Simonetta Armondi - Böcker

The temporal and spatial intersection of information and telecommunication technologies, creative and knowledge economies, and related new manufacturing systems, has been leading to significant effects on urban socioeconomic and spatial configurations and public policies. Specifically, the post-crisis emergence of innovative workplaces to accommodate these changes, is creating socioeconomic and spatial features that are only recently beginning to be explored in the scholarly literature. According to this scenario, this edited book offers a variety of avenues for exploring the relationships between contemporary production activities and new workplaces in several urban contexts. In particular, it focuses on the consequences of these relationships in terms of regeneration of the urban fabric, as well as on their implication in terms of urban policies.This book represents early observation of the fast-growing phenomenon of new productive activities and workplaces against the background of the gig economy and sharing economy paradigms. Central to this discussion is the investigation of the connection between digital technologies, new works and workplaces, and urban change processes and projects, by providing an additional contribution to new urban agendas for contemporary cities.The chapters originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Urban Technology.

The temporal and spatial intersection of information and telecommunication technologies, creative and knowledge economies, and related new manufacturing systems, has been leading to significant effects on urban socioeconomic and spatial configurations and public policies. Specifically, the post-crisis emergence of innovative workplaces to accommodate these changes, is creating socioeconomic and spatial features that are only recently beginning to be explored in the scholarly literature. According to this scenario, this edited book offers a variety of avenues for exploring the relationships between contemporary production activities and new workplaces in several urban contexts. In particular, it focuses on the consequences of these relationships in terms of regeneration of the urban fabric, as well as on their implication in terms of urban policies.This book represents early observation of the fast-growing phenomenon of new productive activities and workplaces against the background of the gig economy and sharing economy paradigms. Central to this discussion is the investigation of the connection between digital technologies, new works and workplaces, and urban change processes and projects, by providing an additional contribution to new urban agendas for contemporary cities.The chapters originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Urban Technology.

COVID-19 has stressed the condition of radical uncertainty that increasingly characterises our times and compels cities to learn new ways to cope with unexpected global urban challenges. The volume proposes preparedness as a key concept in urban geography, planning, and policy, inviting international scholars to discuss its pros and cons. Firstly, it builds a critical theoretical framework around the concept of preparedness in relation to the COVID-19 effects and other interconnected crises. Then, the authors put at work and redefine preparedness, starting from worldwide surveys, research experiences, public discourses and spatial strategies analysis in Europe and, more extensively, in Italy. Finally, the closing section goes beyond the view of preparedness as an emergency tool, proposing to interpret it more broadly as a technology supporting a sustainable urban transition. The book mainly targets academics in urban planning, policy, and geography. However, the prominence of the topic of preparedness makes the volume an essential reading not only within social sciences but further in engineering, basic sciences, and life science. In addition, the book provides directions to practitioners and civic leaders in supporting cities and regions to prepare themselves in the face of pandemics and unpredictable socio-environmental shocks.

COVID-19 has stressed the condition of radical uncertainty that increasingly characterises our times and compels cities to learn new ways to cope with unexpected global urban challenges. The volume proposes preparedness as a key concept in urban geography, planning, and policy, inviting international scholars to discuss its pros and cons. Firstly, it builds a critical theoretical framework around the concept of preparedness in relation to the COVID-19 effects and other interconnected crises. Then, the authors put at work and redefine preparedness, starting from worldwide surveys, research experiences, public discourses and spatial strategies analysis in Europe and, more extensively, in Italy. Finally, the closing section goes beyond the view of preparedness as an emergency tool, proposing to interpret it more broadly as a technology supporting a sustainable urban transition. The book mainly targets academics in urban planning, policy, and geography. However, the prominence of the topic of preparedness makes the volume an essential reading not only within social sciences but further in engineering, basic sciences, and life science. In addition, the book provides directions to practitioners and civic leaders in supporting cities and regions to prepare themselves in the face of pandemics and unpredictable socio-environmental shocks.

As a main urban centre of one of the most dynamic European regions, Milan is a key location from which to study narratives of innovations and contemporary productions – old and new manufacturing, tertiary and consumptive sectors, creative and cultural economy – and investigate their influence both on spatial patterns and urban policy agenda.Accordingly, this book explores the contentious geographies of innovation, productions and working spaces, both empirically and theoretically in a city that, since the beginning of the 2000s, has been involved in a process of urban change, with relevant spatial and socio-economic effects, within an increasingly turbulent world economy. Through this analysis, the book provides an insight into the complexity of contemporary urban phenomena beyond a traditional metropolitan lens, highlighting issues such as rescaling, urban decentralization and recentralization, extensive urban transformation and shrinkage and molecular urban regeneration. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and scholars focusing on Urban Studies such as Urban Policy, Urban Planning, Urban Geography, Urban Economy and Urban Sociology.

As a main urban centre of one of the most dynamic European regions, Milan is a key location from which to study narratives of innovations and contemporary productions – old and new manufacturing, tertiary and consumptive sectors, creative and cultural economy – and investigate their influence both on spatial patterns and urban policy agenda.Accordingly, this book explores the contentious geographies of innovation, productions and working spaces, both empirically and theoretically in a city that, since the beginning of the 2000s, has been involved in a process of urban change, with relevant spatial and socio-economic effects, within an increasingly turbulent world economy. Through this analysis, the book provides an insight into the complexity of contemporary urban phenomena beyond a traditional metropolitan lens, highlighting issues such as rescaling, urban decentralization and recentralization, extensive urban transformation and shrinkage and molecular urban regeneration. This book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and scholars focusing on Urban Studies such as Urban Policy, Urban Planning, Urban Geography, Urban Economy and Urban Sociology.

This book highlights the discontinuities and the ongoing development of the urban question in policy-making in the context of the controversial current issues of global reversal and regional revival. It critically examines contemporary public policies and practices at the urban, regional and national scales in order to offer a timely contribution to the debate on the significance of the urban dimension and interpretation in terms of the theory, policy and practice of social-spatial research in the twenty-first century.  Focusing on Europe, it explores the current urban policy agendas at different scales - and the mobility of those agendas -, their implications, contradictions and controversies. It brings together original contributions from multiple disciplines but with an urban perspective, including empirical case studies and critical discussions of the following topics:the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the global“New Urban Agenda” as part of the Habitat III process;the Urban Agenda for the European Union;national spatial policies related to urban agendas;urban agendas at regional/urban levels;city regionalism discourse and state rescaling;new formal regional and metropolitan governments as a solution (or problem);the role of new actors in regional urbanization dynamics; multi-level governance processes in developing an urban agenda; informal assemblages at the metropolitan scale aiming at constructing the urban concept and dimension.Given its scope, the book is of interest to urban, regional and EU policy-makers, scholars and students working in the fields of urban geography, urban studies, EU urban and regional policies, and planning.

This book highlights the discontinuities and the ongoing development of the urban question in policy-making in the context of the controversial current issues of global reversal and regional revival. It critically examines contemporary public policies and practices at the urban, regional and national scales in order to offer a timely contribution to the debate on the significance of the urban dimension and interpretation in terms of the theory, policy and practice of social-spatial research in the twenty-first century.  Focusing on Europe, it explores the current urban policy agendas at different scales - and the mobility of those agendas -, their implications, contradictions and controversies. It brings together original contributions from multiple disciplines but with an urban perspective, including empirical case studies and critical discussions of the following topics:the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the global“New Urban Agenda” as part of the Habitat III process;the Urban Agenda for the European Union;national spatial policies related to urban agendas;urban agendas at regional/urban levels;city regionalism discourse and state rescaling;new formal regional and metropolitan governments as a solution (or problem);the role of new actors in regional urbanization dynamics; multi-level governance processes in developing an urban agenda; informal assemblages at the metropolitan scale aiming at constructing the urban concept and dimension.Given its scope, the book is of interest to urban, regional and EU policy-makers, scholars and students working in the fields of urban geography, urban studies, EU urban and regional policies, and planning.