The "Urban Age" in Question

Journal title ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI
Author/s Neil Brenner, Christian Schmid
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/120
Language Italian Pages 36 P. 13-48 File size 821 KB
DOI 10.3280/ASUR2017-120002
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The urban age thesis has become a form of doxic common sense. This article argues that, despite its long history and its increasingly widespread influence, this idea is a flawed basis on which to conceptualize world urbanization patterns: it is empirically untenable and theoretically incoherent. After criticizing the conundrums of measuring the world’s urban population, the article outlines a series of methodological perspectives for an alternative understanding of the contemporary global urban condition.

Keywords: Urban age; urbanization; critical urban theory; planetary urbanization; spatial ideology.

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Neil Brenner, Christian Schmid, Mettendo in discussione l’"epoca urbana" in "ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI" 120/2017, pp 13-48, DOI: 10.3280/ASUR2017-120002