Anglo-American cities face economic decline, social polarisation and racial conflict. Their fate is increasingly decided by the global actions of transnational corporations and market forces. Community groups find it difficult to gain access to the political system. Ethnic minorities strive for empowerment while indebted city governments battle to maintain basic services. Such is the urban crisis of the 1990s. Fractured Cities describes the political economy of urban change and explores the future of the city.

`The range and depth of new developments he explores will surprise the expert and instruct the beginner ... Local governments are privatizing and trimming national state agencies, creating competitive service providers, involving citizens in service delivery specifics, and trying high tech tools. Jacobs provides a road map to all this and more.' - Political Studies

` ... this is a stimulating book, and will have served its purpose admirably if it manages to introduce a broader, theoretically inquisitive, audience .' - Environment and Planning A

`A comprehensive introduction to urban politics in the United States and Britain which both surveys recent developments and explains the theoretical and political significance of these changes ... an important contribution to recent urban political economy.' - Desmond S. King, St John's College, Oxford.