Introduction

This volume seeks to address questions of urban crisis from an interdisciplinary perspective that foregrounds the particular roles that literature and the creative arts play in both conceptualizing and addressing the multiple challenges facing cities. Noting that the successive crises of recent years (from the 2008 recession to COVID-19) seem to have put an end to the triumphalist tone of much urban writing in the 1990s, this book argues that the current historical moment calls for a different kind of urban discourse, focused on reassessment and regrouping.

Content and Approaches

This edited collection features a variety of different approaches, including close readings of literary works, interviews, essays in cultural and architectural history, and sociological, ethnographic, and urban planning studies. These chapters explore a range of challenges currently faced by cities, and foreground the search for solutions.