Segmented Cities?

This book examines how urbanization and pluralization are shaping the world’s cities and what can be done to encourage integration and minimize ethnic and nationalist tensions.

Across the globe, more people are living in cities, be it through the movement of domestic populations from hinterlands or via international migration. This book offers answers to some of the most pressing questions of our day: Is globalization drawing urban populations together or tearing them apart? Does immigration exacerbate or ameliorate existing ethnic and nationalist conflicts in divided cities? Can institutional design help decision makers engender integration in diverse and contested urban settings?

Contributors analyze the conditions under which cities from a broad range of geographical regions serve as sites of ethnic and national discord or amity. Particular attention is paid to the influence of economic globalization, cities’ entrenched ethno-linguistic configurations, and urban political institutions. A timely analysis of how the forces of urbanization and pluralization are shaping the world’s cities, this book discusses what can be done to encourage cities to act as vectors of integration and dialogue rather than conflict and segmentation.