This collection investigates how economic restructuring and evolving governance models have fundamentally reshaped the social and spatial landscape of cities in advanced capitalist societies during the late 20th century. Edited by Nick Jewson and Susanne MacGregor, the volume compiles scholarly essays that analyze the intersection of urban policy and social inequality. The authors argue that contemporary urban development is characterized by new mechanisms of regulation and control that exacerbate patterns of social exclusion and deprivation.

Experts recognize this collection as a significant contribution to urban sociology and political economy during the late 1990s. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for researchers and students of urban studies.