City, State

More than half of the world's population lives in cities; by 2050, it will be more than three quarters. Projections suggest that megacities of 50 million or even 100 million inhabitants will emerge by the end of the century, mostly in the Global South. This shift marks a major and unprecedented transformation of the organization of society, both spatially and geopolitically. Our constitutional institutions and imagination, however, have failed to keep pace with this new reality. Cities have remained virtually absent from constitutional law and constitutional thought, not to mention from comparative constitutional studies more generally. As the world is urbanizing at an extraordinary rate, this book argues, new thinking about constitutionalism and urbanization is desperately needed. In six chapters, the book considers the reasons for the "constitutional blind spot" concerning the metropolis, probes the constitutional relationship between states and (mega)cities worldwide, examines patterns of constitutional change and stalemate in city status, and aims to carve a new place for the city in constitutional thought, constitutional law and constitutional practice.

"More than half the world's population lives in cities; by 2050, it will be more than 75%. Cities are often the economic, cultural, and political drivers of states, and of globalization more generally. Yet, constitutionally-speaking, there has been little to no consideration of cities (and especially megacities, with populations exceeding those of many of the world's countries) as discrete or distinct constitutional or federal entities, with political identities and economic needs that often differ from rural regions or so-called "hinterlands." This book intends to taxonomize the constitutional relationship between states and (mega)cities and theorize a way forward for considering the role of the city in future. In six chapters and a conclusion, the book considers the reason for this "constitutional blind spot," the relationship between cities and hinterlands (the center/periphery divide), constitutional mechanisms for dealing with regional differences, a comparative constitutional analysis of urban-center autonomy, and recent and future innovations in city governance"--

"After a series of important books, Ran Hirschl has turned his attention to the constitutional status of cities. In City, State, he reveals a resounding constitutional 'silence' as to the status of cities in the old constitutional systems of Europe and North America and a contrasting level of focus and innovation in the Global South. Hirschl persuasively argues that the constitutional empowerment of cities holds promise for the great social problems of our day including representational fairness, socio-economic inequality and climate change. Delving deep into the fundamentals of the field, City, State challenges orthodox assumptions of constitutionalism and lays out new, rich veins of inquiry that will be influential for decades to come." -- Adrienne Stone, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne

"Transformative scholarship from the master of scholarly transformations and seminal studies. Ran Hirschl details how the state and provincial borders that structure constitutional law fail to capture the urban-rural divide that structures much constitutional politics, a divide Hirschl demonstrates that in regime after regime disempowers and impoverishes the places where the vast majority of the world's population lives." -- Mark A. Graber, Regents Professor, University of Maryland Carey School of Law

"Even though global cities have grown dramatically in size and importance, most constitutions - and hence legal scholars - have paid almost no attention to them. Hirschl's impressive, timely, and wide-ranging book fills a large hole in the literature. It explains why the economic strength of cities has so often been accompanied by weakness in the constitutional order, and then explores conditions under which urban residents have been able to carve out some constitutional autonomy, especially in developing countries. This book will be of great interest to legal scholars, social scientists, and urbanists." -- Jonathan Rodden, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research