Global Perspectives in Urban Law

'This volume persuasively demonstrates that the global and the local increasingly overlap. In case studies ranging from the United States to Hong Kong, the Netherlands to India, and Ireland to South Africa and Australia, an internationally diverse collection of legal scholars and social scientists show that such problems as housing, crime control, water supply, management of public space, social conflict, and popular engagement in governance characterize cities around the world, even as differences in local economics, culture, politics, history and law lead to varying solutions. The reader comes away impressed with both the wide range and complexity of urban responsibilities, and the many creative ways in which they can be addressed.'

Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia Law School, USA

'This book is further evidence that urban law, as a discipline, has arrived. The book’s diverse contributions reflect the various ways that law shapes how we live in cities, how we interact with each other in city spaces, what kind of resources are made available to different kinds of urban residents, and who gets to participate in the variety of decisions that make a city what it is. The contributions powerfully demonstrate that while urban law is intensely local a comparative analysis between cities and regions can yield trenchant insights into the power of law in addressing many of the challenges ushered in by this era of global urbanization.'

Sheila Foster, Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University Law Center, USA