Based on more than a decade of ethnographic research in Genoa, Italy, Creative Urbanity argues for an understanding of contemporary urban life that refuses scholarly condemnation of urban lifestyles and consumption and casts a fresh light on an oft-neglected social group—the middle class.

'Creative Urban Milieus' is an interdisciplinary examination of the historical relationship between culture and the economy in such cities as Berlin, New York, Helsinki, London, Venice, and many others.

This book investigates small cities - cities and towns that are not well known or internationally branded, but are facing structural economic and social issues after the Global Financial Crisis. They need to invent, develop and manage new reasons for their existence. The strengths and opportunities are often underplayed when compared to larger cities. These small cities do not have the profile of New York, London, Tokyo or Cairo, or second-tier cities like San Francisco, Manchester, Osaka or Alexandria. This book traces the current state of the creative industries literature after the GFC, but with a specific focus. The specific – and worsening – conditions in third-tier cities are logged. The social and economic challenges within these regions are great, particularly with regard to health and health services, education, employment, social mobility and physical activity. This is not a study that merely diagnoses problems but raises strategies for third-tier cities to create both a profile and growth. The current research field is synthesized to reveal how cities are defined, constituted, developed and, in many cases, suffering decline. There is an imperative to build relationships with other urban environments. The book enters these under-discussed locations and reveal the scarred layering of injustice, signified by depopulation, dis-investment, economic decline and a reduction in public services for health, transportation and education, while also developing specific and innovative models for improvement. The vista summoned in Unique Urbanity is international, with strong attention to trans-local strategies that offer wide relevance, currency and opportunities for policy makers. While third-tier cities are often hidden, marginalized, invisible or demeaned, Unique Urbanity shows that innovation, imagination and creativity can emerge in small places.

Provides comprehensive coverage of major topics in urban and regional studies Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Anthony Orum, this definitive reference work covers central and emergent topics in the field, through an examination of urban and regional conditions and variation across the world. It also provides authoritative entries on the main conceptual tools used by anthropologists, sociologists, geographers, and political scientists in the study of cities and regions. Among such concepts are those of place and space; geographical regions; the nature of power and politics in cities; urban culture; and many others. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies captures the character of complex urban and regional dynamics across the globe, including timely entries on Latin America, Africa, India and China. At the same time, it contains illuminating entries on some of the current concepts that seek to grasp the essence of the global world today, such as those of Friedmann and Sassen on ‘global cities’. It also includes discussions of recent economic writings on cities and regions such as those of Richard Florida. Comprised of over 450 entries on the most important topics and from a range of theoretical perspectives Features authoritative entries on topics ranging from gender and the city to biographical profiles of figures like Frank Lloyd Wright Takes a global perspective with entries providing coverage of Latin America and Africa, India and China, and, the US and Europe Includes biographies of central figures in urban and regional studies, such as Doreen Massey, Peter Hall, Neil Smith, and Henri Lefebvre The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies is an indispensable reference for students and researchers in urban and regional studies, urban sociology, urban geography, and urban anthropology.

This book offers fresh insights into how companies can engage with, and make use of, the modern metropolis. Based on actor-network theory and the resource-based view of the firm, it demonstrates how the contemporary city can be seen – and used – as a resource for corporate innovation. The main argument is that companies have to build what the author calls “urban innovation networks.” After a theory-based outline of such networks, the author demonstrates the extent to which different institutional players – companies such as Audi, Ikea and Siemens, but also arts institutions like the Haus der Kunst in Munich – are already working to create them. The book combines management thinking with urban theory and the sociology of networks to create a unique blend of different views of capitalism and space, offering a new perspective on both the modern metropolis and globally operating companies active within our distinctly urban culture.

This extensively revised and updated fourth edition not only examines the new geographical patterns forming within and between cities, but also investigates the way geographers have sought to make sense of this urban transformation. It is structured into three sections: 'contexts', 'themes' and 'issues' that move students from a foundation in urban geography through its major themes to contemporary and pressing issues. The text critically synthesizes key literatures in the following areas: the urban world changing approaches to urban geography urban form and structure economy and the city urban politics planning, regeneration and urban policy cities and culture architecture and urban landscapes images of the city experiencing the city housing and residential segregation transport and mobility in cities sustainability and the city. The fourth edition combines the topicality and accessibility of previous editions with extensive new material, including many new chapters such as the urban world and politics, housing and Residential Segregation, and transport in cities, as well as a wealth of international case studies, extending its range of coverage across the field. This book features enhanced pedagogy including a range of new illustrations and tables, a list of key ideas for each chapter, end of chapter essay questions and project activities, and annotated further reading from books, journals and websites. Written in an engaging, student friendly style, this is an essential read for students and scholars of Urban Geography.

The last two decades have been an exciting and richly productive period for debate and academic research on the city. The SAGE Handbook of New Urban Studies offers comprehensive coverage of this modern re-thinking of urban theory, both gathering together the best of what has been achieved so far, and signalling the way to future theoretical insights and empirically grounded research. Featuring many of the top international names in the field, the handbook is divided into nine key sections: SECTION 1: THE GLOBALIZED CITY SECTION 2: URBAN ENTREPRENEURIALISM, BRANDING, GOVERNANCE SECTION 3: MARGINALITY, RISK AND RESILIENCE SECTION 4: SUBURBS AND SUBURBANIZATION: STRATIFICATION, SPRAWL, SUSTAINABILITY SECTION 5: DISTINCTIVE AND VISIBLE CITIES SECTION 6: CREATIVE CITIES SECTION 7: URBANIZATION, URBANITY AND URBAN LIFESTYLES SECTION 8: NEW DIRECTIONS IN URBAN THEORY SECTION 9: URBAN FUTURES This is a central resource for researchers and students of Sociology, Cultural Geography and Urban Studies.

Including papers presented at the 11th International Conference on Urban Regeneration and Sustainability held in Alicante, Spain, this book addresses the multidisciplinary aspects of urban planning; a result of the increasing size of cities, the amount of resources and services required and the complexity of modern society. Most of the earth’s population live in cities and the process of urbanisation continues generating problems originating from the drift of the population towards them. These problems can be resolved by cities becoming efficient habitats, saving resources in a way that improves the standard of living. The process faces a number of challenges related to reducing pollution, improving main transportation and infrastructure systems and these challenges can contribute to the development of social and economic imbalances and require the development of new solutions. Large cities are probably the most complex mechanisms to manage, nevertheless they represent a productive ground for architects, engineers, city planners, social and political scientists able to conceive new ideas and time them according to technological advances and human requirements. The papers in this book cover such topics as: Appropriate technologies for smart cities; Architectural issues; Case studies - sustainable practices; Cultural quarters and interventions; Disaster and emergency response; Eco-town planning; Environmental management; Landscape planning and design; Planning for resilience; Quality of life; Socio-economic and political considerations; Pedestrians behaviour in different situation of traffic, modelling and safety; Sustainable urban regeneration and public space; City and beach; Sustainability and the built environment; Sustainable energy and the city; The community and the city; Transportation; Urban conservation and regeneration; Urban development and management; Urban infrastructure; Urban metabolism; Urban planning and design; Urban safety and security; Urban strategies; Waterfront development.

Drawing together leading urban academics, this book provides the first detailed and cohesive exploration of contemporary urban regeneration in Australian cities. It explores the multiple aspects and processes of regeneration, including planning policy (strategic and regulatory), development financing, sustainability, remediation and transport. The book puts forward a unique and innovative ‘scaled’ analysis of urban regeneration, which positions urban regeneration as more than just large-scale redevelopment projects. It examines the processes of urban change which occur outside inner suburbs, which contribute to regenerating the city as a whole. The book moves beyond the planning and economic considerations of the regeneration process to describe the social and cultural aspects of regeneration. In doing so, it focuses on the management of higher-density environments, culture as a trigger for regeneration, and community opposition to the regeneration process. Urban Regeneration in Australia would benefit academics, students and professionals of urban geography and planning, as well as those with a particular interest in Australian urbanism.

This book offers a fundamental contribution to the literature on the creative industries and the knowledge-based economy by focusing on three aspects: urban spaces as key sites of capitalist restructuring, creative industries' policies as state technologies aimed at economic exploitation, and the role of networks of aesthetic production in inflecting these tendencies. It simultaneously goes beyond these debates by integrating a concern with the cultural and aesthetic dimensions of the creative industries. As such, the book is relevant to researchers interested in the transdisciplinary project of a cultural political economy of creativity and urban change.