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For the first time in history, most people live in cities. One in seven are living in slums, the most excluded parts of cities, in which the basics of urban life鈥攊ncluding adequate housing, accessible sanitation, and reliable transportation鈥攁re largely unavailable. Why are some cities more successful than others in reducing inequalities in the built environment? In Urban Power, Benjamin Bradlow explores this question, examining the effectiveness of urban governance in two 鈥渕egacities鈥� in young democracies: S茫o Paulo, Brazil, and Johannesburg, South Africa. Both cities came out of periods of authoritarian rule with similarly high inequalities and similar policy priorities to lower them. And yet S茫o Paulo has been far more successful than Johannesburg in improving access to basic urban goods.

Bradlow examines the relationships between local government bureaucracies and urban social movements that have shaped these outcomes. Drawing on sixteen months of fieldwork in both cities, including interviews with informants from government agencies, political leadership, social movements, private developers, bus companies, and water and sanitation companies, Bradlow details the political and professional conflicts between and within movements, governments, private corporations, and political parties. He proposes a bold theoretical approach for a new global urban sociology that focuses on variations in the coordination of local governing power, arguing that the concepts of 鈥渆mbeddedness鈥� and 鈥渃ohesion鈥� explain processes of change that bridge external social mobilization and the internal coordinating capacity of local government to implement policy changes.

Awards and Recognition

• A New Urban Order Must-Read Book av福利社 Cities