Urban Theory Beyond the West: A World of Cities

by Edensor; Tim

• ISBN13: 9780415589765
• ISBN10: 0415589762
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-12-14
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Since the late eighteenth century academic engagement with political, economic, social, cultural, and spatial changes in our cities has been dominated by theoretical frameworks crafted with reference to just a small number of cities in the #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;global North#xE2;#xAC;". This volume seeks to redress that balance and focuses on theoretical engagements with cities beyond #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;the West#xE2;#xAC;". The first part presents chapters that offer examples of how urban theory can be de-centred from dominant western traditional concepts and topics of study. Part two reflects on urban political economy and discusses theoretical engagement with political and economic decision making in both general terms and/or with a focus on particular cities. The third part of the book elaborates on this focus and looks in more detail at conceptualising urban political ecologies. There is a focus on the relationship between political, economic, and social factors and #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;the environment#xE2;#xAC;" and nature. The fourth part of the book addresses conceptualizations of planning, form, and function and asks questions about the fabric, look and development of cities in the #xE2;#xAC;#xDC;majority world#xE2;#xAC;". The fifth part considers theoretical engagement with urban cultures and everyday life and focuses on production and consumption cultures as well as vernacular cultural forms and practices, identities, lifestyles and forms of sociability.

Author Biography

Tim Edensor teaches cultural geography at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His research interests include tourism, materialities and mobilities. Mark Jayne is a Senior Lecturer in human geography at the University of Manchester, UK. His research interests include consumption, the urban order, city cultures and cultural economy.

Table of Contents

List of plates	p. viii
List of figures	p. x
List of tables	p. xi
Notes on contributors	p. xii
Acknowledgements	p. xviii
Introduction: urban theory beyond the West	p. 1
De-centring the city	p. 29
No longer the subaltern: refiguring cities of the global south	p. 31
China exceptionalism? Unbounding narratives on urban China	p. 47
Urban theory beyond the 'East/West divide'? Cities and urban research in postsocialist Europe	p. 65
Urbanism, colonialism and subalternity	p. 75
Order/disorder	p. 93
Governing cities without states? Rethinking urban political theories in Asia	p. 95
Public parks in the Americas: New York City and Buenos Aires	p. 111
An illness called Managua: 'extraordinary' urbanization and 'mal-development' in Nicaragua	p. 121
The concept of privacy and space in Kurdish cities	p. 137
The networked city: popular modernizers and urban transformation in Morelia, Mexico, 1880-1955	p. 157
Mobilities	p. 173
Distinctly Delhi: affect and exclusion in a crowded city	p. 175
Shanghai borderlands: the rise of a new urbanity?	p. 195
Contemporary urban culture in Latin America: everyday life in Santiago, Chile	p. 209
Urban (im)mobility: public encounters in Dubai	p. 219
Imaginaries	p. 237
Reality tours: experiencing the 'real thing' in Rio de Janeiro's favelas	p. 239
Modern warfare and the theorization of the Middle Eastern city	p. 261
Reading Thai community: the processes of reformation and fragmentation	p. 273
Urban political ecology in the global south: everyday environmental struggles of home in Managua, Nicaragua	p. 295
Spectral Kinshasa: building the city through an architecture of words	p. 311
Afterword: a world of cities	p. 329
Bibliography	p. 333
Index	p. 372
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