The UNESCO world heritage label (WHL) is a contentious topic in local to global public, and it gains in importance for the urban and regional development in Europe for some reasons. So on the one hand, the nominations of European sites as UNESCO world heritage are increasing steadily, and on the...

This paper performs a mixed-methods analysis of place-branding strategies developed in the 'Tech City' cluster initiative in Inner East London, drawing on ethnographic material, semi-structured interviews and visual content. Using Jessop's concept of the spatial imaginary, we explore key...

Abstract The ways in which cities function and are governed matter economically. While the growing literature on ‘global cities’ shows that city governments often pursue economic competitiveness, not much work has been done on whether the formal powers and competencies of cities and towns,...

This paper presents the results of a case study of one informal settlement in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, subject to titling under Systematic Land Registration (SLR) since 2009. The paper discusses the complexities around land titling programs in securing land tenure security and the well-being of...

Seit mehr als zehn Jahren wird in Städten weltweit über die "Kreative Stadt" debattiert. Doch können Städte Kreativität fördern? Aus einer stadtsoziologischen Perspektive wird zunächst gefragt, welche Möglichkeiten die Stadt zur Entfaltung von Kreativität bietet. Das Verhältnis von...

This article investigates how municipal governments negotiate far-right contestations through the format of citizens' dialogues and contemplates to what extent they disrupt established assumptions about participatory urban governance. In doing so, I want to contribute to emerging scholarship on...

This article examines how democratic actors from the state and the realms of civil society and the private sector form alliances to negotiate local counterstrategies against contemporary far-right contestations. It attends to two blind spots in the existing discussions about cities as bulwarks...

A new model of urban governance, mapping the route to a more equitable management of a city's infrastructure and services. The majority of the world's inhabitants live in cities, but even with the vast wealth and resources these cities generate, their most vulnerable populations live without...

Since the 1980s, the promotion of heritage values has gradually become a relevant issue for urban planning. Together with the emergence of new peripheries, inner-city areas and particularly old historic centres, affected by deterioration due to the recession of the last decades, have been the...

This paper examines how decentralization and informalization are reshaping urban governance in contemporary Africa. By exploring the interface between urban institutional failures and popular organizational solutions, the paper considers how informal governance processes feed into wider...