Two themes interweave through this collection, within this broad palette. First are the socio-spatial constructs and their relationship to the empirical evidence of change in the physical and functional aspects of urban form. Second is what they mean for the spatial scales of governance. This latter theme explores territorially based understandings of intervention and the changing set of political concerns in selected case studies. In efforts to address these issues and improve upon knowledge, this collection brings together international scholars building new data-driven, cross-disciplinary theories to create new images of the city region that may prove to supplement if not supplant old ones.
The book illustrates the dialectical interplay of theory and fact, time and space, and spatial and institutional which expands on our intellectual grasp of the theoretical debates on ‘city-regions’ through ‘practical knowing’, citing examples from Europe, the United States, Australasia, and beyond.
This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Regional Studies.
Michael Neuman is Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University, USA. He directs the Sustainable Urbanism Research Consortium and chairs the Sustainable Urbanism Certificate Program.
Angela Hull is Professor of Spatial Planning at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. She directs the Masters in Research Programme and the Planning, Regeneration and Governance research centre.