Cities Politics And Policy

Just because Milwaukee isn't Manhattan, doesn't mean that those urban centers face completely unique challenges. Through effective comparative analysis of key issues in urban studies--how city managers share power with mayors, how spending policies affect economic development, and how school politics impact education policy--students can clearly see how scholars discern patterns and formulate conclusions to offer theoretical and practical insights from which all cities can benefit. Pelissero brings together an impressive team of contributors to explore variation among cities through case studies and cross-sectional analyses. Each author synthesizes the field's seminal literature while explaining how urban leaders and their constituents grapple with everything from city council politics to conflict and cooperation among minority groups. Authors identify both key trends and gaps in the scholarship, and help set the research agenda for the years to come. Lively case material will hook your students while the accessible presentation of empirical evidence make this reader the comprehensive and sophisticated text you demand.

In our urban world, cities are where most of us experience how our economies and societies are organised and the inequalities which result. This textbook introduces ideas, theories, concepts and examples to help us understand the political and policy challenges of governing cities, centred on the principal challenge of how to make our cities more equitable. It poses critical questions – about how cities are governed, by whom, according to what values, and for whom – and draws from a wide range of urban scholarship. The ‘how’ covers urban politics and the policy instruments which result. The ‘by whom’ addresses power relations within and beyond the city and the tensions between different priorities and values. The ‘for whom’ centres equity and the role of citizens and collective action in how we are governed. In addressing these questions, the book provides an overview of the core theories of urban politics and governance, thinks about what happens at different scales, and examines new forms of citizen activism which herald alternatives for cities. It is a unique introduction to students, policymakers and practitioners who want to understand and seek to improve urban politics and policy.

Traditionally, the study of ‘power in the city’ was confined to the institutions of urban government and the actors involved in contesting and making political decisions in and for metropolitan societies. Increasingly, however, attention has turned to the function of the city not only as a centre of urban governance but as a major economic, social, cultural and strategic force in its own right. Cities, Politics and Power combines this traditional concern with how the cities in which we live are organized and run with a broader focus on cities and urban regions as multiple sites and agents of power. This book is divided into five sections, with a short introduction outlining the argument and organisation of the text. Part two charts the development of the urban polity and considers the ways in which coercion and force continue to be used to segregate, oppress and annihilate urban populations. Part three critically examines the key collective actors and processes that compete for and organise political power within cities, and how urban governance operates and interacts with lesser and greater scales of government and networks of power. Part four then explores the ways in which ‘the political’ is constituted by urban inhabitants, and how social identity, information and communication networks, and the natural and built environment all comprise intersecting fields of urban power. The conclusion calls for a broader theoretical and thematic approach to the study of urban politics. This book makes extensive use of comparative and historical case studies, providing broad coverage of politics and urban movements in both the Global North and the Global South, with a particular focus on the UK, USA, Canada, Latin America and China. It is written in an accessible and lucid style and provides suggestions for further reading at the end each chapter.

This popular text mixes the best classic theory and research on urban politics with the most recent developments in urban and metropolitan affairs. Its very balanced and realistic approach helps students to understand the nature of urban politics and the difficulty of finding effective solutions in a suburban and global age. The eighth edition provides a comprehensive review and analysis of urban policy under the Obama administration and brand new coverage of sustainable urban development. A new chapter on globalization and its impact on cities brings the history of urban development up to date, and a focus on the politics of local economic development underscores how questions of economic development have come to dominate the local arena. The book traces the changing style of community participation, including the emergence of CDCs, BIDs, and other new-style service organizations. It analyzes the impacts of the New Regionalism, the New Urbanism, and much more at an approachable level. The eighth edition is significantly shorter and more affordable than previous editions, and the entire text has been thoroughly rewritten to engage students. Boxed case studies of prominent recent and current urban development efforts provide material for class discussion, and concluding material demonstrates the tradeoff between more ideal and more pragmatic urban politics. Source material provides Internet addresses for further research.

City Politics is a comprehensive text organized around the theme of political economy. Using a historical approach to reveal enduring patterns in urban politics, the text goes beyond an explanation of government structures and examines the complex interaction between public and private interests. Dennis R. Judd and Todd Swanstrom have completely updated and reorganized City Politics. The second edition continues to approach urban politics comparatively and includes a new chapter on urban governance that examines the prospects for urban liberalism, conservatism, and populism; new material on tourism as an economic development strategy; the politics of community development; and President Clinton's urban policy.

Eric Shragge taught community organizing and development at Concordia and now works with Mostafa Henaway as an organizer at the Immigrant Workers Centre. Jason Prince is an urban planner and social economy expert who teaches at Concordia University in Montreal,

The federal government and its policies transform Canadian cities in myriad ways. Canada in Cities examines this relationship to better understand the interplay among changing demographics, how local governments and citizens frame their arguments for federal action, and the ways in which the national government uses its power and resources to shape urban Canada. Most studies of local governance in Canada focus on politics and policy within cities. The essays in this collection turn such analysis on its head, by examining federal programs, rather than municipal ones, and observing how they influence local policies and work with regional authorities and civil societies. Through a series of case studies - ranging from federal policy concerning Aboriginal people in cities, to the introduction of the federal gas tax transfer to municipalities, to the impact of Canada's emergency management policies on cities - the contributors provide insights about how federal politics influence the local political arena. Analyzing federal actions in diverse policy fields, the authors uncover meaningful patterns of federal action and outcome in Canadian cities. A timely contribution, Canada in Cities offers a comprehensive study of diverse areas of municipal public policy that have emerged in Canada in recent years.

Steve McGovern’s Urban Politics: A Reader examines the changing structure of political power in cities through the lens of historical development, accompanied with brief explorations of pertinent public policy issues. Having studied and taught urban politics for over 20 years, McGovern (Haverford College) foregrounds his approach with a discussion of cities in a global era, and then divides the material into five parts, or themes: the formation of city politics; city politics under stress; the politics of urban revitalization; the changing dynamics of urban politics; and visions of contemporary urban politics. He expands the scope of his exploration by integrating literature that is not commonly observed in urban politics texts, i.e. works by journalists as well as scholars, and by including debates about political power in both big and smaller cities.