ABSTRACT
A feature of the post-urban world is that while the crisis of the 1970s was accompanied by counter-urbanization in many of the developed countries, the following decades have mainly been characterized by re-urbanization. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents an overview of urbanization and its links to agricultural and industrial development in various parts of the world. It summarizes the key findings of a larger research project on the shape and form of the increasingly divided city and the patchwork metropolis. The book documents the role of human capital in the USA's Rustbelt cities' resurgence. It discusses the circumstance that Chinese cities are emerging in multiple senses. The book introduces and illustrates 'urban Facebooks' as important and effective mechanisms for interactive and participatory urban planning, geared towards an 'urban facelift.
