Julie-Anne Boudreau - Global Urban Politics: Informalization of the State

As I write this, I sit

in yet another airport lobby,

waiting. The smog hangs

over the tarmac and the pall

bearers lift the city up.

I imagine the name

of the airline changes and that

I am on my way home.

Or to Paris.

Or to any impossible city like that.

Ruben Martinez, 1992

Polish butchers, car exports and luxurious lofts, Brussels, 2006

European advertisement in the subway, Brussels, 2006

Advertisement for a housing development named Urbania: The urban village

State-centred logic of political action

Urban logic of political action

Non-linear and linear conceptions of time

Tribute to the victims of the November 2015 attacks in Paris

A visual representation of global urban politics

We demand respect for Zapatista autonomy, Mexico City, 2014

Representation of President Carlos Salinas with the Chupacabras on his suit, Mexico City, 2016

Anarchopanda, Montreal, 2012

Five levels of political engagement

Ayotzinapa, rain of rage, Mexico City, 2014

Demonstration, 22 October 2014, in the Zcalo, Mexico City

Piles of plastic on residential lots, Hanoi, June 2009

A tomb soon to be moved for the construction of the An Khanh industrial zone, Hanoi, December 2008

Detail of the plan submitted by the developer for villagers' commercial lots, Hanoi, June 2009

Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor experiencing the urban world, Chicago, April 2015

This book project emerged when Emma Longstaff from Polity Press contacted me with the idea of writing something on global urban politics. I had been toying with the idea of writing a theoretical essay drawing from fieldwork I had conducted in the past decade, and Emma gave me the opportunity to develop this further. Jonathan Skerrett at Polity Press was most helpful in making sure this project came to fruition.

Writing with fieldwork material collected over a decade involves numerous people. I cannot name them all here. But when I came back to Montreal in 2005 to take a Canada Research Chair in urbanity, insecurity and political action, a space for intellectual exchanges and empirical fieldwork opened to me. I wish to thank Danielle Labb, Pham Thi Thanh Hien, Annick Germain, Jean-Pierre Collin, Frdric Lesemann, Johanne Charbonneau, Nicole Gallant, Andrea Rea, Valrie Amiraux, Steven High, David Austin, Marie-Hlne Bacqu, Coline Cardi, Gunola Capron, Sophie Didier, Claire Hancock, AbdouMaliq Simone, Diane Davis, Liette Gilbert, Alan Mabin, Anaik Purenne, ric Charmes, Laurence Bherer, Matthew Gandy and Roger Keil for passionate conversations and research collaborations over these years, in Hanoi, Brussels, Toronto, Johannesburg, Montreal, Lyon, Paris, Mexico City or Boston.

The VESPA (Ville et ESPAces politiques) is a laboratory we created at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique when I returned to Montreal in 2005. It would be lifeless without students from whom I learn continuously: Nathalie Boucher, Marilena Liguori, Frdrick Nadeau, Leslie Tour Kapo, Claire Carrou, Joelle Rondeau, Bochra Manai, Maude Sguin-Mangre, Alice Miquet, Mathieu Labrie, Ajouna Bao-Lavoie, Denis Carlier, Julien Rebotier, Godefroy Desrosiers-Lauzon, Stephanie Geertman, Claudio Ribeiro, Martin Lamotte, Laurence Janni, Dounia Salam, Alain Philoctte, Antoine Noubouwo, Muriel Sacco, Olivier Jacques, Dsire Rochat and many others. Alexia Bhreur-Lagounaris has played a special role in coordinating the VESPA and connecting us to the geek worlds of the Montreal multimedia scene.

The decade of work on which this book builds is also marked by my involvement on the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research editorial board. Exchanging with colleagues on the board and reading countless stimulating papers submitted to the journal has been one of the most rewarding experiences of this past decade. I cannot mention everyone here, but allow me to name two very special IJURR accomplices who have profoundly influenced my understanding of academic research: Terry McBride and Maria Kaika. As Maria often repeats, this is a labour of love.

I wrote large portions of this book sitting in airport lobbies, during endless commuting hours between Montreal and Mexico City. Many ideas of this book come from conversations with Felipe de Alba, who continues to open new urban worlds to our children and me. I am grateful for their patience while I was writing and accumulating stamps in my passport.

Although the material has been expanded here, fragments of this book were published previously in different forms: J. A. Boudreau and F. de Alba, 2011, The figure of the hero in cinematographic and urban spaces: fear and politics in Ciudad Juarez,