Bücher der Reihe Routledge Advances in Geography

Arguing that the focus in global urban studies on cities such as New York, London, Tokyo in the global North, Mexico City and Shanghai in the developing world, and other major nodes of the world economy, has skewed the concept of the global city toward economics, this volume gathers a diverse group of contributors to focus on smaller and less economically dominant cities. It highlights other important and relatively ignored themes such as cultural globalization, alternative geographies of the global, and the influence of deeper urban histories (particularly those relating to colonialism) in order to advance an alternative view of the global city.

What is a Global City? This volume interrogates the 'global cities' literature, which views the city as a shimmering, financial 'global network'. It presents a historical-ethnographic exploration of inter-ethnic relations in the 'other global' cities of Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul, Bukhara, Lhasa, Delhi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.

While ethnic neighborhoods are usually associated with poverty, crime and social problems, they have also emerged as places of leisure and consumption, providing opportunities for numerous entrepreneurs and employees. Local and national governments and other regulatory actors, as well as the media, have started to see and promote these neighborhoods as urban attractions for tourists, city dwellers and others. This book aims to analyze the roles of ethnic entrepreneurs and their associations and governments, and - by extension - of consumers and other actors in the rise of ethnic neighborhoods as places of leisure and consumption. Through case studies, it situates those neighborhoods at the edge of different theoretical debates about urban political economy and the politics of culture, and seeks a dynamic synergy between both.

Fierce competitiveness between major cities, such as London, Shanghai and Sydney, has led to a pressure to excel as desirable locations for business, cultural activities, highly skilled migrants and tourists. This book shows how cities have engaged with the necessity to brand their image for international consumption and for internal coherence.

The shrinking city phenomenon is a multidimensional process that affects cities, parts of cities or metropolitan areas around the world that have experienced dramatic decline in their economic and social bases. Shrinkage is not a new phenomenon in the study of cities. However, shrinking cities lack the precision of systemic analysis where other factors now at work are analysed: the new economy, globalisation, aging population (a new population transition) and other factors related to the search for quality of life or a safer environment. This volume places shrinking cities in a global perspective, setting the context for in-depth case studies of cities within Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany, France, Great Britain, South Korea, Australia, and the USA, which consider specific economic, social, environmental, cultural and land-use issues.

This volume aims to rethink the regional concept of "Eurasia" as a scale of analysis and as a geographical place, examining dynamic geopolitical links reconfiguring Eurasian spaces from the western edge of Europe through the eastern edge of Asia. While current debates presume that Eurasia is merely a catch-all term for bare ambition and geostrategic wrangling, seeing the Eurasian region from the perspective of the most powerful players, this volume presents a usefully broad vision of blurred borders - from the eastern edges of the Sino-Vietnamese zone through the Himalayan corridor and the Central Asian "near abroad" distinguished more by their syncretism than antagonism.

The shrinking city phenomenon has affected metropolitan areas around the world, leading to dramatic decline in their economic and social bases. Offering case studies of cities from five different continents, this volume considers specific economic, social, environmental, cultural and land-use issues as it places "shrinking cities" in a global perspective.