Global South Urbanisms and Urban Sustainability—Challenges and the Way Forward

Abstract

In the 1990s a focus on large or global cities dominated urban research. This helped diversify urban studies but over-emphasized economic flows and global networks. The work primarily emphasized urban hierarchies Although several cities in the Global South have started to emerge as global cities, this is not where most urban people live, and African cities are generally underrepresented. Research has emphasized a wide range of issues to do with globalization and paid less attention to the space of cities themselves. The focus on hierarchy in the global cities also creates the impression that the most important urban examples are those at the top of the hierarchy. However, many cities remain "off the map" because they have limited global connections and this global focus has consigned a large number of them around the world to "theoretical irrelevance" (Robinson, 2015, p. 71). We hope this new section on cities of the Global South will help us to understand these issues related to globalization. We hope to see the differences explained in terms of diversity rather than hierarchy. By focusing on diversity, contestations, and distinctiveness it will be possible to emphasize "a world of ordinary cities" in the Global South rather than looking exclusively at "world cities"