This volume presents a detailed synthesis of the historical, present-day and future state of service delivery in South Africa. The generation and distribution of services in any geographical space has been and is always a source of inequality in human society. Thus, in the context of spatial planning, space is the major factor through which distributive justice and sustainable development can be achieved. To examine the continuation of spatial inequality in service delivery, the authors employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods in a multi-pronged approach, utilizing empirical data from the Vembe District in Limpopo, data from the South African Index of Multiple Deprivation, and representative attitudinal data from the South African Social Attitudes Survey. Ultimately, this study examines spatial differences in living environments with a focus on the distribution of household services and discusses strategies to achieve spatial equality.

As the dynamo of South Africa's economy, Johannesburg commands a central position in the nation's imagination, and scholars throughout the world monitor the city as an exemplar of urbanity in the global South. This book offers detailed empirical analyses of changes in the city's physical space, as well as a host of chapters on the character of specific neighbourhoods and the social identities being forged within them. Informing all of these is a consideration of underlying economic, social and political processes shaping the wider Gauteng province. A mix of respected academics, practising urban planners and experienced policymakers offer compelling overviews of the rapid and complex spatial developments that have taken place in Johannesburg since the end of apartheid, along with tantalising glimpses into life on the streets and behind the high walls of this diverse city. The book has three sections. Section A provides an overview of macro spatial trends and the policies that have influenced them. Section B explores the shaping of the city at district and suburban level, revealing the peculiarity of processes in different areas. This analysis elucidates the larger trends, while identifying shifts that are not easily detected at the macro level. Section C is an assembly of chapters and short vignettes that focus on the interweaving of place and identity at a micro level. With empirical data supported by new data sets including the 2011 Census, the city's Development Planning and Urban Management Department's information system, and Gauteng City-Region Observatory's substantial archive, the book is an essential reference for planning practitioners, urban geographers, sociologists, and social anthropologists, among others.

This book critically examines 'smart city' discourse in terms of governance initiatives, citizen participation and policies which place emphasis on the 'citizen' as an active recipient and co-producer of technological solutions to urban problems. The current hype around smart cities and digital technologies has sparked debates in the fields of citizenship, urban studies and planning surrounding the rights and ethics of participation. It also sparked debates around the forms of governance these technologies actively foster. This book presents new socio-technological systems of governance that monitor citizen power, trust-building strategies, and social capital. It calls for new data economics and digital rights for a city founded on normative ideals rather than neoliberal ones. It adopts a normative approach arguing that a 'reloaded' smart city should foster citizenship as a new set of civil and social rights and the 'citizen' as a subject vested with active and meaningful forms of participation and political power. Ultimately, the book questions the utility of the 'smart city' project for radical municipalism, proposing a technological enough but more democratic city, an 'intelligent city' in fact. Offering useful contribution to smart city initiatives for the protection of emerging digital citizenship rights and socially accrued benefits, this book will draw the interest of researchers, policymakers, and professionals in the fields of urban studies, urban planning, urban geography, computing and technology studies, urban politics and urban economics.

This book develops a detailed, disaggregated theoretical and empirical framework that explains variations in mass killing by authoritarian regimes globally, with a specific focus on Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Using a combination of game-theoretic, statistical, and qualitative approaches, this project explicates when civilians within nondemocratic states will mobilize against the ruling elite, and when such mobilization will result in mass killing. In doing so, it illustrates the important role urbanization and food insecurity historically played, and will continue to play, in generating extreme forms of civilian victimization.

This book examines trends and determinants of economic inequality in cities in Latin America, the world's most unequal region. It explores how the gap between the haves and the have nots manifests in every part of urban life - from housing to schooling to employment. It asks why some cities have higher inequality than others and what we can learn from these differences as we push back against inequality. The book starts with reviewing the policies and forces that explain the rise and fall of inequality in Latin America since the 1990s and why progress in reducing inequality has stalled. It then focuses on Argentina's cities and applies a set of quantitative tools to identify inequality determinants. It finds that intra-urban inequality generally mirrors national-level trends, but local idiosyncrasies related to a city's labor market, informal employment, and social protection systems matter. The book discusses the pitfalls of privatizing public services that turned access to water in metropolitan Buenos Aires more unequal. It explores the promises and unintended consequences of slum upgrading initiatives in Buenos Aires' Villa 20. The book presents lessons that can inform policies and practices in the region and beyond. Developing a strategy against inequality that incorporates local features and resists the temptation to rely on the "free market" for solutions to urban problems offers a powerful opportunity. Drawing from the field of economics and social and urban policy, this book shows that the battle against inequality is not only won and lost in cities but also requires a uniquely public and urban response. As such, it will be of interest to advanced students, researchers, and policymakers across development economics, urban studies, and Latin American studies.

This book examines the power relations that emerge from the convergence of the universe in which the sporting spectacle is produced and the universe in which a city is produced. It adopts Bourdieu's concept of field to explore the interests and disputes involved in the production of sports mega-events across different times and spaces and the role of host cities in these processes. It aims to identify the bases that give these spectacles the power to produce disruptions in the social fabric of the host cities and countries, and to enable the production of authoritarian forms of exercising power. By observing the historical constitution of the field of production of sport spectacle as an autonomous field, this book explores how sport mega-events create both an arena and a context for radical expressions of authoritarianism of neoliberal planning models. It will be of interest to students, scholars and professionals in architecture and urban studies, urban planning, municipal governance, sport and leisure studies, and those interested in the relationship between State and capital in the production of urban space.

Silencing Shanghai investigates the paradoxical and counterintuitive contrast between Shanghai's emergence as a global city and the marginalization of its native population, captured through the rapid decline of the distinctive Shanghai dialect. From this unique vantage point, Fang Xu tells a story of power relations in a cosmopolitan metropolis closely monitored and shaped by an authoritarian state through policies affecting urban redevelopment, internal migration, and language. These state policies favor the rich, the resourceful, and the highly educated, while alienate the poorer and less educated Shanghainese geographically and linguistically. When the state vigorously promotes Mandarin Chinese through legal and administrative means, Shanghainese made the conscious yet reluctant choice of shifting from the dialect to the national language. At the same time, millions of migrants have little incentive to adopt the vernacular given that their relation to the state has already firmly established their legal, financial, and social standing in the city. The recent shift in the urban linguistic scene that silences the Shanghai dialect is ultimately part of the state-led global city-building process. Through the association of the use of national language with realizing the "China Dream," the state further eliminates the unique vernacular characters of Shanghai.

Considering Asian cities ranging from Taipei, Hong Kong and Bangkok to Hanoi, Nanjing and Seoul, this collection discusses the socio-political processes of how neoliberalization entwines with local political economies and legacies of 'developmental' or 'socialist' statism to produce urban contestations centered on housing. The book takes housing as a key entry point, given its prime position in the making of social and economic policies as well as the political legitimacy of Asian states. It examines urban policies related to housing in Asian economies in order to explore their continuing alterations and mutations, as they come into conflict and coalesce with neoliberal policies. In discussing the experience of each city, it takes into consideration the variegated relations between the state, the market and the society, and explores how the global pressure of neoliberalization has manifested in each country and has influenced the shaping of national housing questions.

This book focuses on the politics of street trees and the institutions, actors and processes that govern their planning, planting and maintenance. This is an innovative approach which is particularly important in the context of mounting environmental and societal challenges and reveals a huge amount about the nature of modern life, social change and political conflict. The work first provides different historical perspectives on street trees and politics, celebrating diversity in different cultures. A second section discusses street tree values, policy and management, addressing more contemporary issues of their significance and contribution to our environment, both physically and philosophically. It explores cultural idiosyncrasies and those from the point of view of political economy, particularly challenging the neo-liberal perspectives that continue to dominate political narratives. The final section provides case studies of community engagement, civil action and governance. International case studies bring together contrasting approaches in areas with diverging political directions or intentions, the constraints of laws and the importance of people power. By pursuing an interdisciplinary approach this book produces an information base for academics, practitioners, politicians and activists alike, thus contributing to a fairer political debate that helps to promote more democratic environments that are sustainable, equitable, comfortable and healthier.

Creative Resilience and COVID-19 examines arts, culture, and everyday life as a way of navigating through and past COVID-19. Drawing together the voices of international experts and emerging scholars, this volume explores themes of creativity and resilience in relation to the crisis, trauma, cultural alterity, and social change wrought by the pandemic. The cultural, social, and political concerns that have arisen due to COVID-19 are inextricably intertwined with the ways the pandemic has been discussed, represented, and visualized in global media. The essays included in this volume are concerned with how artists, writers, and advocates uncover the hope, plasticity, and empowerment evident in periods of worldwide loss and struggle-factors which are critical to both overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and fashioning the post-COVID-19 era. Elaborating on concepts of the everyday and the outbreak narrative, Creative Resilience and COVID-19 explores diverse themes including coping with the crisis through digital distractions, diary writing, and sounds; the unequal vulnerabilities of gender, ethnicity, and age; the role of visuality and creativity including comics and community theatre; and the hopeful vision for the future through urban placemaking, nighttime sociability, and cinema. The book fills an important scholarly gap, providing foundational knowledge from the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic through a consideration of the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In doing so, Creative Resilience and COVID-19 expands non-medical COVID-19 studies at the intersection of media and communication studies, cultural criticism, and the pandemic.

Visual Participatory Arts Based Research in the Cities maps ontological, aesthetic and ethic differences between humanist and posthumanist arts-based research, while providing insight on methodological orientations to develop arts-based research with frameworks based on process-philosophies. It is the first book on arts-based research which focuses on the city, adopting a posthumanist approach to the assembled nature of urban environments, where agency is distributed across infrastructures, technologies, spaces, things, and bodies. Chapters one to seven feature a series of studies, situated in different cities in Europe and the Americas, which outline experiences of movement, inhabitancy, interdependence, collaboration, infrastructuring and sensorial re-calibration informed by art practices in film, photography, digital projection, installation, performance and art as social practice. At the core of this book is the idea that aesthetic ecologies of cities do not depend solely on human activity, relying instead on non-logocentric modalities of collective life. The book is an indispensable tool to researchers, instructors and graduate students in education, the social sciences and the arts aiming to conceive, design and develop projects in arts-based research.

Seit der Jahrtausendwende ist eine Vielzahl von Widerstandsbewegungen in Stadten weltweit zu beobachten. Die bekanntesten unter ihnen sind der Arabische Fruhling, Occupy Wallstreet, die Bewegung des 15M/Indignados oder die zahlreichen Recht auf Stadt-Bewegungen. Die Widerstandsbewegungen unterscheiden sich in ihren Zielsetzungen, Vorgehensweisen und Manifestationen. Der Sammelband vereint Beitrage, die sich anhand unterschiedlicher empirischer und theoretischer Forschungszugange mit der Analyse von stadtischen Protest- und Widerstandsbewegungen auseinandersetzen. Es interessieren die Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede dieser sozialen Bewegungen sowie die ubergeordneten gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhange, in denen sie sich manifestieren. Die vorliegende Sammlung von hauptsachlich empirischen Forschungsarbeiten ermoeglicht einen aufschlussreichen Blick auf das aktuelle Feld der Bewegungs- und Widerstandsforschung im stadtischen Kontext. Since the turn of the millennium, an increasing number of resistance movements in urban spaces have been observed worldwide. The best known among them are the Arab spring, the Occupy Wallstreet movement, the movement of the 15M/Indignados as well as numerous right to the city initiatives. These resistance practices differ in their goals, approaches and manifestations. The anthology presents articles about urban protest and resistance movements with a variety of different empirical and theoretical research approaches. A special focus lies on the differences and the similarities of these social movements as well as on their larger societal context. The collection of mainly empirical studies assembled in this anthology provides an insightful overview of the current field of research on social and resistance movements in an urban context.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of recent research on the internet, emphasizing its spatial dimensions, geospatial applications, and the numerous social and geographic implications such as the digital divide and the mobile internet. Written by leading scholars in the field, the book sheds light on the origins and the multiple facets of the internet. It addresses the various definitions of cyberspace and the rise of the World Wide Web, draws upon media theory, as well as explores the physical infrastructure such as the global skein of fibre optics networks and broadband connectivity. Several economic dimensions, such as e-commerce, e-tailing, e-finance, e-government, and e-tourism, are also explored. Apart from its most common uses such as Google Earth, social media like Twitter, and neogeography, this volume also presents the internet's novel uses for ethnographic research and the study of digital diasporas. Illustrated with numerous graphics, maps, and charts, the book will best serve as supplementary reading for academics, students, researchers, and as a professional handbook for policy makers involved in communications, media, retailing, and economic development.

This volume takes a global view of the emergence of public protest movements over the last decade, asking whether such movements contribute to the globalization of civil society. Through a variety of studies, organised around the themes of public agency, public norms, public memory and public art, it considers the tendency of political contestations to move beyond national boundaries and create transnational connections. Departing from the approaches of social movements perspectives, it focuses on public space as a site of social "mixity" and opens up a new field for the study of politics and cultural controversies. An analysis of the paradigmatic change in the way in which society is made and politics is conducted, this study of the new enactment of citizenship in public space will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, geography and politics with interests in protest movements and contentious politics, citizenship and the public sphere, and globalization.

In constructing the urban as a set of interconnected actions, this book presents a less travelled route to understanding the city. It leads to a fresh perspective on several issues central to urban theory, including the uniqueness of a city alongside practices it shares with other urban places. This book presents an innovative theoretical contribution to the field of urban studies, bridging the gap between western centric scholarship and perspectives from the global South. It offers conceptually rich insights, combining notions of cities as organisms, and references to postcolonial urban studies, with insights around aspirations, capabilities, agency, and social identity. It develops concepts, like the Proximity Principle, that help explain the experience of a city. This conceptualization of the city as a process should interest all who are sensitive to cities, whether they study them in academia or simply develop close associations with specific urban places.

With an integration of theories, comparative and empirical studies, this book aims to find a treatment for Beijing's "urban diseases" and coordinate a low-carbon development plan for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in China. Unprecedented industrialization and unconventional urbanization caused a series of "urban diseases" for developing cities across the globe. By summarizing and exploring the evolution and phased characteristics of "urban diseases", the author implements theories across classical sociology, human ecology, community school, and low-carbon city as the base for policy recommendations. This book also provides in-depth examinations and comparative studies of other metropolises' experiences in controlling "urban diseases". Cities such as New York, London, and Tokyo were modeled to propose the most appropriate low-carbon development plan for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. With a focus on developing cities in Northern China, this book will be a great read to all scholars and students of environmental studies, development studies, urban studies, and contemporary China studies. It will also be a great addition for those who are interested in social conflicts and economic development.

1) This book presents a comprehensive account of Patrick Geddes work on sociology and urban planning. 2) It deals with the vital theme of sustainability of modern Cities and ecological crisis. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of urban studies and city planning across UK and USA.

This book provides a comparative analysis of shrinking cities in a broad range of postsocialist countries within the so-called Global East, a liminal space between North and South. While shrinking cities have received increased scholarly attention in the past decades, theoretical, and empirical research has remained predominantly centered on the Global North. This volume brings to the fore a range of new perspectives on urban shrinkage, identifying commonalities, differences, and policy experiences across a very diverse and vivid region with its various legacies and contemporary controversial developments. With chapters written by leading experts in the field, insider views assist in decolonizing urban theory. Specifically, the book includes chapters on shrinking cities in China, Russia, and postsocialist Europe, presenting comparative discussions within countries and crossnational cases on theoretical and policy implications. The book will be of interest to students and scholars researching urban studies, urban geography, urban planning, urban politics and policy, urban sociology, and urban development.

Economic Impact or Contribution contributes to the applied regional economic literature by providing a framework for handling a diverse set of projects and providing detailed case studies of fieldwork regarding the health care industry, higher education institutions, the nonprofit sector, infrastructure investment, and a major musical entertainment event. Economic Impact or Contribution accomplishes three major tasks by answering the following questions: What are the differences between the economic concepts used in economic versus fiscal assessment studies? How can we structure an economic and business issue or challenge? How can we create a research product that helps the project's sponsors solve their problem? This book has emerged as an answer to many research-related questions in dealing with regional business and economic issues and challenges.

Anthony Townsend argues that the driverless car is a red herring. When self-driving technology infects buses, bikes, delivery vans and buildings, a wild future awaits. Technology will transform life behind the wheel into a hi-definition video game that makes our ride safer, smoother and more efficient. Meanwhile, autonomous vehicles will turbocharge our appetite for the instant delivery of goods, making the future as much about moving stuff as it is about moving people. Companies will link the automated machines that move us to the cloud, raising concerns about mobility monopolies and privatisation of "the curb". Our cities and towns will change as we embrace new ways to get around. Ghost Road explains where we might be heading with driverless vehicles, and the choices we must make as societies and individuals to shape that future.

Drawing upon empirical research and critical literature review, Smart Tourism Destination Governance: Technology and Design-Based Approach provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of smart tourism destination governance and its related challenges. Building on the author's extensive research background in tourism destinations and information technologies, the book provides a quantitative approach to the phenomenon, using cluster and network analysis. It uses design thinking to provide solutions on how to overcome the challenges faced within the context of tourism destination governance, with a detailed discussion of the contribution of the smart approach to overcoming such challenges. The book is presented in three parts as follows: Part 1: The Need for a New Form of Tourism Destination Governance Part 2: The Contribution of Smart Approach to Overcoming the Challenges of Tourism Destination Governance Part 3: Designing Smart Tourism Destination Governance Towards Sustainability, Competitiveness and Resilience This work will be of great interest to both tourism scholars and decision-makers within the field of tourism, aiming to provide a detailed overview of and broaden the reader's horizons in regards to the possibilities of the smart approach to tourism destination governance.

* The book provides an interdisciplinary view of contemporary economic and social transformations in India. * It examines the impact of skill development initiatives and challenges in the post Covid-19 phase. * This book will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers of urban studies, urban sociology, sociology of work, labour studies, human and urban geography, economic geography, urban economics, development studies, urban development and planning, public policy, regional planning, politics of urban development, social and cultural change, urban sustainability, environmental studies, management studies, South Asian Studies, and Global South studies. It will also be useful to policymakers, non-governmental organisations, activists, and those interested in India and the global economy.

Collaborated by Chinese and American scholars, Understanding China's Urbanization opens up a new channel to disseminate Chinese studies to the world. Highly readable, the book provides fine-grained materials and detailed information on Chinese urbanization. Li Zhang, Richard LeGates and Min Zhao effectively convey an indigenous perspective on Chinese urban futures and present a picture with sufficient complexity and wide coverage.' - Fulong Wu, University College London, UK 'A most comprehensive book about urbanization in China, with in-depth insights from a talented scholarly team. This book is far more than a snapshot of the Chinese story, it reveals the important developments that have occured as China has transitioned into a dynamic urban country.' - Shi Nan, Secretary General, Urban Planning Society of China 'Zhang, LeGates, and Zhao's book builds on the voluminous literature on China's urbanization by adding new data, findings, insights, perspectives, and recommendations. Both academically sophisticated and reader-friendly, the book surveys and critiques research in and outside China and highlights new phenomena in urbanization, governance, migration, foreign direct investment, and city clusters. Richly decorated with illustrations as well as the authors' original statistical and field analyses, the book is a much welcome multidisciplinary contribution to understanding a burning question in China.' - C. Cindy Fan, University of California, Los Angeles China's urbanization is one of the great earth-changing phenomena of recent times. The way in which China continues to urbanize will have a critical impact on the world economy, global climate change, international relations and a host of other critical issues. Understanding and responding to China's urbanization is of paramount importance to everyone. This book represents a unique exploration of the demographic, spatial, economic and social aspects of China's urban transformation. Based on years of fieldwork and data analysis from different types of cities and towns in every region of China, the authors present a detailed description of how China has urbanized since 1978 and an original theory about the way in which top-down and bottom-up policies have impacted urbanization. They describe China's on-going urbanization process as a 'double-dual' transformation from a planned economy to a more market-oriented one and from a concern with the quantity to the quality of urbanization. In doing so, the authors provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date book on Chinese urbanization to date. This scholarly study will appeal to academics and practitioners, including professors and postgraduate students of urban studies, planning, geography, Asian studies, and other social science disciplines and professional fields concerned with cities and urban development. Professionals involved in international development, particularly in China and elsewhere in Asia, will be particularly interested in the book.