Which cities would we like to live in today and in future? How have the fear of terrorism and large-scale migration movements, as well as social disparities, changed our public spaces? Who is involved in the complex transformations?

The Ambivalent City addresses the increasing fragmentation of our cities as a reaction to growing political, economic, and social pressure. The focus is on the increasing demand for security and monitoring and on the associated diminishment of freely accessible public spaces, social mixing, and communal participation. This is supplemented by the presentation of participative and self-governed movements that go against these occlusive tendencies. Furthermore, the role of photography in urban research is illuminated. The book advocates social diversityeven in seemingly uncertain timesand a new relevance of the concept of the Open City.