Metropolitics - Metropolitics

From the Field

The Massive Death of China’s Urban Villages

Stefan Al - 17 March 2015

As expanding Chinese cities engulfed their hinterlands, chengzhoncun—villages within the city—became an affordable...

Debates

The Right to Public Space

Gregory Smithsimon - 10 March 2015

Many of the commonly defended human rights (freedom of expression, of assembly, of information, of movement, etc.)...

From the Field

Public authorities and Roma populations in Turin

Elisabetta Rosa & translated by Oliver Waine - 5 March 2015

For the last three decades or so, European cities have had to deal with the issue of land occupation by migrant...

From the Field

The Other Side of Austin, Texas

Caitlyn Collins & Katherine Jensen & Kristine Kilanski & Javier Auyero - 2 March 2015

Despite a booming economy, Austin, Texas, is a city where inequalities persist and grow in the shadow of neoliberal...

Reviews

Northern Mafias: the territorial spread of organised crime in Italy

Fabrizio Maccaglia & translated by Oliver Waine - 26 February 2015

The presence of Mafia organisations outside the Mezzogiorno, long downplayed by the Italian public authorities, has...

Reviews

Constructing Crises

Marla Nelson - 23 February 2015

A new book by Kevin Fox Gotham and Miriam Greenberg foregrounds the disturbing parallels between two seemingly...

Essays

Starchitects: walking the line between individuality and conformity

Géraldine Molina & translated by Oliver Waine - 19 February 2015

The stars of the worlds of architecture and urban planning are prime targets of research, with the aim of...

From the Field

Paying to Play in the Mission District

Naomi Adiv - 16 February 2015

Naomi Adiv unpacks a viral video showing an argument between longtime San Francisco residents and “dot-commers” over...

Essays

Transport as both a function and a facilitator of metropolitan development?

Aurélien Delpirou & translated by Oliver Waine - 12 February 2015

In Paris, Lyon and Marseille, the development of public transport is a central element of the metropolitan projects...

From the Field

Mass-Producing the World’s Factory

Stefan Al - 9 February 2015

The economic transformation of China into a global manufacturing mecca has emptied many rural areas, creating tens of...

Essays

“I, you, he, she, we are all Charlie”: what feeling concerned means

Gérôme Truc & translated by Oliver Waine - 5 February 2015

The attacks that took place in Paris in early January have affected French society in a way never seen before, as...

From the Field

When Predator Becomes Prey: Rental Housing in Low-Income Minority Neighborhoods

Clément Théry - 2 February 2015

In the growing low-income rental market, predator and prey roles can shift, as landlords and tenants alike can fall...

Debates

“Gentrification or ghetto”: making sense of an intellectual impasse

Anne Clerval & Mathieu Van Criekingen & translated by Oliver Waine - 29 January 2015

The debate on the causes, effects and extent of the “gentrification” of working-class neighbourhoods in the central...

Debates

Interrupting Inequality: Crisis and Opportunity in Low-Income Housing Policy

Susan Saegert - 26 January 2015

Inequality in the United States is deeply rooted in issues of property ownership, wealth, race and class....

From the Field

In the Paris metro, hell is other people

Luke Haywood & Martin Koning & translated by Oliver Waine - 15 January 2015

In the medical field, it is not unusual for remedies prescribed to combat a particular condition to have undesirable...

Essays

Looking Backward into the Future of New York

Ted Steinberg - 12 January 2015

Can the lesson of Hurricane Sandy dampen the enthusiasm of New York City’s growth machine? Ted Steinberg, author of...

Debates

Is rurality a thing of the past?

Philippe Dubourg & translated by Oliver Waine - 8 January 2015

In the era of globalisation and metropolisation, is rurality an old-fashioned concept, a thing of the past? The...

Debates

The Age of the Renter

Tony Roshan Samara - 5 January 2015

Not all Americans own their home. In fact, more and more of them rent it. More and more of them also end up paying a...

Essays

Christmas Markets and Department-Store Window Displays: Examples of Retailtainment

Nathalie Lemarchand & translated by Oliver Waine - 18 December 2014

The function and fate of high-street shops are the subject of discussion and debate within retail firms. Where should...

From the Field

The Horseshoe Crab, our Environment and our Health

Lisa Jean Moore - 15 December 2014

Will we erase all animal diversity in the name of modernity, or will we follow the hints given by the study of the...

Reviews

The “ordinary” Italian suburbs: exploring the apartment buildings of the middle classes

Thomas Pfirsch & translated by Oliver Waine - 11 December 2014

Through the detailed histories of 23 apartment buildings and their inhabitants, a team of historians and architects...

Essays

A Right to the Suburb? New Urbanism, Public Space, and the Law

Anthony Maniscalco - 8 December 2014

The American suburb is changing. It is racially and economically diverse. Its sterile spaces are being redesigned for...

From the Field

Bypassing the city: divisions and divergences in Antananarivo

Catherine Fournet-Guérin & translated by Oliver Waine - 4 December 2014

In a context of global competition, major projects are the order of the day, including in the global South. The new...

From the Field

Participatory Budgeting in New York City

Celina Su - 1 December 2014

Over the last four years, participatory budgeting has spread from one to more than 45 cities in the US. Reporting...

Essays

Is there a model for sustainable urban planning?

Claire Carriou & Olivier Ratouis & translated by Oliver Waine - 27 November 2014

Claire Carriou and Olivier Ratouis reconsider the theoretical sources of sustainable urban planning from the...

Reviews

Detroit: Origins of the Urban Crisis Revisited

Andrew Newman - 24 November 2014

The recent reprint of Sugrue’s classic history of Detroit’s urban crisis highlights the roots of the city’s present...

Reviews

Entry into the Anthropocene

André Micoud & translated by Oliver Waine - 20 November 2014

Christophe Bonneuil and Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, backed up by an impressive amount of data, trace the history of our...

From the Field

The Abattoir’s Call: At the Margins of New York City’s Foodie Movement

Richard E. Ocejo - 17 November 2014

Food-conscious urban consumers often ask their butcher where their meat comes from. But how many wonder about the...

From the Field

Nantes’ urban project: putting the Bilbao model to the test

Amélie Nicolas & translated by Oliver Waine - 13 November 2014

The experiences of Bilbao and its urban transformations have been shared and integrated into the urban-planning...

Debates

The Violence of Sustainable Urbanity

Erik Swyngedouw - 10 November 2014

If Nature is an ideological construction that separates us from the environment, the contemporary search for...

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