Governing Cities in a Global Era Urban Innovation, Competition, and Democratic Reform

by Hambleton, Robin; Gross, Jill

• ISBN13: 9780230602304
• ISBN10: 0230602304
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Written in a lively and accessible style by leading scholars from eleven countries this is the first global book to provide a thorough examination of the urban challenges now facing city leaders and managers in all continents. The text is organized into three parts: the global pressures now impacting urban governance; the innovations currently taking place in urban government; and the heartland themes of leadership, partnership and the democratic challenge. The analysis suggests that global forces pose a grave threat to civilized living ' the pursuit of narrow self-interest could drive all cities into a spiral of decline resulting in consumers living isolated lives in separate fortified enclaves. All the authors in this volume reject this vision of our urban future. Instead, by analyzing place-specific experiences and offering new insights on the dynamics of urban change, they propose imaginative routes for reform. This book argues for strategies that can lead to prosperous multi-cultural cities across the world ' cities that enhance the quality of life for all citizens.

Author Biography

Robin Hambleton is Professor of City Leadership in the Faculty of Environment and Technology at the University of the West of England, Bristol and Director of Urban Answers – a private UK based company.  He was Dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA) at the University of Illinois at Chicago until 2007.  He now holds Visiting Professorships in Urban Planning and Policy and in Public Administration at CUPPA, and a Visiting Professorship in City Planning in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Jill Simone Gross is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College of the City University of New York, USA, and has taught at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York University, Queens College and Brooklyn College. She teaches and conducts research in comparative urban politics and development in Western European and North American cities, with an emphasis on issues of equity and inclusion.

Table of Contents

Global Trends, Diversity and Local Democracy

Global Pressures On Urban Governance

Rethinking Globalization: The Impact of Central Governments on World Cities

Governing the Capital: Comparing Institutional Reform in Berlin, London and Paris

Uneven Development, City Governance and Urban Change: Unpacking the Global-Local Nexus in Dublin's Inner City

Urban Governance in Developing Countries: Experiences and Challenges

Innovations In Urban Government

Diversity and the Democratic Challenge: Governing World Cities

Changing Forms of Urban Government in Central and Eastern Europe

Innovation in Chinese Urban Governance: the Shanghai Experience

Urban Challenges in Latin American Cities: Medellin and the Limits of Governance

Metropolitan Governance in Australia: the Sydney Experience

The New Ecology of Urban Governance: Special Purpose Authorities and Urban Development

Leadership, Partnership, And The Democratic Challenge

New Leadership for Democratic Urban Space

Building the Global City: the Immigrant Experience of Urban Revitalization

Professionals and the Conflicting Forces of Administrative Modernization and Civic Engagement

Against Partnership - Toward a Local Challenge to Global Neoliberalism

Governing Cities In A Global Era

From Governance to Governing

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