North American gated communities, African squatter settlements, European housing estates, and Chinese urban villages all share one thing in common: they represent types of suburban space. As suburban growth becomes the dominant urban process of the twenty-first century, its governance poses an increasingly pressing set of global challenges.

In Suburban Governance: A Global View, editors Pierre Hamel and Roger Keil have assembled a groundbreaking set of essays by leading urban scholars that assess how governance regulates the creation of the world’s suburban spaces and everyday life within them. With contributors from ten countries on five continents, this collection covers the full breadth of contemporary developments in suburban governance. Examining the classic North American model of suburbia, contemporary alternatives in Europe and Latin America, and the emerging suburbanisms of Africa and Asia, Suburban Governance offers a strong analytical introduction to a vital topic in contemporary urban studies.

Pierre Hamel is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the Université de Montréal. He is affiliated with CÉRIUM at the same university. His research interests focus on three themes: 1) urban policies; 2) collective action; 3) institutional regulation of social and economic inequalities. He has published extensively on social movements, urban politics, governance and local democracy. He is the editor of the journal Sociologie et sociétés.

Pierre Hamel's profile page

Roger Keil is York Research Chair in Global Sub/Urban Studies in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto. A former director of York’s City Institute, he researches global suburbanization, urban political ecology, and regional governance. He is the editor of Suburban Constellations (2013) and co-editor (with Pierre Hamel) of Suburban Governance: A Global View (2015).

Roger Keil's profile page

‘I would advise anyone interested in understanding suburban processes in a global context to read this book.’

Journal of Planning Education and Research vol 37:01:2017

‘The authors of this book should be applauded for providing us with a volume that stimulates discussion on the meaning of the (sub) urban and governance in today’s global (sub)urbanization.’

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research October 2016

‘Many of the book’s essays offer rewarding and provocative overviews of suburban development in particular countries and regions and deserve to be read by anyone interested in the diverse ways in which suburbanization is changing our world.’

Canadian Journal of Urban Research vol 24:01:2015