City of Crisis: The Multiple Contestation of Southern European Cities

The ongoing crisis in Europe has dramatic impact on the life in many Southern European cities: Unemployment, social deprivation, poverty, political instability, severe cuts in the welfare state budgets and a wide spread feeling of despair have eroded much of the social foundation of the cities. In this book, contributors from Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy provide an insight into the complex interference between the different aspects of the crisis. They show that the recent urban crisis is not purely a result of the budgetary problems of the nation state (»austerity urbanism«) but needs to be seen as multiple contestations. It is therefore regarded in connection to the conditions of a changing nation state, cultural diversity, challenged urban planning and politics and a globalized economy.

City and Crisis: Learning from urban theory ; Crisis and the city. Neoliberalism, austerity planning and the production of space ; Spain ; Madrid. A tale of an ambitious city that failed to fulfil its global vision ; Contest Discourses of Austerity in the Urban Margins (A Vision from Barcelona) Italy ; Urban crisis or urban decay? Italian cities facing the effects of a long wave towards privatization of urban policies and planning ; The city and its crises ; When it rains, it pours. Urban poverty in a metropolitan suburb during the crisis period Greece ; Greek Spatial Planning and the Crisis ; "The right to the city" in Athens during a crisis era. Between inversion, assimilation and going beyond ; State repression, social resistance and the politicization of public space in Greece under fiscal adjustment Portugal ; Planning and governance in the Portuguese cities in times of European crisis.

Cover -- Content -- City of crisis (Preface) -- City and Crisis: Learning from urban theory -- Crisis and the city. Neoliberalism, austerity planning and the production of space -- Spain -- Madrid. A tale of an ambitious city that failed to fulfil its global vision -- Contest Discourses of Austerity in the Urban Margins (A Vision from Barcelona) -- Italy -- Urban crisis or urban decay? Italian cities facing the effects of a long wave towards privatization of urban policies and planning -- The city and its crises -- When it rains, it pours. Urban poverty in a metropolitan suburb during the crisis period -- Greece -- Greek Spatial Planning and the Crisis -- "The right to the city" in Athens during a crisis era. Between inversion, assimilation and going beyond -- State repression, social resistance and the politicization of public space in Greece under fiscal adjustment -- Portugal -- Planning and governance in the Portuguese cities in times of European crisis -- Authors.

The ongoing crisis in Europe has dramatic impact on the life in many Southern European cities: Unemployment, social deprivation, poverty, political instability, severe cuts in the welfare state budgets and a wide spread feeling of despair have eroded much of the social foundation of the cities. In this book, contributors from Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy provide an insight into the complex interference between the different aspects of the crisis. They show that the recent urban crisis is not purely a result of the budgetary problems of the nation state (»austerity urbanism«) but needs to be seen as multiple contestations. It is therefore regarded in connection to the conditions of a changing nation state, cultural diversity, challenged urban planning and politics and a globalized economy

The ongoing crisis in Europe has dramatic impact on the life in many Southern European cities: Unemployment, social deprivation, poverty, political instability, severe cuts in the welfare state budgets and a wide spread feeling of despair have eroded much of the social foundation of the cities. In this book, contributors from Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy provide an insight into the complex interference between the different aspects of the crisis. They show that the recent urban crisis is not purely a result of the budgetary problems of the nation state (austerity urbanism) but needs to be seen as multiple contestations. The Crisis of the City is therefore understood as a result of a changing nation state, cultural diversity, challenged urban planning and politics and a globalized economy