Summary
Contents
Subject index
Global Cities and Urban Theory provides an innovative set of approaches to understanding some of the world’s major cities, working with concepts such as smart cities, volumetric urbanism, and critical accounting to illustrate the everyday agents and practices that place cities in the world. Donald McNeill draws on detailed discussions of major cities such as London, San Francisco, Paris and Singapore to provide a deep understanding of how urban theory can be grounded in the cultural economies of urban development. The book: • Reviews the insights of key thinkers such as Bruno Latour, Mike Davis, and Jane M. Jacobs in relation to specific cities. • Highlights methodological and epistemological notes on each theme. • Provides case studies of nine key global cities, examined in the context of specific material and spatial practices. Essential reading for upper level students and researchers across urban studies, urban geography, urban sociology and urban policy.
Introduction
Introduction
Bright Lights, Global Cities
The global city has been with us for some time now. At some point in the 1990s, it became clear that the imagined geography of the nation-state was being challenged by the likes of New York, Tokyo and London, that cities were making impacts on the world disproportionate to their territorial footprints and that the apparently inexorable suburbanization of economic activity was faltering. More recently, Asia Pacific cities such as Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney began to be mentioned in a similar vein as they grew rapidly in both stature and size. The symbols and signifiers of these cities were often presented in the media with both bravado and disdain: scurrying crowds of suited bankers, gleaming office towers, luxury brands, extravagant bonuses.
Many ...
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