Urban Planning and Governance

Urban planning and governance examines how cities are shaped by political decisions, economic forces, and social pressures — asking who controls urban space, who benefits from it, and who gets displaced. Over recent decades, neoliberal policies have restructured cities through deregulation, privatization, and market-led development, accelerating gentrification and deepening inequalities even as cities grow wealthier in aggregate. Researchers are actively debating how spatial planning can be redesigned to advance social sustainability and protect the "right to the city" — the idea that residents, not just investors or governments, should have meaningful say over how urban environments are built and governed. Central open questions include how cities can mediate the pressures of globalization without abandoning lower-income communities, and whether existing governance frameworks can be reformed to distribute the benefits of urban growth more equitably.

Works

44,853

Total citations

404,666

Keywords

NeoliberalismUrbanismGentrificationGlobalizationUrban PolicySpatial Planning