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This book examines the role of technology in the core voices for International Relations theory and how this has shaped the contemporary thinking of 'IR' across some of the discipline's major texts. Through an interview format between different generations of IR scholars, the conversations of the book analyse the relationship between technology and concepts like power, security and global order. They explore to what extent ideas about the role and implications of technology help to understand the way IR has been framed and world politics are conceived of today. This innovative text will appeal to scholars in Politics and International Relations as well as STS, Human Geography and Anthropology. Carolin Kaltofen is Research Associate in Science Diplomacy in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy at University College London, UK. Madeline Carr is Associate Professor in International Relations and Cyber Security in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy at University College London, UK. Michele Acuto is Professor of Global Urban Politics in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, Australia.--

Leading Cities is a global review of the state of city leadership and urban governance today. Drawing on research into 202 cities in 100 countries, the book provides a broad, international evidence base grounded in the experiences of all types of cities. It offers a scholarly but also practical assessment of how cities are led, what challenges their leaders face, and the ways in which this leadership is increasingly connected to global affairs.

Arguing that effective leadership is not just something created by an individual, Elizabeth Rapoport, Michele Acuto and Leonora Grcheva focus on three elements of city leadership: leaders, the structures and institutions that underpin them, and the tools used to drive change. Each of these elements are examined in turn, as are the major urban policy issues that leaders confront today on the ground. The book also takes a deep dive into one particular example of tool or instrument of city leadership – the strategic urban plan.

International audience ; The water-energy-food nexus has achieved considerable prominence across academic research and policy sectors. The nexus sets an imperative for integrated management and policymaking, centring on the potential trade-offs and complementarities between interdependent water, energy and food systems. Applications of the nexus focus largely on technical or managerial solutions and calls to acknowledge the political dimension of nexus interdependencies have implications for governance at the urban scale. This paper aims to 'urbanise' the nexus agenda and consider the implications of policy integration for urban governance. This examines the nexus in the context of current approaches to urban governance and power relations shaping the provision of water, energy and food in urban areas. Urban infrastructure networks underpin these resource systems and related management systems, although their management tends to operate in silos, with little joint decision-making and planning. Three hypotheses about the interplay between integrative policy framings and urban governance are explored to reconcile integrative policy framings at the urban scale: the appropriation of the nexus narrative by urban governments; re-establishment of political power through integrated management, and implementation of the nexus through smart city approaches. These hypotheses progress the political dimension of the nexus debate and reflect on the role of urban governance in addressing global challenges.

International audience ; The water-energy-food nexus has achieved considerable prominence across academic research and policy sectors. The nexus sets an imperative for integrated management and policymaking, centring on the potential trade-offs and complementarities between interdependent water, energy and food systems. Applications of the nexus focus largely on technical or managerial solutions and calls to acknowledge the political dimension of nexus interdependencies have implications for governance at the urban scale. This paper aims to 'urbanise' the nexus agenda and consider the implications of policy integration for urban governance. This examines the nexus in the context of current approaches to urban governance and power relations shaping the provision of water, energy and food in urban areas. Urban infrastructure networks underpin these resource systems and related management systems, although their management tends to operate in silos, with little joint decision-making and planning. Three hypotheses about the interplay between integrative policy framings and urban governance are explored to reconcile integrative policy framings at the urban scale: the appropriation of the nexus narrative by urban governments; re-establishment of political power through integrated management, and implementation of the nexus through smart city approaches. These hypotheses progress the political dimension of the nexus debate and reflect on the role of urban governance in addressing global challenges.

Intro -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- Chapter 1 Conversations on Technology and IR -- Abstract -- A Dialogue on Technology and the Role of a Discipline -- Rediscovering IR's Affair with Technology -- An Intergenerational Dialogue -- Debating Tech at the Heart of IR -- A Field Report on the Technologies of IR -- Chapter 2 Theory Is Technology -- Technology Is Theory -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 3 A Double-Edged Sword? Blayne Haggart in conversation with Susan Sell -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 4 Everyday Tech: In Search of Mundane Tactics Michele Acuto in conversation with Saskia Sassen -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 5 Curiosity, Criticality and Materiality Can E. Mutlu in conversation with Mark B. Salter -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 6 The Meta-Power of Technology -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 7 Culture, Diversity and Technology -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 8 Experts, Matters and Actor-Networks -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 9 From Nuclear Weapons to Cyber Security: Breaking Boundaries -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 10 Technologies of Violence -- Abstract -- Chapter 11 Postinternationalism on Technology, Change and Continuity -- Abstract -- Chapter 12 Technology: From the Background to Opportunity -- Abstract -- Works Referenced -- Chapter 13 'New Technologies': Questions of Agency, Responsibility, and Luck -- Abstract -- Works Referenced.

In urban policy there is an increasing emphasis on the management and sharing of information in and about cities. This paper focuses on external sharing practices which are facilitated by boundary‐spanning organisations. Boundary‐spanning organisations are hybrid structures that provide a platform to link internal networks of the city government with external actors, and in particular focus on engaging various types of stakeholders. The paper offers a preliminary assessment of a sample of boundary‐spanning organisations based across six case studies (Barcelona, Chicago, London, Medellin, Mexico City and Seoul) and across three types of BSOs: living labs, innovation districts and sector‐oriented BSOs. Unpacking the shape and development of BSOs, and "placing" them in urban governance, we begin to sketch a preliminary agenda geared to offer a better appreciation of the "information ecosystem" underneath policy‐making in cities.

Introduction: Empowering Cities; Simon Curtis/ 1. - 1. The Meaning of Global Cities: Rethinking the Relationship between Cities, States and International Order; Simon Curtis/ 16 . - 2. The Common Sense of Global City 'Actorness' in Contemporary World Politics; Kristin Ljungkvist/ 32 . - 3. A Networked Urban World: Empowering Cities to Tackle Environmental Challenges; Sofie Bouteligier/ 57 . - 4. An Urban Affair: How Mayors Shape Cities for World Politics; Michele Acuto/ 69 . - 5. Globalization, Governance and the Production of Urban Socio-Ecological Space; Nik Janos and Corina Mckendry/ 89 . - 6. The International Activities of Canadian Cities: Are Canadian Cities Challenging the Gate-Keeper Position of the Federal Executive in International Affairs?; Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly/ 107 . - 7. Municipal Bonds and Global Power; Mark Amen/ 132 . - 8. Johannesburg: Financial 'Gateway' to Africa; Elizabeth Cobbett/ 151