Resurgent Cities, Urban Myths and Policy Hubris: What We Need to Know

Structure and Aims of this Special IssueThis Special Issue has grown out of an inter-national Symposium on Resurgent Citiesheld in London in April 2004. More than40 papers were given on a range of issuesrelated to that unifying theme. We are nottrying to represent the sweep of these contri-butions here. It would not be possible, givenhow rich the available material was. Here,we have two, more narrowly focused objec-tives. The first is to put the idea of ‘resurgentcities’ on the research agenda. What does thisphrase really mean? What plausible hypo-theses underlie the idea that resurgence islikely or feasible now? How does it relate tothe facts of cities in OECD and other moredeveloped countries? Our second objective isto take the notion of resurgence as anexample of the need for a research agenda todevelop serious, fundamental, evidence-based research on urban issues beforerushing to judgement or formulating urbanpolicies on the basis of some new conven-tional wisdom(s). In this context, it is hopedthat this Special Issue forms something of amanifesto.2. Resurgence and the Functions of CitiesThe symposium was not predicated on theassumption that urban resurgence was univer-sal or even existed, but that it was a processfor which there was some current evidenceand—given the importance of cities insocial, economic and political terms—wasthereforeasubjectforseriousenquiry.Contri-butions showed that city resurgence was ahard concept to define precisely and theevidence suggested that, although happeningin some urban contexts, it was both far fromuniversal, even uncommon, and—moresignificantly—its causes were not clearlyunderstood. This sceptical caution is reflectedin the contributions of Glaeser and Gottlieb,Markusen and Schrock, Musterd, andStorper and Manville as well as Beauregard(2004). Indeed, Glaeser and Gottlieb’sreading of the evidence is much more suppor-tive of resurgence—at least in the US—beingmore relative than absolute.Emphasising the difficulty of definingexactly what is meant by urban resurgence,the contributors to this Special Issue all havesomewhat different versions, although allUrban Studies, Vol. 43, No. 8, 1231–1246, July 2006