Contemporary Practices of Citizenship in Asia and the West

This book was published in early 2020 and is the second in a series examining urban societies in Asia and the West. The first book, ‘Ancient and Modern Practices of Citizenship in Asia and the West’, was published in 2019, while a third volume, ‘Future Practices of Citizenship in Asia and the West’ is being planned (a first exploration of its themes is being proposed as an organised roundtable at ICAS 12 entitled ‘The Right to the City in the Digital Age’ under the theme ‘Fostering global understanding essential to humanity’s shared future’). This book contains papers that examine some of the issues that have emerged as the world experiences its new urban turn. An urbanized world should be an improving place, one that is better to live in, and one where humans can flourish. These examinations of contemporary practices of citizenship in cities in Asia and the West highlight challenges to citizenship and even the right to the city itself. Written by academics from various different backgrounds (including architecture, urbanism, anthropology, social science, psychology, gender studies, history, and philosophy) their trans- and multidisciplinary approaches shed valuable light on what are sometimes quite old problems, leading to fresh perspectives and news ways of dealing with them. One thing that unites all of these papers is their people-centred approach, because, after all, a city is its people. The discussant, Ian Lewis, who will comment on the book, is a contributor to the first volume in the series.