Urban Geopolitics ─ Rethinking Planning in Contested Cities

One of the growing fields of research within urban studies and political geography in the last decades is the spatio-politics of ethnically contested urban space, especially in relation to the role of planning in such sites. On the surface, different types of contested cities share and are developing growing similarities stemming from ethnic, racial and class conflicts revolving around issues of housing, infrastructure, participation and identity. This book argues that it is timely to start learning from, and compare across different "contested cities". We need to re-think current ‘categories’ and ‘labels’ and critically question the enduring ‘North-Western’ / ‘South Eastern’ divide within urban studies and planning research.

The chapters in this book adopt a critical and comparative reading of urban geopolitics and contested cities from different urban settings to learn through differences, rather than seeking out similarities. This book brings together a selected group of international case studies from the Far East, South America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East to offer an in-depth understating of the worldwide contested nature of cities with a detailed review from a wide range of local contexts. This book suggests an urban ontology that moves beyond the urban ‘West’ and ‘North’ as well as adding a comparative–relational understanding of the contested nature that ‘Southern’ cities are developing.

Dr. Jonathan Rokem is an Urban Planner and Political Geographer. He currently holds a UCL Bartlett Grand Challenges Visiting Research Fellowship. From April 2015 he is Marie Carie Research Fellow at UCL Bartlett Department of Architecture. His research interests and publications focus on spatial, social and political critical analysis of cities and regions.

Dr. Camillo Boano is an architect, urbanist and educator. He is Senior Lecturer at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL, where he directs the MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development. He is also co-director of the UCL Urban Laboratory. Camillo has over 18 years of experiences in research, consultancies and development work in South America, Middle East, Eastern Europe and South East Asia.