The modern city extends beyond its physical borders, pervading all aspects of our society. Celebrating 30 years of Sage's Urban Affairs Review, this book examines the state of the city as we enter the 21st century. From an interdisciplinary perspective, critical urban theorists explore a variety of discourses for representing the contemporary city. Considering the city's social and physical articulations, the prospects for continued democracy and civic engagement, and interpretations of a 'good city', these essays represent the cutting edge of urban studies.

The Urban Moment is a provocative examination of urban theory, offering European, North American, and South American perspectives. An exciting and comprehensive addition to the series, this book is critical for Urban Studies scholars as well as those studying the city in sociological, political, or cultural disciplines.

Recent years have seen a gathering interest in the importance of real estate development to the growth and development of cities. This has included theoretical work on such topics as land rent and property rights as well as empirical studies on property investments, assetization, securitization, and the effects of changing property values on economic growth and the global status of cities. In the field of urban political economy, attention has turned particularly to the financialization of land and the built environment and to the globalization of property ownership, real estate development, and architectural design. This edited volume brings together a collection of original investigations of the current thinking on three broad themes: the assetization of land and buildings, the relationship of land rent to valuation and speculation in the markets for private and public properties, and the different ways in which land functions as a social relation. In order to ground the discussion, each chapter combines a theoretical perspective with empirical evidence. And, to convey a sense of the global nature of these phenomena, the book includes cases from Finland, India, Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, China, and the United States. Although its prime goal is to solidify and extend the political economy of land, this book is also a celebration of the Finnish scholar Anne Haila who was a major contributor to this literature and, specifically, to the work of this book's authors. Prior to her sudden death in 2019, she was a key figure in the discussions that are at the core of the political economy of land: this book, in part, is a public acknowledgement of her contributions.

In Regulation and Planning, planning scholars from the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, and the United States explore how planning regulations are negotiated amid layers of normative considerations. It treats regulation not simply as a set of legal guidelines to be compared against proposed actions, but as a social practice in which issues of governmental legitimacy, cultural understandings, materiality, and power are contested. Each chapter addresses an actual instance of planning regulation including, among others, a dispute about a proposed Apple store in a public park in Stockholm, the procedures by which building codes are managed by planners in Napoli, the role that design plays in regulating the use of public space in a new Paris neighbourhood, and the influence of plans on the regulation of development in Malmoe and Cambridge. Collectively, the volume probes the institutions and practices that give meaning and consequence to planning regulations. For planning students learning about what it means to plan, planning researchers striving to understand the influence of planners on urban development, and planning practitioners interested in reflecting on practices that occupy a great deal of their time, this is an indispensable book.

Today, urban scholars think of cities and regions as evolving through networks of human associations, technologies, and natural ecologies. This being the case, planners are faced with the task of navigating a profoundly material world. Planning with and for humans alone is unacceptable: in the unfolding of urban processes, non-human things cannot be ignored. This inclusive vision has consequences for how planners envision the connections among norms, technologies and life-worlds as well as how they design and implement their plans. The contributors to this volume utilize a variety of examples - ecologically-sensitive, regional planning in Naples (Italy); congestion pricing in New York City; and public participation in Europe, among others - to explore how planners engage a heterogeneous and restless world. Inspired by assemblage thinking and actor-network theory, each chapter draws on this "new materialism" to acknowledge, in quite pragmatic ways, that spatial politics is a process of becoming that is inseparable from the materiality of urban practices.

In Regulation and Planning, planning scholars from the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia, and the United States explore how planning regulations are negotiated amid layers of normative considerations. It treats regulation not simply as a set of legal guidelines to be compared against proposed actions, but as a social practice in which issues of governmental legitimacy, cultural understandings, materiality, and power are contested. Each chapter addresses an actual instance of planning regulation including, among others, a dispute about a proposed Apple store in a public park in Stockholm, the procedures by which building codes are managed by planners in Napoli, the role that design plays in regulating the use of public space in a new Paris neighbourhood, and the influence of plans on the regulation of development in Malmoe and Cambridge. Collectively, the volume probes the institutions and practices that give meaning and consequence to planning regulations. For planning students learning about what it means to plan, planning researchers striving to understand the influence of planners on urban development, and planning practitioners interested in reflecting on practices that occupy a great deal of their time, this is an indispensable book.

Emerging Johannesburg explores the transformation of one of the most important African cities. In recent years, South Africa has progressed a great deal politically, but faces many of the same staggering problems that other sub-Saharan states face, particularly crime, violence, poverty and AIDS.
Contributors address these issues, including the urban/suburban divide in the city and its relationship to poverty and socio-political power, local politics and governance, the devastating impact of AIDS and the effect of post-apartheid life on ordinary residents.

Emerging Johannesburg explores the transformation of one of the most important African cities. In recent years, South Africa has progressed a great deal politically, but faces many of the same staggering problems that other sub-Saharan states face, particularly crime, violence, poverty and AIDS.
Contributors address these issues, including the urban/suburban divide in the city and its relationship to poverty and socio-political power, local politics and governance, the devastating impact of AIDS and the effect of post-apartheid life on ordinary residents.

Today, urban scholars think of cities and regions as evolving through networks of human associations, technologies, and natural ecologies. This being the case, planners are faced with the task of navigating a profoundly material world. Planning with and for humans alone is unacceptable: in the unfolding of urban processes, non-human things cannot be ignored. This inclusive vision has consequences for how planners envision the connections among norms, technologies and life-worlds as well as how they design and implement their plans. The contributors to this volume utilize a variety of examples - ecologically-sensitive, regional planning in Naples (Italy); congestion pricing in New York City; and public participation in Europe, among others - to explore how planners engage a heterogeneous and restless world. Inspired by assemblage thinking and actor-network theory, each chapter draws on this "new materialism" to acknowledge, in quite pragmatic ways, that spatial politics is a process of becoming that is inseparable from the materiality of urban practices.