Manchester University Press Cities and Crisis

Cities have been missing from analyses of the global economic crisis, and from debates and strategies on how to generate a sustainable recovery. Cities and crisis is about the future, starting where we are. Illuminating recent trends, emerging risks and initiatives to improve decision-making, it provides a fresh assessment of changes since 1990, of policy assumptions about urban economies and the lessons of experience. The argument is made that a city-centred strategy to lift urban productivity is needed to reduce deficits of urban innovation and of infrastructure investment (the new limits to growth). Drawing on dozens of reports from the OECD on economics, environment and governance, Cities and crisis provides a 'long-term, big-time' framework to understand the many technical issues that complicate decision-making and policy. It explores past strengths and current weaknesses of macro-economic and sectoral policies to guide urban development in relation to housing, infrastructure and innovation. With the prospect of more frequent and costly environmental, health and economic crises to come, there is discussion of the vulnerability of cities, of resilience as a part of preparedness and of the limits of domestic regulation to cope with mega-disasters and cross-border risks. It explains how paradigm shifts in economic governance have been undertaken successfully by the West in the past. Radical reforms may be needed to obtain practical solutions to strengthen urban economic performance and reduce the impact of urban disasters and crises: our major challenges. Placing cities at the centre of policy will challenge how governments, structured by sectors and levels, work. This will be essential reading for students and academics in political sciences, urban studies, economics and business, for policy makers and officials and the general reader interested in the future of cities in the twenty-first century.