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How do we find new ways of urban being and doing? This edited collection explores how global capitalism has shaped cities into sites of inequality, precarity and alienation—spaces designed to serve profit rather than people. Drawing on diverse examples, the book analyses how urban life is failing under current economic systems and offers real-world alternatives that promote human flourishing.
From rethinking urban governance to exploring community-led initiatives, the collection offers evidence-based visions for cities grounded in care, equity and social purpose. It is a vital resource for anyone seeking to understand and transform urban life in the face of deepening global crises.
Rowland Atkinson is Chair in Inclusive Societies at the University of Sheffield.
Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield.
Jonathan Silver is Senior Research Fellow at the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield.
1. Introduction: Less Than, Different From, Not: How to Be an Anticapitalist City - Rowland Atkinson, Emma Mahoney, Beth Perry and Jon Silver
Part 1: Transforming Politics, Governance and Democracy
2. Democracy in the Anticapitalist City: Collective Urban Life at Interstitial Distances to the State - Ross Beveridge and Philippe Koch
3. The Anticapitalist City: Evidence from the UK, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and Chile - Gabriel Silvestre
Part 2: Tackling Hegemonies of Wealth, Power and Technology
4. The Antiracist, Anticapitalist City - Rex McKenzie
5. How to Be an ‘Anticapitalist Anticapitalist’ City - Rowland Atkinson, Hang Kei Ho and Sharda Rozena
6. Police Abolition in Less Capitalist Cities - SJ Cooper-Knock and Kamau Wairuri
Part 3: Making Space for Living and Breathing
7. Social Solidarity, Decommodification and Social Housing - Nick Clare, Joe Kearsey, Shaun French and Theo Barry Born
8. Collective Escape, Community Growing and the Anticapitalist City - Helen Traill
9. How Should We Power the Anticapitalist City? - Vanesa Castán Broto and Linda Westman
Part 4: Nurture and Compassion
10. Disabling the Capitalist City: Enabling the Anticapitalist, Antiableist City - Antonios Ktenidis and Amro Yaghi
11. Towards a Less Capitalist City for Children and Families - Karen Laing, Claire Rodgerson and Liz Todd
12. Joy and Play: Social Infrastructure and Young People - Catherine Malpass and Beth Perry
Part 5: Capitalism’s Past, Present and Future
13. Interrogating the Past to Think About the Future: Working in and Against Capitalism - Allan Cochrane
14. Walking the Anticapitalist City into Being - Morag Rose
15. Building Common Urban Resources - Jess Steele
Part 6: Assembling Anticapitalist Cities
16. Taking Apart to Put Back Together - Beth Perry, Rowland Atkinson, Emma Mahoney and Jon Silver
17. Propositions for Anticapitalist Cities - All Authors
18. The State and Anticapitalist Infrastructure - Mary Lawhon
19. The Seeds of Post-capitalism: Urban Gardening - Owain Hanmer