Policy Press

Social Geography and Urban Studies

We publish a wide range of topical titles in this subject area. Have a browse through the different categories on the left to get a flavour of what is covered.

We are particularly well-known for our atlases on social geography and inequality which have featured widely in the media – look out for The human atlas of Europe and People and places in 2016.

Showing 37-48 of 110 items.

Sustainable London?

The Future of a Global City

Edited by Rob Imrie and Loretta Lees

An exploration of the rise of sustainable development policies in London by international authors. Essential reading for urban practitioners and policy makers, and students in social, urban and environmental geography, sociology and urban studies.

Policy Press

Hearing the Voices of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities

Inclusive Community Development

This book charts Gypsies Romany and Travellers community activism, and the community and voluntary organisations which support them. It describes the communities' struggle for rights against a backdrop of intersectional discrimination across Europe.

Policy Press

Community Action and Planning

Contexts, Drivers and Outcomes

Analyses the contexts, drivers and outcomes of community action and planning in the global north: from emergent neighbourhood planning in England to the community-based housing movement in New York, and from active citizenship in the Dutch new towns to associative action in Marseille.

Policy Press

Leading the Inclusive City

Place-Based Innovation for a Bounded Planet

This engaging book argues that imaginative place-based leadership can enable citizens to shape the urban future while advancing social justice, promoting care for the environment and bolstering community empowerment.

Policy Press

Renewing Europe's Housing

Expert contributors provide contemporary comparative accounts of housing renewal policy and practice in nine European countries. Shared concerns over energy conservation, social protection and inclusion, and the roles and responsibilities of public and private sectors, form the basis of a proposed policy agenda for housing renewal across Europe.

Policy Press

Negotiating Cohesion, Inequality and Change

Uncomfortable Positions in Local Government

Using original empirical data, this book explores how local government officers and politicians negotiate 'difficult subjects' linked with community cohesion policy: diversity, inequality, discrimination, extremism, migration, religion, class, power and change. Winner of the BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2014

Policy Press

Getting By

Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain

Lisa Mckenzie lived on the notorious St Ann’s estate in Nottingham for more than 20 years. Her ‘insider’ status enables us to hear the stories of its residents, often wary of outsiders, to give a unique account of life in poor communities in contemporary Britain.

Policy Press

Global Gentrifications

Uneven Development and Displacement

This comprehensive book uses a rich array of case studies from cities in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Southern Europe, and beyond to highlight the intensifying global struggle over urban space and underline gentrification as a growing and important battleground in the contemporary world.

Policy Press

How to Save Our Town Centres

A Radical Agenda for the Future of High Streets

Written in an engaging and accessible style, How to save our town centres asks whether the internet has killed our high streets and how the relationship between people and places is changing, how business is done and who benefits, and how the use and ownership of land affects us all.

Policy Press

Ethnic Identity and Inequalities in Britain

The Dynamics of Diversity

This important book is the first to offer in-depth analysis from the last three UK population censuses focusing on the dynamics of ethnic identity and inequalities in contemporary Britain, with contributions from experts based at or affiliated to the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity.

Policy Press

Resilience in the Post-Welfare Inner City

Voluntary Sector Geographies in London, Los Angeles and Sydney

Moving beyond theoretical notions of ‘resilience’ this is the first book to offer a conceptual and empirical approach to exploring and comparing the process of resilience across service ‘hubs’ in three complex but different global inner-city regions: London, Los Angeles and Sydney.

Policy Press

The Short Guide to Urban Policy

This text makes sense of the multiple ways in which urban issues and problems have been addressed in different places at different times. From initiatives that focus on social tensions within the urban realm, to those which seek to develop cities as economic entities, it provides an accessible discussion and critique of some key approaches.

Policy Press