Beau B Beza – författare

Paul Mees' urban ideal counted on watchful, confident and well-informed citizenry to work collectively in a quest for fair and just cities. As such, The Public City is largely a critique of neo-liberalism and its arguably negative influence on urban prospects. As Mees explained it, neo-liberal urbanism was much more than a political aberration; it was a threat that imposed many costly failures in an age overshadowed by grave ecological challenges.Fifteen of Australia and New Zealand's leading urban scholars, including Professor Emeritus Jean Hillier and Professor Brendan Gleeson, have contributed to this collection.The Public City includes a foreword by the late Professor Sir Peter Hall, a world leader in urban planning from Britain. Kenneth Davidson, one of Australia's top economic columnists, has also contributed a chapter. The collective works in this book extend beyond an analysis of urban patterns to provide a blueprint for the improvement of civic and institutional purpose in the creation of the public city.

The structuring of Urban Space is as topical as ever in this era of climate change, hyper-urbanisation, post-digital labour markets, and geo-political power shifts. Scholarship of the contemporary urban condition is dominated by studies and examples drawn from the global north. Yet, cities of the global south are distinctive from those of the global north. Socio-political conditions structure patterns and practices of urban reproduction and, in turn, Urban Space reflects conditions in the Global South. Th­e result is different space related outcomes. Th­is is the central topic of this collection.In this book, a unique collection of case study-based accounts posits both English and Spanish academic literature to interpret and reinterpret the appropriation, negotiation and reconfiguration of Urban Space in cities, from Colombia to Namibia.­This collection will be of particular interest to urban scholars and others interested in contemporary urban change, especially those with an interest in the Global South. Readers will encounter new perspectives on the State''s enduring influence in urban land and territory reconfiguration and the contrasting wider rhetoric that affords and legitimises a key role for the private sector. Th­e case studies also illuminate opportunities and possibilities for grassroots organising to challenge prevailing city actor hierarchies. ­They also highlight the political-economic consequences of particular cases of bus rapid transport projects for spatial and social segregation. Across these and other topics, recurring themes of inequality, governance, and environment are investigated in contested urban terrains. Th­e result is a unique collection of viewpoints, with a common, critical narrative on the present and future challenges facing cities of the Global South.