Drawing on over 100 interviews she conducted across seven countries, a new book by A/Prof Hazel Easthope – The Politics and Practices of Apartment Living – explores the potential of private apartment developments (condominiums) to play an important role in modern cities and contribute to a positive urban future. Addressing the influences of housing markets, development practices, planning regimes, legal structures and social and cultural norms on the development and operation of condominiums, she argues that while the condominium is a child of the neo-liberal city, it has the potential to rebel against its parent by enabling local-level resident action, mobilising place-based politics, and facilitating the creation of local social ties. You can read more about the book or order a copy here; you can also receive a 35% discount by using the code EAST35.

Computational Urban Planning and Management for Smart Cities, co-edited by Prof Chris Pettit and contributed three chapters, was recently published by Springer. This state-of-the-art overview of Planning Support System applications in the context of Smart Cities, Big Data and Urban Futures will be launched in July at an international conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management in Wuhan, China. Also at the conference,  Chris and colleagues will run a 1-day masterclass on Future Cities in partnership with University College London’s Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis.