This book offers an interdisciplinary and comparative study of the complex interplay between private versus public forms of organization and governance in urban residential developments. Bringing together top experts from numerous disciplines, including law, economics, geography, political science, sociology, and planning, this book identifies the current trends in constructing the physical, economic, and social infrastructure of residential communities across the world. It challenges much of the conventional wisdom about the division of labor between market-driven private action and public policy in regulating residential developments and the urban space, and offers a new research agenda for dealing with the future of cities in the twenty-first century. It represents a unique ongoing academic dialogue between the members of an exceptional group of scholars, underscoring the essentially of an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the study of private communities and urban governance. As such, the book will appeal to a broad audience consisting of policy-makers, practitioners, scholars, and students across the world, especially in developing countries and transitional and emerging economies. 

Prof. Amnon Lehavi (Yale, J.S.D.) is the Atara Kaufman Professor of Real Estate at the Radzyner School of Law at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, as well as IDCs Academic Director of the Gazit-Globe Real Estate Institute. He is a leading authority on property, real estate, land use controls, international economic law and law as it pertains to globalization.

Introduction.- 1. Can Condominium Associations Make the State Listen in China?.- 2. Private Communities, Social Capital, and the Quality of Governance.- 3. Building for Urban Success? Project Developments and Social Exclusivity in Germany.- 4. Community and Localism in a Heterogeneous Urban Space: The Case of Israel.- 5. Public, Private, and Community-Based Governance: Reflections from Latin American Cases.- 6. Urban renewal and Private governance: Condo-ism in Toronto and Jerusalem.- 7. Security in the Urban Space: Exploring Private Alternatives.- 8. Rethinking Residential Private Government in the United States: Recent Trends in Practices and Policy.- 9. European Condominium Law: Nine Key Choices.- 10. New Types and Trends of Condominiums in Post-Crisis Spain.- 11. Unlocking the Gates and Climbing Over the Walls: Opening Up Exclusive Communities.- 12. Religion and the Construction of Urban Spaces.- Conclusion.