Policy Press

Cities and communities

Our publishing on key issues around urbanisation - including housing, inadequate and overburdened services, pollution, overcrowded or inaccessible public transport - addresses many of the challenges posed in the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

We acknowledge that, with Asia and Africa set to have the largest and fastest increase in urbanisation by 2050 the Global South is a critical area for study accompanying and informing work on the Global North.

The Urban Policy, Planning and the Built Environment series looks in particular at the contested nature of government intervention in the urban land and housing market, and how urban governance, planning and design processes respond to increasing social complexity, socio-spatial diversity and the goal of democratic renewal.

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In Cities and communities, we aim to address the following goal:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities

Showing 49-60 of 257 items.

Inhabitation in Nature

Houses, People and Practices

Rejecting the assumption that housing and cities are separate from nature, David Clapham advances a new research framework that integrates housing with the rest of the natural world. Demonstrating the impact of housing on the non-human environment, the book considers the future direction of inhabitation policies on climate change and biodiversity.

Policy Press

Refugee Youth

Migration, Justice and Urban Space

Telling the stories of young refugees in a range of international settings, this book explores how newcomers navigate urban spaces and negotiate multiple injustices in their everyday lives, giving voice to refugee youth from a wide variety of social backgrounds.

Bristol Uni Press

Rural Poverty Today

Experiences of Social Exclusion in Rural Britain

Many people living in rural areas face hardship but the UK’s welfare system is poorly adapted to meet their needs, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and cutbacks exacerbating pressures. This book combines person-based and place-based approaches to tackling rural poverty.

Policy Press

Disrupted Urbanism

Situated Smart Initiatives in African Cities

The ‘smart city’ is often promoted as a technology-driven solution to complex urban issues. Drawing on original research conducted in urban African settings, this book provides a much-needed alternative view, exploring how ‘home-grown’ digital disruption, driven and initiated by local actors, upending the mainstream corporate narrative.

Bristol Uni Press

Precarious Urbanism

Displacement, Belonging and the Reconstruction of Somali Cities

This book explores relationships between war, displacement and city-making. Focusing on people seeking refuge in Somali cities after being forced to migrate by violence, environmental shocks or economic pressures, it highlights how these populations are actively transforming urban space.

Bristol Uni Press

It’s Not Where You Live, It's How You Live

Class and Gender Struggles in a Dublin Estate

This ground-breaking and compelling book shows in fine detail the life struggles of those who live on a public housing estate in Dublin. Combining long-term research into residents’ lived experience with critical realist theory, it provides a completely fresh perspective on public housing in Ireland and arguably, beyond.

Policy Press

What Town Planners Do

Exploring Planning Practices and the Public Interest through Workplace Ethnographies

Presenting the complexities of doing planning work, with its moral and practical dilemmas, this rich ethnographic study analyses today’s planning scene through the stories of four diverse working environments.

Policy Press

Peacebuilding, Conflict and Community Development

How can local communities effectively build peace and reconciliation before, during and after open violence? This trailblazing book gives practical examples, from the Global North and Global South, on communities alleviating conflict and enabling transformation in divided societies.

Policy Press

Stay Home

Housing and Home in the UK during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically exposed weaknesses in UK housing, with housing inequality contributing to the unequal impact of the disease. Becky Tunstall assesses the position of housing in public policy and health, and the most immediate responses to the pandemic in one convenient resource for students, scholars and practitioners.

Policy Press

Young People, Radical Democracy and Community Development

Focusing on youth activism for greater equality, liberty and mutual care - radical democracy - this timely collection explores the movement’s impacts on community organisations and workers. Essays from the Global North and Global South cover the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental activism and the struggles of refugees.

Policy Press

Landscapes of Hate

Tracing Spaces, Relations and Responses

Providing a much-needed perspective on exclusion and discrimination, this book offers a distinct spatial approach to the topic of hate studies. It illustrates the role of specific spaces and places in shaping hate crime, and highlights efforts to challenge cultures of hate.

Bristol Uni Press

The Rise of the Infrastructure State

How US–China Rivalry Shapes Politics and Place Worldwide

Wide-ranging and even-handed, this book offers a fresh interpretation of the territorial logic of US-China rivalry, and explores what it means for countries across Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America.

Bristol Uni Press