Alan Harding is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy and Practice at the University of Liverpool Management School in the UK. Previously, he held posts at Manchester, Salford and Liverpool John Moores universities. His research interests are in urban and regional development, governance and policy and he has acted as an advisor on these issues for a wide range of leading agencies with interests in this field.Talja Blokland (1971) is an urban sociologist who has worked at Yale University, the University of Manchester and various Dutch universities. Since  2009, she has held the chair of Urban and Regional Sociology at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her publications include Urban Bonds (Polity 2003), Networked Urbanism (edited with Mike Savage, Ashgate 2008) and various articles on race and ethnicity in the city, poor neighbourhoods, urban violence, gentrification, urban middle classes and neighbourhood relations and everyday interactions.

Just when we need it most, urban theory seems to be failing us. This book explains why we need it.

• 1. WHAT IS URBAN THEORY?Urban Studies and Urban TheoryWhat is Urban?What is Theory?And So What on Earth is Urban Theory?2. URBAN THEORIES UNDER CONDITIONS OF MODERNITYThe Chicago School and Urban EcologyUrban Geography and Spatial AnalysisThe Community Power DebateHumanistic (Urban) Geography‘Radical′ ApproachesThe Legacy of Previous Theories and Their Challenges3. FROM THE URBAN CRISIS TO THE ‘TRIUMPH OF THE CITY’Cities as Actors in a Globalising EconomyUrban Decline and ObsolescenceUrban Economic RenaissanceDiscussion4. CAN CITIES ACT? URBAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE QUESTION OF AGENCYThe Rediscovery of Agency Within Urban TheoryIntroducing American Urban Political EconomyUrban Regimes and Growth MachinesThe Normative DimensionCritiques and Applications5. SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS OF INTRA-URBAN INEQUALITIESInequalities Versus Differentiations: Vertical and Horizontal ParadigmsCities as Sites of Resources: Space and InequalitiesSegregationSuburbanizationGentrificationGhettoization as a Spatial Process of MarginalizationNeighbourhood Effects: Spatial Profit and Disadvantage6. SPATIAL EXPRESSION OF DIFFERENTIATIONThe Cultural TurnThe City as a Realm of Community and LifestyleThe Subcultural ThesisThe Representational City: Public SpaceCultural Diversity: Identities in Public SpaceConclusion: Cities as Matrix of Resources7. URBAN THEORY RECONSIDEREDThe ′Crisis′ in Urban Theory RevisitedThe Performance of TheoriesThe Commensurability of TheoriesTheory, Politics and PracticeA New Urban Agenda?

Alan Harding is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy and Practice at the University of Liverpool Management School in the UK. Previously, he held posts at Manchester, Salford and Liverpool John Moores universities. His research interests are in urban and regional development, governance and policy and he has acted as an advisor on these issues for a wide range of leading agencies with interests in this field.Talja Blokland (1971) is an urban sociologist who has worked at Yale University, the University of Manchester and various Dutch universities. Since  2009, she has held the chair of Urban and Regional Sociology at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her publications include Urban Bonds (Polity 2003), Networked Urbanism (edited with Mike Savage, Ashgate 2008) and various articles on race and ethnicity in the city, poor neighbourhoods, urban violence, gentrification, urban middle classes and neighbourhood relations and everyday interactions.

Just when we need it most, urban theory seems to be failing us. This book explains why we need it.

• 1. WHAT IS URBAN THEORY?Urban Studies and Urban TheoryWhat is Urban?What is Theory?And So What on Earth is Urban Theory?2. URBAN THEORIES UNDER CONDITIONS OF MODERNITYThe Chicago School and Urban EcologyUrban Geography and Spatial AnalysisThe Community Power DebateHumanistic (Urban) Geography‘Radical′ ApproachesThe Legacy of Previous Theories and Their Challenges3. FROM THE URBAN CRISIS TO THE ‘TRIUMPH OF THE CITY’Cities as Actors in a Globalising EconomyUrban Decline and ObsolescenceUrban Economic RenaissanceDiscussion4. CAN CITIES ACT? URBAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE QUESTION OF AGENCYThe Rediscovery of Agency Within Urban TheoryIntroducing American Urban Political EconomyUrban Regimes and Growth MachinesThe Normative DimensionCritiques and Applications5. SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS OF INTRA-URBAN INEQUALITIESInequalities Versus Differentiations: Vertical and Horizontal ParadigmsCities as Sites of Resources: Space and InequalitiesSegregationSuburbanizationGentrificationGhettoization as a Spatial Process of MarginalizationNeighbourhood Effects: Spatial Profit and Disadvantage6. SPATIAL EXPRESSION OF DIFFERENTIATIONThe Cultural TurnThe City as a Realm of Community and LifestyleThe Subcultural ThesisThe Representational City: Public SpaceCultural Diversity: Identities in Public SpaceConclusion: Cities as Matrix of Resources7. URBAN THEORY RECONSIDEREDThe ′Crisis′ in Urban Theory RevisitedThe Performance of TheoriesThe Commensurability of TheoriesTheory, Politics and PracticeA New Urban Agenda?

Alan Harding is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy and Practice at the University of Liverpool Management School in the UK. Previously, he held posts at Manchester, Salford and Liverpool John Moores universities. His research interests are in urban and regional development, governance and policy and he has acted as an advisor on these issues for a wide range of leading agencies with interests in this field.Talja Blokland (1971) is an urban sociologist who has worked at Yale University, the University of Manchester and various Dutch universities. Since  2009, she has held the chair of Urban and Regional Sociology at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her publications include Urban Bonds (Polity 2003), Networked Urbanism (edited with Mike Savage, Ashgate 2008) and various articles on race and ethnicity in the city, poor neighbourhoods, urban violence, gentrification, urban middle classes and neighbourhood relations and everyday interactions.

Just when we need it most, urban theory seems to be failing us. This book explains why we need it.

• 1. WHAT IS URBAN THEORY?Urban Studies and Urban TheoryWhat is Urban?What is Theory?And So What on Earth is Urban Theory?2. URBAN THEORIES UNDER CONDITIONS OF MODERNITYThe Chicago School and Urban EcologyUrban Geography and Spatial AnalysisThe Community Power DebateHumanistic (Urban) Geography‘Radical′ ApproachesThe Legacy of Previous Theories and Their Challenges3. FROM THE URBAN CRISIS TO THE ‘TRIUMPH OF THE CITY’Cities as Actors in a Globalising EconomyUrban Decline and ObsolescenceUrban Economic RenaissanceDiscussion4. CAN CITIES ACT? URBAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE QUESTION OF AGENCYThe Rediscovery of Agency Within Urban TheoryIntroducing American Urban Political EconomyUrban Regimes and Growth MachinesThe Normative DimensionCritiques and Applications5. SPATIAL EXPRESSIONS OF INTRA-URBAN INEQUALITIESInequalities Versus Differentiations: Vertical and Horizontal ParadigmsCities as Sites of Resources: Space and InequalitiesSegregationSuburbanizationGentrificationGhettoization as a Spatial Process of MarginalizationNeighbourhood Effects: Spatial Profit and Disadvantage6. SPATIAL EXPRESSION OF DIFFERENTIATIONThe Cultural TurnThe City as a Realm of Community and LifestyleThe Subcultural ThesisThe Representational City: Public SpaceCultural Diversity: Identities in Public SpaceConclusion: Cities as Matrix of Resources7. URBAN THEORY RECONSIDEREDThe ′Crisis′ in Urban Theory RevisitedThe Performance of TheoriesThe Commensurability of TheoriesTheory, Politics and PracticeA New Urban Agenda?