City politics is an ancient, enduring, and vibrant enterprise that can be traced back over two millennia. Its key concerns - reflected in the organization of this collection - include the nature of power, institutions, governance, community, scale, cross-national comparison, economic processes, as well as the urban citizenry itself and its uniquely urban problems and the public policy efforts to address such problems. The study of these concerns is inherently interdisciplinary, as local political processes are largely shaped by social forces, spatial dynamics, ethnic ethos, and economic factors.