Drawing upon over a quarter of a century’s worth of research, The Urban Now illuminates our present urban condition. John Rennie Short captures the main features of this moment of urban significance, investigating the city as a crucial arena strategically located between global flows and national surfaces. Divided into seven distinct parts, concise and accessible chapters delve into the city and its relation to globalization, urban imaginaries, climate change, Covid-19 and public health, traffic, technology, and everyday life. Conducting poignant analyses of a diverse group of changing cities, including Cali, Megalopolis, Mparntwe and Syracuse, the book explores questions surrounding postcolonial culture, deindustrialization, social inclusion, informal economies, and new class relationships. Short ultimately highlights the progressive possibilities and redemptive power of the urban experience to change lives and attitudes. Providing a theoretically sophisticated and empirically informed assessment of public policies, this unique book will prove an essential tool for students and scholars of urban and regional studies, human geography, sociology and social policy. Practical in scope, its appeal will extend to policymakers and practitioners with an interest in cities, urban development, globalization and urbanization.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Nowadays, the majority of people live in cities, and these cities constitute the heart of the global political economy. In a time of planetary urbanization, this contemporary and visionary book provides a critical assessment of the key areas of urban scholarship across the globe. Following a comprehensive introduction, 11 stimulating chapters from expert contributors examine a range of important topics, including: sustainability, gentrification, feminist interventions, globalization, security and food issues. Ensuring a global coverage, a further eight regionally informed expert reviews examine recent urban research in sub-Saharan Africa, South America, South and East Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Eastern Europe. These chapters show how urban growth and resurgence unfolds in different ways across the different regions of the world. This Research Agenda provides polemical assessments of current work and signposts for future research. This book will be an indispensable and accessible guide to students and scholars working in urban studies, urban geography, urban sociology, urban planning and comparative urbanization. City leaders will also find the case studies enlightening and informative. Contributors include: J. Beaverstock, L. Benton-Short, G. Brown, J. Farrer, R. Freestone, O. Golubchikov, A. Gorman-Murray, B. Hanlon, P. Hubbard, T. Hutton, A. Kanna, M. Keeley, Y.-H. Kim, L. Kong, L. Martinez, C.J. Nash, L. Peake, E. Pieterse, B. Randolph, X. Ren, J.R. Short, T.J. Vicino, A. Wheeler, D.M. Wood, O. Woods, E. Wyly

First published in 1986, Housebuilding, Planning and Community Action was written as an examination of the conflicts and tensions resulting from private sector housing growth in Central Berkshire, part of Britain’s ‘Silicon Valley’ along the M4 motorway. The book provides a detailed consideration of the various ‘actors’ and their interactions and explores the fight from Community groups and parish councils to halt development, in opposition to the government’s reluctance to discourage economic growth. It focuses on four groups closely involved in the production, allocation, and consumption of new housing: speculative housebuilders, local planning authorities, parish councils, and community/residents’ groups. The motivations and actions of each group are examined, and the tensions between them are highlighted, set within the context of central government attitudes towards planning and private housebuilding. Housebuilding, Planning and Community Action has lasting relevance for those interested in human geography, and the history of housebuilding and planning.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Nowadays, the majority of people live in cities, and these cities constitute the heart of the global political economy. In a time of planetary urbanization, this contemporary and visionary book provides a critical assessment of the key areas of urban scholarship across the globe. Following a comprehensive introduction, 11 stimulating chapters from expert contributors examine a range of important topics, including: sustainability, gentrification, feminist interventions, globalization, security and food issues. Ensuring a global coverage, a further eight regionally informed expert reviews examine recent urban research in sub-Saharan Africa, South America, South and East Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Eastern Europe. These chapters show how urban growth and resurgence unfolds in different ways across the different regions of the world. This Research Agenda provides polemical assessments of current work and signposts for future research. This book will be an indispensable and accessible guide to students and scholars working in urban studies, urban geography, urban sociology, urban planning and comparative urbanization. City leaders will also find the case studies enlightening and informative. Contributors include: J. Beaverstock, L. Benton-Short, G. Brown, J. Farrer, R. Freestone, O. Golubchikov, A. Gorman-Murray, B. Hanlon, P. Hubbard, T. Hutton, A. Kanna, M. Keeley, Y.-H. Kim, L. Kong, L. Martinez, C.J. Nash, L. Peake, E. Pieterse, B. Randolph, X. Ren, J.R. Short, T.J. Vicino, A. Wheeler, D.M. Wood, O. Woods, E. Wyly

This book, first published in 1984, is an attempt to make students aware of the variety in the urban condition and to introduce them to some of the relationships operating between space and society. From the broad aim of seeking to show the relationship between urbanism and society flows a number of sub-themes, including the importance of cross-cultural comparisons and contrasts, re-distributional consequences and the role of government. This book will be of interest to first- and second-year students of urban studies and human geography.

First published in 1982 at a time when housing policy featured prominently in the press and in political debate, Housing in Britain was written to provide an authoritative review of housing in Britain. The book is a comprehensive introduction to the major policy shifts from 1945 to the year of publication. It explores the many aspects of 'housing' as a matter of state policy; as a commodity with a certain market for its sale and exchange; as an essential item, with rules regulating access and eligibility; and as a vital element in the reproduction of social life. Particular attention is paid to the institutions involved within the British housing market, and the redistributional consequences of housing-market processes and state housing policy. Housing in Britain will appeal to those with an interest in the history of British housing policy and debates, and the history of social policy in Britain.

First published in 1986, Housebuilding, Planning and Community Action was written as an examination of the conflicts and tensions resulting from private sector housing growth in Central Berkshire, part of Britain's 'Silicon Valley' along the M4 motorway. The book provides a detailed consideration of the various 'actors' and their interactions and explores the fight from Community groups and parish councils to halt development, in opposition to the government's reluctance to discourage economic growth. It focuses on four groups closely involved in the production, allocation, and consumption of new housing: speculative housebuilders, local planning authorities, parish councils, and community/residents' groups. The motivations and actions of each group are examined, and the tensions between them are highlighted, set within the context of central government attitudes towards planning and private housebuilding. Housebuilding, Planning and Community Action has lasting relevance for those interested in human geography, and the history of housebuilding and planning.

This book, first published in 1984, is an attempt to make students aware of the variety in the urban condition and to introduce them to some of the relationships operating between space and society. From the broad aim of seeking to show the relationship between urbanism and society flows a number of sub-themes, including the importance of cross-cultural comparisons and contrasts, re-distributional consequences and the role of government. This book will be of interest to first- and second-year students of urban studies and human geography.

Nearly one in six Americans lives in "Megalopolis," an area of the northeastern United States along the I-95 corridor that includes the cities of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Liquid City is the first book to examine the major changes that have taken place in this "Main Street of the Nation" over the last half century.

In 1957, geographer Jean Gottman used the term "Megalopolis" to denote the Boston-to-Washington corridor. His seminal book, Megalopolis: The Urbanized Northeastern Seaboard of the United States, described the social, economic, and demographic characteristics of one of the largest city regions in the world. John Rennie Short juxtaposes Gottman's work with his own examination, providing a comprehensive assessment of the region's evolution. Particularly important is Short's use of the 2000 census data and his discussion of Megalopolis as a source of identity for the area's forty-nine million inhabitants.

This clear and accessible book focuses on five main aspects of change in the region: population redistribution from cities to suburbs; economic restructuring as exemplified by the suburbanization of employment; the role of immigration; patterns of racial/ethnic segregation; and the processes of globalization that have made Megalopolis one of the world's most influential economies.