This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Manchester University. Faced with economic decline, unprecedented levels of unemployment and new forms of political extremism during Britain's last great economic crash, politicians and planners in Liverpool and Manchester responded by investing in dramatic and ambitious programmes of urban regeneration. Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester, 1918-1939 is the first book to provide the hitherto unknown story of the innovative transformation of these cities. Charlotte Wildman challenges academic scholarship in British history, which associates the post-1918 period with the emasculation of local government and the decline of civic culture. She shows that local politicians, planners, architects, businessmen and even religious leaders embraced innovative trends in creating distinct forms of urban modernities, which particularly changed the way women experienced the transformed city. Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester, 1918-1939 offers a complex, interactive and multipolar interpretation of the ways cities develop, pointing to new methods and ways of understanding both interwar Britain and urban history more generally. At a time of debate and discussion about devolution and decentralisation of government, this book makes an opportune contribution to debates about urban governance and regionalism in contemporary Britain.

The ideas of Henri Lefebvre on the production of urban space have become increasingly useful for understanding worldwide post-industrial city transformation. This important book uses new international comparative research to engage critically with Lefebvre's spatial theories and challenge recent thinking about the nature of urban space. Meticulous research in Vancouver, Lowell MA and Manchester, England, explains how urban public spaces, including differential space, are contested and socially produced. Spatial coalitions, counter-representations and counterprojects are seen as vital elements in such processes. The book contributes critically to the post-industrial city comparative analysis literature. It provides an accessible guide for those who care about cities, public space, city planning and urban policy. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of urban: geography, planning, policy, politics, regeneration and sociology. It will also be relevant for politicians, policy makers and urban activists.

This book provides new insights into popular understandings of urbanism by using a wide range of case studies from lesser studied cities across the Global South and Global North to present evidence for the need to reconstruct our understanding of who and what makes urban environments. Myers explores the global hierarchy of cities, the criteria for positioning within these hierarchies and the successes of various policymaking approaches designed specifically to boost a city's ranking. Engaging heavily with postcolonial studies and Global South thinking, he shows how cities construct one another's spaces and calls for a new understanding of planetary urbanism that moves beyond Western-centric perspectives.

If we are becoming increasingly disconnected from our local communities, are there implications for health, well being and happiness, particularly for people on low incomes? This book looks at the interplay between poor people, poor communities and poor health, with a particular focus on social networks as key linkages.

Buck shines a new light on China's transition to capitalism by focusing on and analyzing the development of networks between the urban and rural factories that have produced the regional economy of greater Shanghai. These networks have incorporated millions of villagers into the national and the global economy. By getting inside these networks and watching as their restructuring unfolds, Buck reveals hidden aspects of major changes: China's transition from centralized planning to market economy, the transformation of Shanghai from industrial to financial center, and a wave of privatization that has swept away the last vestiges of socialism.

This book addresses up-to-date urban health issues from a systems perspective and provides an appealing integrated urban development strategy based on a 10-year global interdisciplinary research programme created by the International Council for Science (ICSU), and sponsored by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) and the United Nations University (UNU). The unique feature of this book is its "systems approach" to urban health and wellbeing: solution-oriented for science and society and not purely theoretical, it can be applied in the context of decision-making, and has the potential to unlock cities' unused potential by promoting health and wellbeing. Furthermore, the inter- and transdisciplinary urban issues addressed in this book are examined from a cross-sectoral perspective - e.g. the transport sector is addressed in connection with air pollution, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and the loss of productivity. The interconnected thinking to urban health and wellbeing makes the book a particularly valuable resource. Decision makers in city administrations and civil society organizations from different geographical regions will find the book an informative and inspiring guide for delivering towards the goals of the New Urban Agenda, for which health can be the vital indicator of progress. Graduate students and researchers will be attracted by the case studies, systems methods and models provided in the book.

This study concerns the city dweller. Morris finds remarkable similarities with captive zoo animals and looks closely at the aggressive, sexual and parental behaviour of the human species under the stresses and pressures of urban living.

In 2007, the Pontine Marshes, are very much part of the Italian national landscape. A traveller who takes a Eurostar train from Rome to Naples will pass through the marshes, which are a marshland only in name (Agro Pontino in Italian). It is hard to see the landscape of the Pontine Marshes and to simultaneously cast a historical eye back eighty years to when the area was avoided by people. It is hard to realize, today, that the Pontine Marshes were the focus for an extraordinary national land reclamation and urbanization project during Mussolini's fascist regime. Between 1930 and 1939, the marshes became the target of massive national investment, internal migration (often non-voluntary) and engineering work. In the 1930s, the Pontine Marshes became key protagonists in national culture: featured in newsreels, newspapers and propaganda, they became a metaphor for the regime's modernizing drive and ambition to create a new Italy where one had not been able to exist before. In particular, the regime's planners clamored to create New Towns in the reclaimed marshes; these were to be planned along fascist lines, and populated with selected colonists from the north. Written by an Oxford University professor Federico Caprotti, this book is about the Pontine Marshes project and brings together cohesive strands of research which have not appeared alongside one another before. For example, the book explores the architectural and urban planning aspects of the totalitarian minds which devised and built the New Towns; the lived experience of the 'colonists' who were forced to populate the new cities; the technological aspects which made the project possible, such as the fight against malaria, seen by fascism to be a 'non-totalitarian' disease; and finally, the promotion of the Pontine Marshes project through the press and film. Mussolini Cities will be a welcome addition for collections in Geography and Italian Studies.

Uncovers the systemic problems that expose poor communities to environmental hazards From St. Louis to New Orleans, from Baltimore to Oklahoma City, there are poor and minority neighborhoods so beset by pollution that just living in them can be hazardous to your health. Due to entrenched segregation, zoning ordinances that privilege wealthier communities, or because businesses have found the 'paths of least resistance,' there are many hazardous waste and toxic facilities in these communities, leading residents to experience health and wellness problems on top of the race and class discrimination most already experience. Taking stock of the recent environmental justice scholarship, Toxic Communities examines the connections among residential segregation, zoning, and exposure to environmental hazards. Renowned environmental sociologist Dorceta Taylor focuses on the locations of hazardous facilities in low-income and minority communities and shows how they have been dumped on, contaminated and exposed. Drawing on an array of historical and contemporary case studies from across the country, Taylor explores controversies over racially-motivated decisions in zoning laws, eminent domain, government regulation (or lack thereof), and urban renewal. She provides a comprehensive overview of the debate over whether or not there is a link between environmental transgressions and discrimination, drawing a clear picture of the state of the environmental justice field today and where it is going. In doing so, she introduces new concepts and theories for understanding environmental racism that will be essential for environmental justice scholars. A fascinating landmark study, Toxic Communities greatly contributes to the study of race, the environment, and space in the contemporary United States.

In this comprehensive work, Tyrone R. Simpson, II, explores how six American writers--Anzia Yezierska, Michael Gold, Hubert Selby Jr., Chester Himes, Gloria Naylor, and John Edgar Wideman--have artistically responded to the racialization of U.S. frostbelt cities in the twentieth century. By using the critical tools of spatial theory, critical race theory, urban history, and urban sociology, Simpson accounts for how these writers imagine the subjective response to the race-making power of space.

This book analyzes three points: employment conditions for migrant workers, the impact of industrialization as part of industrial clusters upon surrounding and outlying villages, and the labour market in industrial clusters. This book examines the cases of two newly developed industrial clusters: Ludhiana in Punjab and Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu.

This book presents the results of empirical research conducted by the authors, who personally surveyed the people they met on each and every street, square and public space in Budapest. It has four extensive chapters that discuss urban change and structure in Budapest and feature many rich color illustrations. The first chapter looks at the geographical circumstances impacting the city's urban development in a historical context, as well as the evolution of its functions and demographic processes and the development of the ground plan and settlement structure. The second chapter concerns itself with the way the capital city of Hungary is built, demonstrating the horizontal homogeneity and vertical heterogeneity of development together with development types and locations in Budapest. The third chapter was written about the change in Budapest's urban structure, especially in regard to the years after 1990. It lists the major factors influencing urban structure transformation, followed by a detailed analysis of Budapest's functional zones. Lastly, the fourth chapter provides a detailed introduction to each capital city district, including their creation, development and functional structures.

The Manhattan skyline is one of the great wonders of the modern world. But how and why did it form? Much has been written about the city's architecture and its general history, but little work has explored the economic forces that created the skyline. This book chronicles the economic history of the Manhattan skyline. In the process, the book debunks some widely-held misconceptions about the city's history. Part I lays out the historical and environmental background that established Manhattan's real estate trajectory before the Skyscraper Revolution at the end of the 19th century. The book begins with Manhattan's natural and geological history and then moves on to how it influenced early land use and neighborhood formation, and how these early decisions eventually impacted the location of skyscrapers. Part II focuses specifically on the economic history of skyscrapers and the skyline, investigating the reasons for their heights, frequencies, locations, and shapes. The book discusses why skyscrapers emerged downtown and why they appeared three miles to the north in midtown, but not in between. Contrary to popular belief it was not due to the depths of Manhattan's bedrock, nor the presence of Grand Central Station. Rather midtown's emergence was a response to the economic and demographic forces that were taking place north of 14th Street after the Civil War. The book also presents the first rigorous investigation of the causes of the building boom during the Roaring Twenties. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the boom was largely a rational response to the economic growth of the nation and city. The last chapter investigates the value of Manhattan Island and the relationship between skyscrapers and land prices. Finally, an Epilogue offers policy recommendations for a resilient and robust future skyline.

"Villages Astir" deals with Korean rural communities that have been influenced by two civilizations: Confucian, with its emphasis on communal values and cooperation within the group, and Western, with its emphasis on the individual. Authors Turner, Hesli, Bark, and Yu focus on the changing patterns of attitudes and behavior of the rural people at two points of time covering the period when a government-sponsored program of community development (the Saemaul Undong) was a viable institution. The Saemaul program was designed to encourage people in their communities to increase their productivity and thereby improve their living standards. The study assesses the impact of the program in villages where the communal ties of Confucianism are still noticeable, in contrast with more loosely-knit settlements where the forces of individualism are stronger. As a point of comparison, the authors also examine differences between the villagers and rural migrants living in two districts of Seoul.

An introductory chapter presents the major political developments and cultural features in Korea from the Yi dynasty through the Roh regime. In setting the stage for the interpretation of survey interview data, the authors present election statistics and economic indicators for each of the villages under consideration. They examine the influence of monetary incentives and state subsidies as inducements for the acceptance of community development schemes. Villages Astir is unique in its study of attitudinal and behavioral responses to agents of change as these interact with persistent traditions. Also included is an analysis of the effects of modern community and urban experience on political participation. Recommended for Asia scholars and development specialists.

This study compares household energy use, environmental awareness, and consumerism among residents of small towns in Sweden and America. The author, a cultural anthropologist, uses quantitative and qualitative data from fieldwork to formulate a holistic analysis. The study considers broader questions about the uses of energy, consumer goods, quality of life, and the environment. The industrial worldview is critiqued at both individual and institutional levels. It concludes with a call for a more spiritual approach to environmentalism and social issues.

Moving Spaces and Places is about movement as a transformative experience, showing how movement changes affect and percept of spaces and place and solidifies space into meaningful places. The cross-disciplinary contributions in this collection - brought together by aesthetics and artistic practices and embodied and participatory research approaches - illustrate how the physical act of moving and the psychological experience of movement are inextricably interwoven. Traversing the knowledge domains and practices of culture, art, pedagogy, geography, architecture, and city planning, the chapters reveal the diversity of the study of movement in relation to space and place; as a way of setting things in motion, as a psychological act of agency, and as a way to reflect, instantiate, and eventually reconcile-and even heal-relationships between people, spaces, and places. This multi-layered investigation of movement takes temporal, physical, and psychological transformation as its conceptual core, and appeals to a myriad of readers ranging from architectural practitioners and urban planners to activists, artists and geographers.

The authors state at the beginning of this provocative new book that one of the most distinctive features of the American persona is a preoccupation and underlying concern in the United States with what is or is not American.' How far can an ethnic group in the United States go to maintain its identity before it trespasses into what is perceived as un-American terrain? This is the underlying theme of Lambert and Taylor's community based investigation which studies the attitudes of Americans toward ethnic diversity and intergroup relations. Directed toward social psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and ethnic scholars, this study deals with the peculiar U.S. dichotomy of cultural diversity and assimilation.

The research is conducted in a metropolitan area among working class adults; some are established mainstream citizens, others are newcomers, but all experience ethnic and racial diversity as a daily fact of life. The authors examine the perspectives of mainstream White Americans and Black Americans. They interview ethnic immigrant groups--Polish, Arab, Albanian, Mexican, and Puerto Rican Americans--in two urban settings and offer insight to the reality as well as the exciting possibilities of multiculturalism. Students and scholars of all the social sciences will find "Coping with Cultural and Racial Diversity in Urban America" as a source of stimulating ideas.

A comprehensive reference work which provides a way to access research on urban politics and policy in the United States. Experts in the field guide readers through major controversies, while evaluating and assessing the subfields of urban politics and policy. Each chapter follows the same basic organization with topics such as methodological and theoretical issues, current states of the field, and directions for future research. For students, this work provides a starting place to guide them to the most important works in a particular subfield and a context to place their work in a larger body of knowledge. For scholars, it serves as a reference work for immediately familiarity with subfields of the discipline, including classic studies and major research questions. For urban policymakers or analysts, the handbook provides a wealth of information and allows quick identification of existing academic knowledge and research relevant to the problem at hand.

This book explores the parallels between the Renaissance during the 14th to 16th centuries and the upheavals in human and physical sciences in the 21st Century that herald an insurgent entrepreneurial renaissance. The first Renaissance, conceived and developed in an urban environment, with the Medici family in Florence as pioneers, was a melting pot of art, culture, science and technology. It is in that context that entrepreneurship derived from artisan tradition and, hence, customized, was born to meet the demands and anticipate the needs of individual consumers. Starting with the mechanical technologies of the first industrial revolution, art, culture and science became separated from entrepreneurship. The latter took on Fordist features which depersonalized and, therefore, standardized the producer-consumer relationship. The emerging model of entrepreneurship returns to its origins in customization (e.g., 3D printing technologies, sharing/on-demand economy) strongly linked to the sequence "art-culture-science-technology." The road to a new entrepreneurial renaissance is traveled by cities with creative communities. These communities actively participate in promoting international talent mobility, encouraging connections among the knowledge nomads who move around the world and the resources and talents rooted locally. Brought back to life under the conditions of the current age, entrepreneurship is once again woven into the fabric of art, culture, science and technology, and contributing to civic identity and pride. Featuring case studies from local experts that highlight innovative initiatives and developments in diverse cities around the world, this book aims to stimulate deep thought, theories and applications in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.

If the urban imagination has been traditionally masculine, this book shifts attention to the role of the city and its processes of mutual transformation in poetry by women writers. By turns challenging, rebellious, utopian and sceptical, some of the most richly experimental poetry is currently being written by women. This book offers readings of their work informed by theorizations of the city, as well as looking at how their innovations in language and form enable new visions of urban space. It addresses key issues in the imagining of the contemporary city and its global relationships, including changing understandings of the body and embodied space in technologized urban environments and the role of cohabiting languages in creating new forms of polis.

Encouraging neighbourhood social mix has been a major goal of urban policy and planning in a number of different countries. This book draws together a range of case studies by international experts to assess the impacts of social mix policies and the degree to which they might represent gentrification by stealth. The contributions consider the range of social mix initiatives in different countries across the globe and their relationship to wider social, economic and urban change. The book combines understandings of social mix from the perspectives of researchers, policy makers and planners and the residents of the communities themselves. Mixed Communities also draws out more general lessons from these international comparisons - theoretically, empirically and for urban policy. It will be highly relevant for urban researchers and students, policy makers and practitioners alike.

This volume is about the plurality and complexity of modern urban public spaces. The authors move far beyond the nostalgia of traditional streets, squares and gardens to mobilize contemporary sociological knowledge based on the mediated relations between spatial morphology and everyday life in cities across several continents. Contributions analyse diverse social realities and social interventions within the context of urban public spaces, linking to the broader discussion of urban public policies in European cities and beyond. Sometimes these interventions lead to exclusionary processes; other times they are the object of conflicts and resistances. When we speak about the (re)constructions, the uses and counter-uses of urban public spaces, we are always in the core of the political (city: polis) domain as those places are not fixed and do not have unique representations or immutable configurations - they are networks of relationships and social practices with antagonistic views and flexible uses.

Using fresh evidence and a novel methodological framework, this book sheds light on how institutions have driven economic reform in China's urban housing sector. The book systematically analyzes the developmental role of the state in China, with rich empirical evidence to show how decentralization has brought about significant participation by the different levels of government with the central, provincial and municipal governments focusing on initiation, intermediation and implementation roles respectively. Despite many Western analysts claiming that it is single complex superstructure, the institutionalization of governance structures in China following reforms has taken place through strong coordination between governments at different levels to meet targeted plans. Although China still has a long way to go to before it can be considered developed, this book elaborates on how the country offers a unique alternative for other states seeking to develop by striking a balance between capitalist and socialist instruments.