"We Own the City" examines the ways in which urban dwellers--who used to be merely "clients" of development--are taking ownership of their neighborhoods. Bottom-up initiatives are cropping up around the world, but institutions, government offices and developers often find themselves uncertain how to collaborate with and empower these impassioned citizens and communities. Offering solutions to this disconnect, "We Own the City" analyzes this international trend through five case studies, focusing on Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Moscow, New York and Taipei, each of which discusses different dynamics and intensities of citizens' redevelopment processes. This volume delves into the complexities surrounding the role of today's city-makers and the potential and actual tensions between civil society and government, and it further provides new foundations for inclusive urban development plans which will set the standard for future public governments, housing authorities, architects, town planners and real-estate developers.

The Farming the City project began in November 2010 as an initiative of the Amsterdam-based organization CITIES, bringing city dwellers and urban farmers together to explore inspirational ways of producing, storing, cooking, preserving, distributing and sharing food. Since then, it has fostered urban farming projects all over the world, to great acclaim, and with considerable press coverage. "Farming the City: Food as a Tool for Today's Urbanization" looks at this booming global phenomenon, considering in detail 30 projects, from City Growers' transformation of empty spaces in Boston to Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in New York and FarmScape in Los Angeles; from the People's Supermarket in London to cultivating the interiors of shipping containers in Rotterdam. All of these enterprises are illustrated with color photographs that record their evolution and installation. In addition, 20 short essays broach related, broader topics such as the possibilities of bottom-up developments in poorer neighborhoods; the socially cohesive effects of urban farming (since nothing generates neighborhood spirit better than gardening together); new technologies of sustainism; and newly developing forms of business designed to create local wealth.