A Modern Guide to Urban Poverty
Will be published approx. on 16. June 2026
Book
Hardback
314 pages
978-1-80088-968-2 (ISBN)
Description
This Modern Guide provides a new conceptual framework and vocabulary for understanding and addressing urban poverty in contemporary societies. Contributing authors examine detailed case studies from cities in the Global North and South, adopting a range of approaches from quantitative analyses to in-depth ethnographies.
Chapters highlight how large groups of newly urbanized populations develop informal strategies to cope with extreme living conditions in poor neighborhoods or shantytowns. They illustrate how, amid violence and conflict, these populations create networks of solidarity, forms of resilience and political collectives that demand better living conditions and the right to the city. The book also assesses the ambivalent role of public policies in mitigating or exacerbating urban poverty and explores the emerging realities and trajectories of urban poverty.
A Modern Guide to Urban Poverty is a crucial resource for scholars and students of sociology, urban planning, human geography and anthropology. Its insights on the complex interplay of the social, economic and political processes that generate urban poverty are also highly relevant to policymakers and researchers in international NGOs.
Chapters highlight how large groups of newly urbanized populations develop informal strategies to cope with extreme living conditions in poor neighborhoods or shantytowns. They illustrate how, amid violence and conflict, these populations create networks of solidarity, forms of resilience and political collectives that demand better living conditions and the right to the city. The book also assesses the ambivalent role of public policies in mitigating or exacerbating urban poverty and explores the emerging realities and trajectories of urban poverty.
A Modern Guide to Urban Poverty is a crucial resource for scholars and students of sociology, urban planning, human geography and anthropology. Its insights on the complex interplay of the social, economic and political processes that generate urban poverty are also highly relevant to policymakers and researchers in international NGOs.
Reviews / Votes
'This book presents an overview of current knowledge on urban poverty. It admirably rises to the challenge of examining both the common structural causes and the specific forms of poverty in different countries and cities. It is a valuable tool for combating this scourge, which is prevalent in all regions of the world.' -- Serge Paugam, CNRS and EHESS, France 'This book offers an excellent picture of urban poverty worldwide, exploring its specificity and variation. Its chapters deliver a broad comparative and multiscalar perspective, covering different regimes, policies aimed at addressing the problem, and ways marginalized populations strategize to survive structural violence and create spaces for solidarity and resistance.' -- Eduardo Marques, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil 'With its wide international coverage, the book offers a comparative perspective based on the dynamics of urban poverty, for example, the interactions of family income, welfare and civic protections, the everyday practices of the poor, the dynamics of dispossession, precarity in the labour market, and informal opportunities. The coverage of the book is rich, as are its arguments.' -- Ash Amin, University of Cambridge, UKMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80088-968-2 (9781800889682)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Enrica Morlicchio, Full Professor of Economic Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Enzo Mingione, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and David Benassi, Full Professor of Economic Sociology, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
Content
Contents
Introduction: Urban poverty: from its origins to the contemporary global reality 1
David Benassi, Enzo Mingione, and Enrica Morlicchio
PART I MACRO PERSPECTIVES ON URBAN POVERTY
1 Urban poverty in the United States 19
Hilary Silver
2 Social innovation tackling poverty in European cities: the complexity of scales and social transformations 45
Tatjana Boczy and Yuri Kazepov
3 Urban poverty and policy in Africa 67
Jeremy Seekings
4 Urbanisation of poverty in China 88
Yunpeng Zhang
PART II URBAN POVERTY, DISPOSSESSION, AND RESISTANCE
5 Pipes, tunnels and veins: inhabiting the underground of dispossession in Bucharest, Romania 106
Michele Lancione
6 Urban poverty and informality in Southern Europe: a view from Naples 122
Giovanni Laino and Mario Trifuoggi
7 The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on urban poverty: a case of the northern region of Bangladesh 135
Khandaker MurshedaFarhana and Kazi Abdul Mannan
8 Community action, social capital, and care in Oliver Bond House's struggle against poverty in Dublin's inner city 157
L?i?d?i?a? ?K?a?t?i?a? ?C?.? ?M?a?n?z?o? ?
9 Dis/possessive geographies: poverty, violence, and private property in the proletarian neighborhoods of Mexico City 177
R?o?d?r?i?g?o? ?M?e?n?e?s?e?s? ?
10 The vulnerability context of homelessness in Delhi: evaluating the network shelter governance system 190
A?s?h?w?i?n? ?P?a?r?u?l?k?a?r? ?
PART III COMPARING URBAN POVERTY
11 Urban poverty and street vending in Mexico City and Milan 226
D?i?e?g?o? ?C?o?l?e?t?t?o? ?a?n?d? ?Veronica Crossa ?
12 Bricolage at the urban periphery: poor people's strategies in Argentina and Ecuador 246
M?a?r?i?c?a?r?m?e?n? ?H?e?r?n?an?d?e?z? ?a?n?d? ?J?a?v?i?e?r? ?A?u?y?e?r?o? ?
13 The "double movement" and the distribution of urban poverty amongst Lagos and Mexico City's waste workers 267
C?om?e? ?S?a?l?v?a?i?r?e?
Introduction: Urban poverty: from its origins to the contemporary global reality 1
David Benassi, Enzo Mingione, and Enrica Morlicchio
PART I MACRO PERSPECTIVES ON URBAN POVERTY
1 Urban poverty in the United States 19
Hilary Silver
2 Social innovation tackling poverty in European cities: the complexity of scales and social transformations 45
Tatjana Boczy and Yuri Kazepov
3 Urban poverty and policy in Africa 67
Jeremy Seekings
4 Urbanisation of poverty in China 88
Yunpeng Zhang
PART II URBAN POVERTY, DISPOSSESSION, AND RESISTANCE
5 Pipes, tunnels and veins: inhabiting the underground of dispossession in Bucharest, Romania 106
Michele Lancione
6 Urban poverty and informality in Southern Europe: a view from Naples 122
Giovanni Laino and Mario Trifuoggi
7 The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on urban poverty: a case of the northern region of Bangladesh 135
Khandaker MurshedaFarhana and Kazi Abdul Mannan
8 Community action, social capital, and care in Oliver Bond House's struggle against poverty in Dublin's inner city 157
L?i?d?i?a? ?K?a?t?i?a? ?C?.? ?M?a?n?z?o? ?
9 Dis/possessive geographies: poverty, violence, and private property in the proletarian neighborhoods of Mexico City 177
R?o?d?r?i?g?o? ?M?e?n?e?s?e?s? ?
10 The vulnerability context of homelessness in Delhi: evaluating the network shelter governance system 190
A?s?h?w?i?n? ?P?a?r?u?l?k?a?r? ?
PART III COMPARING URBAN POVERTY
11 Urban poverty and street vending in Mexico City and Milan 226
D?i?e?g?o? ?C?o?l?e?t?t?o? ?a?n?d? ?Veronica Crossa ?
12 Bricolage at the urban periphery: poor people's strategies in Argentina and Ecuador 246
M?a?r?i?c?a?r?m?e?n? ?H?e?r?n?an?d?e?z? ?a?n?d? ?J?a?v?i?e?r? ?A?u?y?e?r?o? ?
13 The "double movement" and the distribution of urban poverty amongst Lagos and Mexico City's waste workers 267
C?om?e? ?S?a?l?v?a?i?r?e?