Many urbanisms: Divergent trajectories of global city building by Martin J. Murray

What is it about?

The book’s main thesis is that there is no longer a linear progression of developmental growth shaping cities across the world, as certain individuals, especially those who tended to benefit from it, have asserted in the past. Instead, technology, real estate speculation, different regulatory environments, and distinct perceptions of health, sustainability, and prosperity are all shaping cities and city-building processes differently.

Featured Image

Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash

Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The richness of the book’s analyses and discussions is found throughout the main text and in the notes and bibliography, which denote a tremendous engagement with seminal and recently published scholarly and gray literature on the various subjects under scrutiny.

Perspectives

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While it is difficult, if not impossible, to escape the book’s categorizations and the comparisons needed to wrap our heads around such complex and contradictory tendencies, occurring simultaneously in globalizing and struggling postindustrial cities, as well as in unplanned and highly master-planned developments of instant urbanism on a grand scale, the author’s clear theses, extensively elaborated and highly sourced justifications are paradigmatic examples of the use of heuristics in urban studies, regional development, and city building.

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