The Entrepreneurial City: Geographies of Politics, Regime and Representation [Hardcover]

This book offers the first substantive analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, problems, and consequences of an entrepreneurial city. Using perspectives from geography, planning, sociology, and cultural studies, and examples from Britain, Europe, and America, this is a major contribution to a key theme in urban studies.

Entrepreneurial policies and regimes have transformed Western cities over the last two decades. The public sector has bought into the ideals of the private sector risk taking, inventiveness, promotion, and profiteering are only the beginning. The shift towards this new mode of urban governance has had a profound effect on city life at all levels. This book presents the first substantive examination of the forms and impacts of entrepreneurial policies and regimes and how they have contributed to the changing economic, social and cultural landscape of the city. It provides a critical analysis of just how far new policies can be described as entrepreneurial and looks beyond the Millennium to consider the future of entrepreneurial cities. Beginning with image and representation, this book widens its scope to include: the governance of entrepreneurial cities, the construction and reconstruction of culture and identity, and finally the politics, regimes and regulation characteristic of entrepreneurial cities. A wide range of contributors from Geography, Sociology, Planning, Urban and Cultural Studies consider the theories behind the entrepreneurial city and draw on high profile case studies from Europe, North America, and Australia to provide a unique breadth of perspective on the practice of urban governance.

Tim Hall is Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Geology at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. Phil Hubbard is Lecturer in the Geography Subject Group at Coventry University.