Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Saskia Sassen -- Introduction / Yudhishthir Raj Isar, Michael Hoelscher and Helmut K. Anheier -- Part 1: Metropolitan cultural politics, policies and goverance. Overarching issues. Cities as geopolitical spaces for the global governance of culture / Katharine Sarikakis -- Communication networks, cities, and the informal economies / Ramon Lobato -- Challenges of governance in multi-ethnic cities / Phil Wood -- Cities and universities: a virtual cultural policy nexus / Dragan Klaic -- Cities, culture and sustainable development / Nancy Duxbury, Catherine Cullen and Jordi Pascual -- City branding / Lily Kong -- Competing cities and spectacularizing urban landscapes / Davide Ponzini -- The creative cities discourse: production and/or consumption? / Stuart Cunningham -- The creative city: compelling and contentious / Charles Landry -- City experiences. The production of culture: Abu Dhabi's urban strategies / Yasser Elsheshtawy -- Amsterdam: a multi-cultural capital of culture / Simin Davoudi and Wil Zonneveld -- Creative city, city marketing, creative industries and cultural policy: challenges for Antwerp / Annick Schramme and Katia Segers -- 'Creative governance' in Berlin? / Janet Merkel -- Brazzaville: a global village of African culture / Patrice Yengo -- Spectacularizing Fès / Justin McGuinness -- Reshaping, installing, pioneering, spearheading...realignment of Istanbul / Asu Aksoy and Kevin Robins / Johannesburg: investing in cultural economies or publics? / Edgar Pieterse and Kim Gurney -- Rich but divided...the politics of cultural policy in London / Kate Oakley -- The cultural mapping of L'viv / Ihor Savchak and Linda Knudsen McAusland -- Marseille-Provence 2013: cultural capital, but for what kind of Europe and under which globalisation? / Ferdinand Richard -- Medellin: tales of fear and hope / Octavio Arbeláez Tobón -- Melbourne and Brisbane: the claims of suburbs / Terry Flew and Mark Gibson -- Mexico City: cultural policies, governance and civil society / Lucina Jiménez -- Mumbai: historic preservation by citizens / Abha Narain Lambah -- New York City: city culture as public display / David Halle and Louise Mirrer -- Paris: a process of metropolitanization / Stephen W. Sawyer and Mathias Rouet -- São Paulo: rich culture, poor access / Maria Carolina -- Vasconcelos-Oliveira Shanghai: images of modernity / Justin O'Connor and Xin Gu -- Torino: a change of skin and more / Luca Dal Pozzolo -- Vancouver: the enigmatic emerging cultural metropolis / Catherine Murray and Tom Hutton / Venice, reloaded? a tale of urban life (and death) / Pier Luigi Sacco -- Cultures and cities: some policy implications / Yudhishthir Raj Isar -- Ethnographic snapshots: visions of cities / Mieka Ritsema -- Part 2: Indicator suites / Michael Hoelscher and Helmut K Anheier. Describing and comparing culture in cities globally: an overview / Michael Hoelscher -- Overarching issues. Trends in urbanisation -- City networks and rankings -- City comparisons -- City suites. Abu Dhabi -- Berlin -- Istanbul -- London -- L'viv -- Mexioc City -- New York City -- São Paulo -- Shanghai.

"Today is a new metropolitan age and for the first time ever more people live in cities than they do anywhere else. As cities strengthen their international and cultural influence, the global world is acted out most articulately in the world's urban hubs - through its diverse cultures, broad networks and innovative styles of governance. Looking at the city through its internal dynamics, the book examines how governance and cultural policy play out in a national and international framework. Making a truly global contribution to the literature, editors Isar and Anheier bring together a truly international and highly-respected collection of scholars. In doing so, they skilfully steer debates beyond the city as an economic powerhouse, to cover issues that fully comprehend a city's cultural dynamics and its impact on policy including alternative economies, creativity, migration, diversity, sustainability, education and urban planning. Innovative in its approach and content, this book is ideal for students, scholars and researchers interested in sociology, urban studies, cultural studies, and public policy."--Publisher's website.