ABSTRACT
Cities are at the heart of the political, economic, social and cultural processes that shape and define the contemporary world. Indeed, most people on the planet now live in cities. For some commentators, the ‘urbanization of the world’ has the potential to pull people out of poverty, foster innovation and create the conditions for liberation. Utopian ideals have long been influential in attempts to design and build cities that are equitable and democratic as well as aesthetically pleasing. Many observers, however, are less optimistic, fearing that the dominance of the urban poses a considerable threat not only to the social and environmental sustainability of individual cities, but also to the future of the world. They argue that the degraded and indulgent landscapes of the city are the locales of displacement, disadvantage and inequality, irrevocably depleting the world’s resources and putting the very viability of the planet at risk. At the same time as such debates are being played out, however, it is important to remember that cities are also the spaces of everyday lived culture and the most intimate of experiences. They are resonant with memory and their places elicit a range of emotional responses and attachments that are collective as well as individual. Cities and urban development are thus replete with opportunities and difficulties, simultaneously sites of hope and fear. The task for urban scholarship is to engage with such complexities and contradictions in order to understand cities at both their micro and macro levels. The challenge for urban planners is to utilize the insights of this scholarship to ensure their practice is nuanced, sensitive and capable of shaping urban landscapes that are just and sustainable and support the dignity of all urban dwellers.
