Metropolitics

Megacities and how to govern them: rethinking urban development in terms of infrastructure networks

Éric Verdeil & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-09-25T05:00:00Z

Are colossal megalopolises like Shanghai or Mumbai uncontrollable? This collective work shows that nothing could be further from the truth: by proposing an innovative interpretation, on the margins of classic approaches centred on political institutions, it underlines the importance of technical networks in city governments.
Governing Megacities in Emerging Countries (Métropoles XXL en pays émergents in the original French) is an ambitious and stimulating book that seeks to shift the terms of

- Reviews / governance, networks, metropolis, Global South, urban growth, megacities

Beirut: the new front lines of urban research

Éric Verdeil & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-05-06T05:05:00Z

In Beirut, the extremely rapid transformations of both urban spaces and urban policy raise a number of questions and give researchers much food for thought. Two recent collective works reflect the vitality of urban research in Beirut today and the revival of critical urban theory.
Since the Civil War years, urban issues have become much debated in Beirut. Researchers explored the social and sectarian roots of the fragmentation of urban areas in Lebanon (Seurat 1989; Nasr 1985) and became

- Reviews / public space, reconstruction, Lebanon, Beirut, civil war

Post-2006 reconstruction in Lebanon: a laboratory for new urban planning practices

Éric Verdeil & translated by Eric Rosencrantz — 2011-10-05T05:00:00Z

Modes of urban planning often develop at an accelerated pace during periods of reconstruction. Lebanon in the aftermath of the 2006 war is a case in point. This book is a collection of urban planners' and academics' assessments of their own efforts on the ground in Lebanon, where the government's abdication has allowed Hezbollah to become heavily entrenched locally.
The past few years have provided a great many examples of urban reconstruction after natural disasters and man-made conflicts.

- Reviews / democracy, reconstruction, Lebanon, Beirut

Arab Cities in Revolution: Some Observations

Éric Verdeil & translated by Oliver Waine — 2011-02-25T08:04:37Z

Are the revolutions we are currently witnessing in Tunisia and Egypt essentially urban revolutions? Éric Verdeil examines the problems facing the economies and public services of Arab cities, which have, in part, given rise to these movements.
Like many observers, I have been keenly watching and left somewhat dumbfounded by the extraordinary events that have unfolded since 14 January in Tunisia and which, over the last week, have also spread to Egypt (a country I know very little about, I

- Essays / Arab city, revolution, urban economy, collective action, Arab Spring, Egypt, Tunisia