City Power: Urban Governance in a Global Age: Introduction - Cities, Capital, and Constitutions

Abstract

Reigning theories of urban power suggest that in a world dominated by footloose transnational capital, cities have little capacity to effect social change. City Power challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that cities can and should pursue aims other than making themselves attractive to global capital. Using the municipal living wage movement as an example, the book explains why cities are well-positioned to address issues like income inequality and how our institutions can be designed to allow them to do so. The book should be of special interest to scholars of cities, federalism, state and local government, urban politics, economic development, and progressive social welfare policy.

Keywords: city, urban policy, federalism, redistribution, living wage, urban resurgence, local government law, urban politics