Reshaping the City Author:Mark Goodwin Over the past two decades, the level of change occurring in Western cities appears to have intensified. Their economics have undergone a period of major reconstruction; large-scale industry has all but disappeared, service sector jobs have increased and the urban labour market has become increasingly polarized. Spatially, the city appears to be... more » turning inside out: new retail and industrial spaces are found on 'the edge of town'. Economic vitality is becoming concentrated in gentrified enclaves, whilst enclaves of a different kind become the location of the informal economy, often supported and enhanced by an illegal one dependant on crime and drugs. Politicians have responded to these changes by shifting the emphasis of policy from the social to the economic. Cities are increasingly subject to an urban entrepreneurialism, based around the intersection of cultural and economic speculation. Mark Goodwin's stimulating new study critically addresses these issues. It takes as a fundamental starting point the fact that explanations 'of' the city are bound up with experiences 'in' the city. The author covers the key changes that have recently taken place in urban theory and urban practice. In synthesizing material from a wide range of sources, the book provides as full a picture as possible of contemporary urban change, covering economic, social, cultural, political and landscape related elements of urban restructuring.« less