Who shapes our cities? In an age of increasing urban pluralism globalization and immigration
decreasing public budgets and an ongoing crisis of authority among designers and planners the
urban environment is shaped by a number of non-traditional stakeholders. The book surveys the
kaleidoscope of views on the agency of urbanism providing an overview of the various scholarly
debates and territories that pertain to bottom-up efforts such as everyday urbanism DIY
urbanism guerilla urbanism tactical urbanism and lean urbanism. Uniquely this books seeks
connections between the various movements by curating a range of views on the past present
and future of bottom-up urbanism. The contributors also connect the recent trend of bottom-up
efforts in the West with urban informality in the Global South drawing parallels and finding
contrast between social and institutional structures across the globe. The book appeals to
urbanists in the widest sense of the word: those who shape study and improve our urban
spaces.
