Cities as Political Objects: Historical Evolution, Analytical Categorisations and Institutional Challenges of Metropolitanisation(Cities series)

Focusing on the city's role as the nexus for new forms of relationships between politics, economics and society, this fascinating book views the city as a political phenomena. Its chapters unravel the city's plural histories, contested political, legal and administrative boundaries, and its policy-making capacity in the context of multi-level and market pressures.Accommodating numerous approaches drawn from a variety of European countries and metropolitan settings, contributors make extensive use of case studies in order to both interpret the variety of processes of metropolitanisation at work over the past few decades and provide insight into the various conceptual and theoretical approaches that the social sciences - and the political sciences in particular - have adopted to explain this phenomenon. This book both studies cities that have developed their own forms of governance, with tailored institutions, a large policy making capability and sometimes a new democratic legitimacy, yet also offers an alternative understanding of cities as objects of public policy; the intended targets of the development of European-level or national urban policies. Students of comparative politics, urban studies and European studies will welcome the mix of conceptual, comparative and case study based approaches that this book encompasses. Practitioners will also benefit from the chance to avail themselves of cutting edge research. Contributors include: F. Artioli, S. Cadiou, J. Caillosse, J. Carpenter, A. Cole, S. Couperus, A. Dowling, D. Galimberti, I. Gordon, H. Heinelt, M. Huré, C. Parnet, R. Payre, C. Pin, P. Prat, K. Zimmermann

Table of Contents:
Contents: 1. Cities as Political Objects Alistair Cole and Renaud Payre PART I CAPITAL CITY DYNAMICS 2. Functional Integration, Political Conflict and Muddled Metropolitanism in the London Region: 1850-2016 Ian Gordon 3. The Greater Paris Debate: The French State and its Capital region Pauline Prat 4. A Tale of Two Cities: Madrid and Barcelona in Spain Andrew Dowling PART II CITIES AS POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CATEGORIES 5. The City as a Legal Category and legal archive Jacques Caillosse 6. The rise and demise of neighbourhood democracy: decentralising the urban polity in Rotterdam since 1940 Stefan Couperus 7. Cities in the Italian political system: incomplete actors and objects of policies Francesca Artioli 8. Cities in the Multi-level System of German Federalism Hubert Heinelt and Karsten Zimmermann 9. The Métropole as a Contested and Partisan Institution: Reflections on the Case of the French City of Nice. Stéphane Cadiou PART III CITY ACTION IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 10. Making Metropolis: Innovation and Local Governance issues in Paris and Milan Clement Pin and Déborah Galimberti 11. The Metropolis and the Market: Political Rescaling Through Public-private Bike-sharing Policy in Brussels Maxime Huré 12. Two Faces of the City: Varieties of metropolitanisation in Lyons and Marseilles Christophe Parnet 13. Assembling multi-level governance in regeneration: an international comparison between France and Britain Juliet Carpenter Index

About the Author :
Edited by Alistair Cole, Professor of Political Science and Renaud Payre, Professor of Political Science, Sciences Po Lyon, France

Review :
'Cities are back as significant political-administrative units - only now as metropolises. Rather than simply a mechanical effect of the exigencies of economic globalization, this book convincingly demonstrates that an array of active political actors are involved in energizing the trend. It is political praxis not economic structure that provides the key to understanding the efflorescence of urban governance today. The fact that there is much variation across cities in the extent and effectiveness of new models of governance suggests how much one-size-fits-all economic determinism misses the point,'