Mobile Urbanism

Cities and Policymaking in the Global Age

2011
How knowledge and power flow between places and impact cities worldwide

Mobile Urbanism provides a unique set of perspectives on the current global-urban condition. Drawing on cutting-edge theoretical work, leading geographers reveal that cities are not isolated objects of study, but dynamic, global–local assemblages of policies, practices, and ideas. The essays argue for a theorizing of urban policymaking and place-making that understands them as groups of territorial and relational geographies.

An important reference point for those involved in urban and policy research.

International Planning Studies

Mobile Urbanism provides a unique set of perspectives on the current global-urban condition. Drawing on cutting-edge theoretical work, leading geographers reveal that cities are not isolated objects of study; rather, they are dynamic, global–local assemblages of policies, practices, and ideas.

The essays in this volume argue for a theorizing of both urban policymaking and place-making that understands them as groups of territorial and relational geographies. It broadens our comprehension of agents of transference, reconceiving how policies are made mobile, and acknowledging the importance of interlocal policy mobility. Through the richness of its empirical examples from Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, contributors bring to light the significant methodological challenges that researchers face in the study of an urban–global, territorial–relational conceptualization of cities and suggest productive new approaches to understanding urbanism in a networked world.

Contributors: S. Harris Ali, York U, Toronto; Allan Cochrane, Open U; Roger Keil , York U, Toronto; Doreen Massey, Open U; Donald McNeill, U of Western Sydney; Jamie Peck, U of British Columbia; Jennifer Robinson, University College London.

Eugene McCann is associate professor of geography at Simon Fraser University.

Kevin Ward is professor of human geography at the University of Manchester.

Eugene McCann is associate professor of geography at Simon Fraser University.

Kevin Ward is professor of human geography at the University of Manchester.

An important reference point for those involved in urban and policy research.

International Planning Studies

Mobile Urbanism would be a valuable resource for urban geographers and urban planners interested in policy transfer. The case studies are diverse and of a high quality. Some of them may serve as valuable teaching tools for upper-level geography classes dealing with international issues or urban studies.

Southeastern Geographer

Should be considered essential reading for those engaged in understanding contemporary urbanism and the politics of policy and place-making.

Urban Studies

Foreword
Allan Cochrane
Introduction. Urban Assemblages: Territories, Relations, Practices, and Power
Eugene McCann and Kevin Ward
1. A Counterhegemonic Relationality of Place
Doreen Massey
2. The Spaces of Circulating Knowledge: City Strategies and Global Urban Governmentality
Jennifer Robinson
3. Creative Moments: Working Culture, Through Municipal Socialism and Neoliberal Urbanism
Jamie Peck
4. Policies in Motion and in Place: The Case of Business Improvement Districts
Kevin Ward
5. Points of Reference: Knowledge of Elsewhere in the Politics of Urban Drug Policy
Eugene McCann
6. The Urban Political Pathology of Emerging Infectious Disease in the Age of the Global City
Roger Keil and S. Harris Ali
7. Airports, Territoriality, and Urban Governance
Donald McNeill
Conclusion. Cities Assembled: Space, Neoliberalization, (re)Territorialization, and Comparison
Kevin Ward and Eugene McCann
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index

Foreword, Allan Cochrane
Introduction. Urban Assemblages: Territories, Relations, Practices, and Power, Eugene McCann and Kevin Ward
1. A Counterhegemonic Relationality of Place, Doreen Massey
2. The Spaces of Circulating Knowledge: City Strategies and Global Urban Governmentality, Jennifer Robinson
3. Creative Moments: Working Culture, Through Municipal Socialism and Neoliberal Urbanism, Jamie Peck
4. Policies in Motion and in Place: The Case of Business Improvement Districts, Kevin Ward
5. Points of Reference: Knowledge of Elsewhere in the Politics of Urban Drug Policy, Eugene McCann
6. The Urban Political Pathology of Emerging Infectious Disease in the Age of the Global City, Roger Keil and S. Harris Ali
7. Airports, Territoriality, and Urban Governance, Donald McNeill
Conclusion. Cities Assembled: Space, Neoliberalization, (re)Territorialization, and Comparison, Kevin Ward and Eugene McCann
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index

UMP blog: How motion, relationships, and productive tension help build better cities across the world.

The urban policy world is in constant motion. In a figurative sense, policymakers seem to be under increasing pressure to get a move on, to keep up with the latest trends and ‘hot’ ideas, to convert them into locally appropriate ‘solutions,’ and to ‘roll them out,’ to make the most of them before they become unfashionable. As waves of innovation arrive more frequently, a concordant ‘churning’ appears to characterize much of urban policy.