Urban Europe

In Urban Europe, urban researchers and practitioners based in Amsterdam tell the story of the European city, sharing their knowledge of and insights into urban dynamics in short, thought-provoking pieces. Their essays were collected on the occasion of the adoption of the Pact of Amsterdam with an Urban Agenda for the European Union during the Dutch Presidency of the Council in 2016.The fifty essays gathered in this volume present perspectives from diverse academic disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. The authors including the Mayor of Amsterdam, urban activists, civil servants and academic observers cover a wide range of topical issues, inviting and encouraging us to rethink citizenship, connectivity, innovation, sustainability and representation as well as the role of cities in administrative and political networks.With the Urban Agenda for the European Union, EU Member States have acknowledged the potential of cities to address the societal challenges of the 21st century. This is part of a larger, global trend. These are all good reasons to learn more about urban dynamics and to understand the challenges that cities have faced in the past and that they currently face. Often but not necessarily taking Amsterdam as an example, the essays in this volume will help you grasp the complexity of urban Europe and identify the challenges your own city is confronting.

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Acknowledgements, 1. Urban Europe and the European Union, Part 1: Citizenship, 2. At home in the city?, 3. A tolerant social climate?, 4. Sex and the city, 5. The city as integration mechanism?, 6. Undocumented immigrants, 7. From Mokum to Damsko and back again?, 8. Schools in the multilingual city, 9. City kids and citizenship, 10. Those who feel left behind, 11. Exiles in the city: A triptych, Part 2: Urban nodes 12. Hub Cities 2.0 for the 21st century, 13. Competing cities and urban networks in medieval Europa, 14. Beyond anti-urban sentiments, 15. Trendy coffee shops and urban sociability, 16. A quiet transfer, 17. Build something different for a change!, 18. Big is beautiful?, 19. Creative cities and shrinking cities: False opposites?, Part 3 Creative cities, 20. The creative destruction and recovery of cities, 21. Visions and symbols of the creative city, 22. Smart cities value their smart citizens, 23. The dangers of a tamed city, 24. Cities and creative unpredictability, 25. Cultural Incubators: The squats of the 21st century?, 26. New cities as testing grounds for a new urbanity, Part 4: Sustainable cities, 27. The social sustainability of European cities, 28. Bothersome and besotted, 29. ProefGroen (Taste Green / Test Green), 30. Cycling is an acquired skill, 31. Growing socio-spatial segregation in European capitals: Different government, less mitigation, 32. The future of the city, Welcome to Amsterdam! Well, not really, 34. More than just housing, 35. The energetic city: Between dreams and deeds, 36. The dreamed European city (urbo kune), 37. Interlocking identities, 38. An eye for freedom: Spinoza and Terstall in Amsterdam, 39. An urban geopolitics, 40. Decor and decorum in diplomacy, 41. Urban diplomacy in Europe, 42. Town twinning