pages
Big stories of urban change