The renaissance in urban theory draws directly from a fresh focus on the neglected realities of cities beyond the west and embraces the global south as the epicentre of urbanism. This Handbook embraces the complex ways in which cities of the global south and the global north are rapidly shifting and the imperative for multiple genealogies of knowledge production and a diversity of empirical entry points to understand contemporary urban dynamics.

The Handbook works towards a geographical realignment in urban studies, bringing into conversation a wide array of cities across the global south - the ‘ordinary’, ‘mega’, ‘global’ and ‘peripheral.’ With interdisciplinary contributions from a range of leading international experts, this Handbook profiles an emergent and geographically diverse body of work. The contributions draw on conflicting and divergent debates to open up discussion on the meaning of the city in, or of, the global south, arguments that are fluid and increasingly contested both geographically and conceptually. The Handbook reflects on critical urbanism, the macroscale forces that shape cities including ideological, demographic and technological shifts, and rapidly changing global and regional economic dynamics. Working with southern reference points, the chapters present themes in urban politics, identity and environment in way to (re)frame our thinking about cities.

This Handbook is a celebration of scholars and scholarship committed to making urban futures better, more interesting, legible, sustainable, and more just. It engages the twenty first century city through a ‘southern urban’ lens to stimulate scholarly, professional and activist engagements with the city and ensure that the concerns that dominate Southern policy makers and scholars are appropriately profile.