Peripheral Centralities

The majority of the peripheries and in-between spaces of the planet’s urban regions are living spaces and working landscapes. Despite this, we understand little about the centrality of urban peripheries as the sites and spaces for some of the most imaginative, anticipatory, and purposeful instances of urbanism. This volume demonstrates the centrality of urban peripheries in all their variety with a view to reworking urban, architectural, design, planning, infrastructural, sociological, ecological, and geographical theory from the outside in. The book also examines the relationships of these new centralities to the metabolisms, assemblages, and urban political ecologies that exist beyond the built and imagined materialities of their immediate situation.

Peripheral Centralities challenges the premise that the city and its downtown are the primary urban centers. A must read for any urbanist.

–Bernadette Hanlon, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, Ohio State University

This groundbreaking volume presents a novel epistemology of the urban. Peripheral Centralities is a call to action for the next generation of scholars as it brings about new imaginaries and provokes courageous and innovative thinking.

–Camilla Perrone, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning Unit, University of Florence

Peripheral Centralities is rich in international examples, stylish and accessible. It is an original, imaginative exploration of the centrality of suburbanization to contemporary urban theory and built environment practice.

–Fulong Wu, Bartlett Professor of Planning, University College London

• Features pioneering writing and illustrations on designed centralities in urban peripheries
• Presents a range of international examples covering most continents
• Offers novel theoretical interpretations from across the built environment disciplines

Nicholas A. Phelps ist Professor für Stadtplanung an der Universität Melbourne. Er veröffentlichte zahlreiche Bücher und Artikel in internationalen Fachzeitschriften. Seine Forschungsarbeit zur Suburbanisierung wird von der britischen ESRC, der British Academy und der Urban Studies Foundation gefördert.

Roger Keil ist Professor an der Fakultät für Umwelt- und Stadtentwicklung der York University in Toronto, Kanada. Zudem ist er ehemaliger Herausgeber des International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, ehemaliger Direktor des City Institute der York University sowie Leiter eines großen Forschungskonsortiums zu globalem Suburbanismus. Keils Forschungsschwerpunkte umfassen globale Suburbanisierung, Stadt- und Infektionskrankheiten, Regionalverwaltung und urbane politische Ökologie.

Paul J. Maginn ist Extraordinarius für Stadt- und Regionalplanung an der University of Western Australia. Er ist Direktor des UWA Public Policy Institute und war Chefredakteur von Urban Policy and Research, Australasiens führender Fachzeitschrift für Urbanistik. Maginn forscht unter anderem zu strategischer Großstadtplanung, australischem und globalem Suburbanismus, Stadtpolitik, Multikulturalismus und Geografien der Sexindustrie.

Nicholas A. Phelps is chair of urban planning at the University of Melbourne. He has published numerous books and over a hundred peer-reviewed journal articles internationally. His work on suburbanization derives from UK ESRC, British Academy and Urban Studies Foundation research grants.

Roger Keil is a professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change of York University in Toronto, Canada. A previous editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, former director of York University’s City Institute, and principle investigator of a large research consortium on global suburbanisms, Keil’s research areas are global suburbanization, cities and infectious diseases, regional governance, and urban political ecology.

Paul J. Maginn is an associate professor for urban and regional planning at the University of Western Australia. He is Director of the UWA Public Policy Institute and was Editor-in-Chief of Australasia’s leading urban studies journal, Urban Policy and Research from 2014-2023. Maginn’s research expertise/interests include: strategic metropolitan planning, Australian/global suburbanisms, urban policy, multiculturalism, and, geographies of the sex industry.