European Cities
Social Conflicts and Governance
European Societies Series

European cities are on the rise, and are taking advantage of the opportunities of the European integration and globalization processes. But they also face economic changes, social inequalities, poverty and a new set of constraints. Taking examples through the European Union, European Cities explores the impact of the transformation of the nation states on cities and the change of local societies and local governments. It argues that new modes of urban governance are emerging, and that cities are becoming collective actors within European governance. European Cities shows why and how the bulk of European cities still appear to be original forms of compromise, aggregation, representation of diverse interests, and culture. Different modes of governance are gradually being structured in most middle size European cities despite processes of social exclusion segregation accompanied by the increased mobility of some citizens. Are Europeans going to invent a new form of institutionalized and territorialized capitalism, of which medium-sized European cities will be one of the pillars and one of the actors ? Failing that, the effects of changing scales could be expressed as profound transformations of the European urban model.

Part. Part 1:: European cities within European societies, Introduction, The long history of the European city, Part. Part 2:: A 'historical interlude for European cities'?, The loosening grip of the state and the redistribution of authority within the European Union: a new set of parameters to structure modes of urban governance, European cities: a more diverse but robust social structure within eroding national societies, Social and political actors within European cities and the making or urban modes of governance, Cities as incomplete societies: actors and regulations, Dynamic mayors and restructured City councils, Conclusion