ABSTRACT

The study of urban politics or local government is subordinate to the more important study of state politics and policy. The truth is that urban systems tend to break the bounds of their own containers, not only in the sense that cities spill over their administrative boundaries and occupy the surrounding countryside, but also in the sense that the urban system ultimately transcends particular countries. Implicit in a globalized urbanism are the emergence of new forms of political authority and the transformation of others. Modern life is urban, but the modern city spreads out and links up with other cities and the countryside in a way that gradually obliterates the urban–rural distinction. Urbanism requires a certain way of being: a way of relating to strangers, dwelling together, employing oneself, expressing oneself, disposing of one’s wastes. Urbanism as a way of life actually depends on an optimistic but not unrealistic assessment of the human capacity for living together.