IDENTITIES, CITIZENSHIP AND POWER IN THE CITIES

In this introduction to selected papers from the Tenth Urban Change an d Conflict Conference (UCC), held at Royal Holloway University of Lond on in September 1995, we offer some thoughts on the contemporary healt h of urban studies, UCC conferences have always been characterised by their commitment to analysing the social relations of (political) oppr ession and domination which underpin the dynamics of cities, This has entailed some commitment to political economy yet, in recent years, th e so-called 'interpretative' turn has challenged the relevance of poli tical economy approaches to the study of cities, However, the papers p resented at the Tenth UCC conference point towards the importance of ( re)engaging with political economy and with recognising the ways in wh ich a political economy of urbanism is able to capture the complexitie s of contemporary social and economic life.