International and Transnational Perspectives on Urban Systems (Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences)

This book reviews the recent evolutions of cities in the world according to entirely revised theoretical fundamentals of urban systems. It relies on a vision of cities sharing common dynamic features as co-evolving entities in complex systems. Systems of cities that are interdependent in their evolutions are characterized in the context of that dynamics. They are identified on various geographical scales--worldwide, regional, or national. Each system exhibits peculiarities that are related to its demographic, economic, and geopolitical history, and that are underlined by the systematic comparison of continental and regional urban systems, following a common template throughout the book. Multi-scale urban processes, whether local (one city), or within national systems (systems of cities), or linked to the expansion of transnational networks (towards global urban systems) throughout the world over the period 1950-2010 are deeply analyzed in 16 chapters. This global overview challenges urban governance for designing policies facing globalization and the subsequent ecological transition. The answers, which emerge from the diversity of situations in the world, add some reflections on and recommendations to the "urban system framework" proposed in the Habitat III agenda--back cover Front Matter ....Pages i-xx Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 An Evolutionary Theory of Urban Systems (Denise Pumain)....Pages 3-18 Urban Systems Between National and Global: Recent Reconfiguration Through Transnational Networks (Celine Rozenblat)....Pages 19-49 A New World Typology of Cities and Systems of Cities (Celine Rozenblat, Denise Pumain)....Pages 51-65 Front Matter ....Pages 67-67 The US Urban System (Anne Bretagnolle, Fabien Paulus, Sukkoo Kim, Céline Vacchiani-Marcuzzo)....Pages 69-98 The Canadian Urban System: Urban Canada Goes Global (Jim Simmons, Larry S. Bourne)....Pages 99-115 Metropolization and Polycentrism in the European Urban System (Celine Rozenblat, Denise Pumain)....Pages 117-141 Changes in the Japanese Urban System Since the 1950s: Urbanization, Demography, and the Management Function (Kazutoshi Abe, Tomoko Kubo, Nobuhiko Komaki)....Pages 143-163 Front Matter ....Pages 165-165 The South American Urban System (Luis Mauricio Cuervo González, Rosa Moura)....Pages 167-186 The Brazilian Urban System (Cosmo Antonio Ignazzi, Reinaldo Paul Perez Machado)....Pages 187-211 Front Matter ....Pages 213-213 The Chinese Urban System: Political Evolution and Economic Transition (Elfie Swerts, Liao Liao)....Pages 215-235 Diffuse Urbanization and Mega-Urban Regions in India: Between Reluctant and Restrictive Urbanism? (Elfie Swerts, Eric Denis, Partha Mukhopadhyay)....Pages 237-262 The Russian Urban System: Evolution Engaged with Transition (Clémentine Cottineau, Irina Frost)....Pages 263-284 The South African Urban System (Solène Baffi, Ivan Turok, Céline Vacchiani-Marcuzzo)....Pages 285-314 Front Matter ....Pages 315-315 Urbanization in Africa: Trends, Regional Specificities, and Challenges (François Paul Yatta)....Pages 317-339 The Sustainability of Urbanization in Africa’s Great Lakes Region: Trends and Policies Options (Remy Sietchiping, Claude Ngomsi, Michael Kinyanjui, John Omwamba, Elkin Velasquez)....Pages 341-358 Extended Metropolitan Development in Southeast Asia: From Primate Cities to Territorial Urban Diffusion (Charles Goldblum, Tai-Chee Wong)....Pages 359-383 Back Matter ....Pages 385-393