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Philosophy begins in the city states of Classical Greece. And in the context of our own highly urbanised modes of living, the relationship between philosophy and the city is more important than ever. The city is the place in which most humans now play out their lives, and the place that determines much of the cultural, social, economic, and political life of the contemporary world. Towards a Philosophy of the City explores a wide range of approaches and perspectives in a way that is true to the...

Since the Bolivian revolution in 1952, migrants have come to the city of Cochabamba, seeking opportunity and relief from rural poverty. They have settled in barrios on the city's outskirts only to find that the rights of citizens-basic rights of property and security, especially protection from crime-are not available to them. In this ethnography, Daniel M. Goldstein considers the significance of and similarities between two kinds of spectacles-street festivals and the vigilante lynching of crim...

Brooklyn has all the features of a "global borough" it is a base of immigrant labor and ethnically diverse communities, social and cultural capital, global transportation, cultural production, and policy innovation. At once a model of sustainable urbanization and of overdevelopment, the question is now: what will become of Global Brooklyn? Tracing the emergence of Brooklyn from village outpost to global borough, Brooklyn Tides investigates the nature and consequences of global forces that have c...

In Bottleneck, anthropologist Caroline Melly uses the problem of traffic bottlenecks as an entry point to a wide-ranging study of the concept of mobility in contemporary urban Senegal a concept that she argues is central to both citizens' and the state's visions of a successful future. Melly opens with an account of the generation of urban men who came of age on the heels of the era of structural adjustment, a diverse cohort with great dreams of building, moving, and belonging, but frustratingly...

Forging a Discipline analyses the growth of the academic discipline of politics and international relations at Oxford University over the last hundred years. This century marked the maturation and professionalization of social science disciplines such as political science, economics, and sociology in the world's leading universities. The Oxford story of teaching and research in politics provides one case study of this transformation, and the contributors aim to use its specifics better to unders...

This book offers a critical account of studies of local immigration policy and a relational approach to explain its emergence, variation, and effects in a context of interdependence and globalization. The author emphasizes the horizontal interactions between local governments, and vertical interactions between local and national levels of government, as well as international interactions. Everywhere in the world, a growing number of cities are faced with challenges and opportunities brought by i...

The edited volume explains why sport mega events can be discussed from the viewpoint of politics and power, and what this discussion can add to the existing scholarship on political regimes, international norms, national identities, and cultural narratives. The book collects case studies written by insiders from different countries of post-Soviet Eurasia that have recently hosted- or intend to host in the future -sporting events of a global scale. Contributing authors discuss cultural, political...

Die Programmatik der kommunalen Verwaltungsreform in NRW steht auf dem Prufstand. Deutlich wird in diesem Buch die Kritik an dieser Programmatik, die gekennzeichnet ist durch okonomistische, burokratische und technokratische Verkurzungen. Angesichts der aktuellen Steuerungsdiskussion bleibt die Reform unterkomplex und einseitig. Eingefahrene Muster des Dienstrechtes und Amterpatronage erschweren zusatzlich die Reformbestrebungen der Stadte, die aus akuter Finanznot zu Reformen gezwungen sind."

The rhythms of technology and nature are out of phase. This fact underlies the global environmental crisis. Man-made perturbations, even small local ones, can trigger large-scale effects. To reinstate an alliance between humans and nature, as described by Prigogine, the father of evolutionary physics, it is necessary to learn to observe the general behaviour and evolution of real systems, including human systems in their context. The theories of chaos and complexity can help us to understand...

Atlanta's experience over the past 15 to 20 years is reflective of many cities, particularly those in the south and west. Thus, the story of how and why Atlanta has changed is informative for cities in general. What accounts for the positive turn-around of the city of Atlanta? What can other cities learn from Atlanta's experience? This collection examines changes in the city of Atlanta over the past three decades and explores the factors associated with the observed changes. Beginning with sever...

A unique examination of the civic use, regulation, and politics of communication and data technologies City life has been reconfigured by our use—and our expectations—of communication, data, and sensing technologies. In this book Alison Powell examines the civic use, regulation, and politics of these technologies, looking at how governments, planners, citizens, and activists expect them to enhance life in the city. She argues that the de facto forms of citizenship that emerge in relation to th...