The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics

The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for urban politics. The scope of this handbook’s coverage and contributions engages with and reflects upon the most important, innovative and recent critical developments within the interdisciplinary field of urban politics, drawing upon a range of examples from both the Global North and Global South.

This handbook is organised into nine interrelated sections. It begins with an introductory chapter that sets out the rationale, aims, and structure of the Handbook, and includes short introductory commentaries at the start of each part. It questions the merging of ‘urban politics’ into the ‘politics of the city’, re-evaluating the distinction between ‘old’ and ‘new’ urban politics. It considers issues of ‘class’, ‘gender’, and ‘race’, and how they intersect, appear, and reappear in matters of urban politics. Additionally, it explores how best to theorise the roles of capital, the state, and other actors, such as social movements, in the production of the city. Lastly, it addresses issues surrounding the undertaking of urban political research.

The various chapters examine urban politics related to economic development, environment and nature within the city, governance and planning, labour politics, and living spaces. The concluding sections of the Handbook look at the politics surrounding alternative visions of future cities and provide discussions and reflections, particularly with regard to the futures of urban politics in an increasingly ‘global’ and multidisciplinary context.

With over forty-five contributions from leading international scholars in the field, this handbook offers critical reviews and appraisals of current conceptual and theoretical approaches, as well as future developments in urban politics. It is an essential reference for all researchers and policy-makers interested in urban politics.