2014 Urban Affairs Association Conference

This colloquy is based on a special issue in the journal Urban Research and Practice, preliminarily titled “Into the Twenty-First Century: North American Urban Governance and Development in a Global Context” (forthcoming in late 2013). We attempt to provide a comprehensive overview not merely of recent developments in North American urban studies but also to engage the nature of the field itself and its inherent fragmentation. In selecting the articles for the special issue, and the speakers for this panel, I have included a range of studies focused on common themes in our diverse discipline. We do not draw on studies focused on a dominant or common paradigm, but instead present a collection of research using different methods, different contexts, and different theoretical constructs. Mostly, this collection of research aims to demonstrate the ways in which the diversity or fragmentation of the current moment serves as a strength of the field. Colloquy speakers will also engage in a poignant debate on the new directions in which studies of North American urban politics is developing under the influence of globalization. Furthermore, the purpose of the special issue and this panel is to encourage dialogue between different perspectives and methodologies within the field in order to benefit from the great variety in approaches of urban studies scholars. Specifically, the scholars on this panel contemplate the nature of economic development, the scale of governance in North American regions, the intense debate regarding public housing in U.S. cities, and the ways in which new forms of governance continually alter the urban experience in North American cities.