blends the most insightful classic and current political science and related literature with current issues in urban affairs. The book's integrative theme is 'power, ' demonstrating that the study of urban politics requires an analysist to look beyond the formal institutions and procedures of local government. The book also develops important subthemes: the impact of globalization; the dominance of economic development over competing local policy concerns; the continuing importance of race in the urban arena; local government activism versus the 'limits' imposed on local action by the American constitutional system and economic competition; and the impact of national and state government action on cities. engages students with pragmatic case studies and boxed material that use classic and current urban films and TV shows to illustrate particular aspects of urban politics. The book's substantial concluding discussion of local policies for environmental sustainability and green cities also appeals to today's students. Each chapter has been thoroughly rewritten to clearly relate the content to current events and academic literature, including the following: Mixing classic theory and research on urban politics with the most recent developments and data in urban and metropolitan affairs, is an ideal introductory textbook for students of metropolitan and regional politics and policy. The book's material on citizen participation, urban bureaucracy, policy analysis, and intergovernmental relations also makes the volume an appropriate choice for Urban Administration courses. Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http: //www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.