Cities Rethought

Gautam Bhan is Associate Dean of the School of Human Development at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements.Michael Keith is Director of PEAK Urban and the Centre on Migration Policy and Society at the University of Oxford.Susan Parnell is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Bristol and Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town.Edgar Pieterse is Professor and Founding Director of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town.

"This book by four of the most important contemporary urban scholars presents a compelling and accessible new way of knowing cities and intervening in them. A necessary read whether you are just entering the field or are a seasoned scholar/practitioner."Teresa Caldeira, University of California, Berkeley"This is not just another book about cities, it is about something much deeper and fundamental to reflections on ourselves as humans, our history, values, and uncertain future. I recommend this book not only to urbanists and scholars in various academic fields, but to everyone interested in the endeavour of humanity in our deeply troubled, conflicted times."Thomas Elmqvist, Stockholm University"This book is an extraordinary compass with which to navigate cities when they have never been more central to the future of humanity. A bridge between disciplines, geographies, and traditions, it opens up paths, stimulates curiosity, and brings together knowledges and publics so that we can creatively rethink cities and fall in love with them again."Judit Carrera, Director of the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture"Reading this book is like being admitted into a fascinating conversation between some of today’s most engaged and inspiring urban thinkers. Their rich stories and deep reflections will encourage new sensibilities and ways of thinking by scholar-activists in cities around the world."David Dodman, General Director of the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Rotterdam"The endless journey for an equitable city demands a continuous process of learning, adaptation, and innovation, to imagine alternative paths to the usual responses. In this text, the authors build an analytical and practical roadmap that will allow us to draw a journey with greater clarity and certainty to improve our lives in cities."Alejandro Echeverri, TEC Monterrey Institute of Technology"This book invites us to cast aside what we know and critically reflect on emerging notions of 'the urban'. It enables us to embrace concepts, practices, and materialities of the urban milieu in ways that go beyond the mundane."Taibat Lawanson, University of Lagos"A breath of fresh air. A repertoire of ways of thinking and acting in the city, and a provocative resource from which to develop our own routes to serving our cities. Cities Rethought inspires while remaining rooted in the rhythms of urban life, the realities of setbacks and frustrations amidst the possibilities, and the practicalities of big and small gains."Colin McFarlane, Durham University"Four globally leading scholars at the top of their fields harness vast swathes of theory and practical wisdom to provide an insightful, well-reasoned, reflective, inspiring, accessible, and empirically grounded tour de force which will shape urban knowledge production, policy, and practice for years to come – a rare and welcome thing indeed. This book punches way beyond urban studies and establishes itself as a must-read for everyone interested in how to live in a fractured and fragile urban world."Beth Perry, Director of the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield"This generous and deeply thoughtful book shows us the active work of thinking the city that is part of any serious project for changing it: work that is collaborative, critical, committed, and inventive."Fran Tonkiss, London School of Economics and Political Science"This book is a political intervention that is as inventive as it is provocative. It creates new ways of imagining and acting for those who live, work, and struggle in cities. Don't let it lie there. Get it!"Eyal Weizman, Founding Director of Forensic Architecture"Offers a new methodology for studying the city and synthesizes a decade of diverse narratives that integrate both long-standing and emerging urban issues."American Assocation of Geographers Review of Books

• Prologue: A Note to the Reader1 An Urban DispositionDear ReaderThree elementsPutting the three togetherHow to read this bookAnd so2 Normative LocationsWhat is the fabric of the city?How do you consume a deleted future?What kind of fight can you pick in the city?What is the urbanity of the state?What evidence matters for cities?Taking stock3 Analytical RedescriptionsChoosing our puzzlesImproving an estateUpstream of the riverRepairing patchworksThe propensity of lycheesSpaces across the aisleAmidst the numbersTaking stock4 Operational MovesMapping the operational ecosystemModalities of change in systemsSensing a pulseEvaluating our movesMoving an idea within a systemBuilding a social imaginationA life in practiceA Parting Note