BOOK REVIEW: Negotiating Urban Conflict – Conflicts as Opportunity for Urban Democracy by Nanke Verloo
BOOK REVIEW: Negotiating Urban Conflict – Conflicts as Opportunity for Urban Democracy by Nanke Verloo

Summary/Abstract: This review critiques Nanke Verloo's book ‘Negotiating Urban Conflict – Conflicts as Opportunity for Urban Democracy’. The book mixes elements of ethnography and narrative analysis to investigate three urban conflicts that took place in Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Verloo utilizes a remarkable research approach that focuses on learning from people rather than learning about people. The conclusions include notions about the importance of gestures, public ownership and listening to people. The book does not sufficiently elaborate on the dangers of becoming affiliated with the people's views while conducting ethnographic research and contradicts its bottom-up approach by being not accessible to the broader public due to unnecessarily sophisticated language and an overloaded theory chapter. However, its unique research approach with bottom-up focus and narration-like case studies make it an outstanding book with high practical relevance for urban policy makers that are involved in conflict resolution.

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