How transformative can a democratic project of the urban be?

Abstract

In our initial paper we presented the urban as a question of democracy. The aim was to advance thinking about democracy through thinking about the urban, to use contemporary urban theory to theorise contemporary democracy. Seeing Democracy Like a City involves looking differently at the urban world out there, but also looking a little differently at the world of urban research in journals like this one. Underpinning our work was the epistemological release arising from an urban ontology of politics, as the state shuffles stage right and urbanity moves centre stage. The forum articles suggest that seeing democracy like a city can be inspiring. But the question of how transformative this approach can actually be is posed by all the authors. In this rejoinder we highlight some of the issues we think are crucial to address this question and to unlock the transformative potential of an urban democracy.