Full Description
Cities in both North and South America are confronting tremendous challenges in urban growth and management as they enter the new century. Curitiba in Brazil and Portland in Oregon, US are cities that have achieved recognition for exemplary urban planning programmes over the past three decades. As such, they provide particularly useful illustrations of the intense development pressures that many urban areas currently face. This book explores the dynamics of their urban governance, arguing that, in general, there has been a unique synergy derived from the combination of visionary leadership, innovative urban plans and effective citizen involvement. The book argues that, while urban design and architecture are key to the success in making cities livable and in augmenting the global reputations, such sensitive, innovative urban planning and design projects first need to be governed effectively and grounded within the specifics of their local cultures and existing built environments.
Contents
Contents: Introduction: Local Spatiality in a Global World: Beyond the urban convergence/divergence debate: architecture and urbanism in a global urban context. Citizens and their City-States: A governance approach to urban development; Urban governance and citizen participation: Definitions and models; Urban governance in comparative perspective: Curitiba and Portland. Governance and the Practices of Urbanism in the Americas (1960-2003): Curitiba and Portland: The politics of urban and regional development in Curitiba; The politics of urban and regional development in Portland. The Built Environment in the Era of Globalization: City making and the (re)production of social and spatial (in)equality in Curitiba and Portland; Gated and edge cities: community and alienation in Curitiba; Housing and growth management debates in Portland: conflicting planning views, contrasting architectural typologies; Architecture and image-making: invocations of tradition vs. critical transnationalism in Curitiba; Nike vis-Ã -vis adidas: Spatializing regional planning discourses in Portland's global corporate architecture. Epilogue: Urban governance and city-making in the Americas; Bibliography; Index.
