Recognizing the deep relations between politics, finance, cities and citizens, this book argues for a rejuvenated account of urban theory. The book emphasises the need to understand the importance of the 2008 global financial crisis and how the crisis affects cities nested in a variety of political economies. Situating urban theory in the current economic climate, it powerfully illuminates the dynamic between history, theory, and practice. Stressing how catastrophic social and economic calamities under the crisis lead to reorganised city structures, city life and city policies and hence new urban experience, it calls for theoretical perspectives that can speak to these challenging changes. This groundbreaking title is a must for anyone interested in urban life and its rapid movements. It will be especially useful for students and researchers in urban sociology, planning, geography, urban and regional development and urban studies
Kuniko Fujita has taught industrial sociology, urban sociology and globalization at Michigan State University, Japanese and comparative political economy at the National University of Singapore, and international division of labor at Hiroshima University. She also worked with the World Bank and is the past president (2006-2010) of the ISA group Urban and Regional Development Research.
Introduction: Cities and Crisis - Challenges for Urban Theory - Kuniko Fujita Chapter 2: 'Global Cities', World Power, and the G20 Capital Cities - Goeran Therborn Chapter 3: Was the US Subprime Crisis the Prime Mover? The Limits of the 'Critical Urbanist' Interpretation of the UK Financial Crisis - Chris Pickvance Chapter 4: After Wall Street? New York's Green Economy Imaginaries - Michael Indergaard Chapter 5: World Capitals of Capital, Cities and Varieties of Finance Systems - Internationally versus Regionally Oriented Banking - Stefan Gaertner Chapter 6: Seeing New York City's Financial Crisis in the Vernacular Landscape - Jerome Krase & Timothy Shortell Chapter 7: Ports in the Global Urban Hierarchy - Alex Hicks & Ryan Hicks Chapter 8: Athens and the Politics of the Sovereign Debt Crisis - Nicos Souliotis Chapter 9: Globalization and Urban Insecurity - Comparative Perspectives - Sophie Body-Gendrot Chapter 10: Financial Crises and Spatial Income Inequality - The Case of Tokyo - Kuniko Fujita
Opens up new trajectories for understanding and developing contemporary urban theory. The insights offered will be useful for students and researchers from diverse disciplines of urban studies, geography, urban planning and development, conflict studies and urban sociology. -- Lakshmi Priya Rajendran, University of Sheffield
