Introduction: The urban dilemmas of the European centre-left – Nik. Brandal and Øivind Bratberg
Part I: Structural conditions and electoral geography
1 Social structures in European cities – Hans Thor Andersen
2 Changing social democratic urban-rural cleavages – Jane Gingrich
3 Left-left compeition: an urban phenomenon? – Petar Bankov and Dan Keith
4 Urban labour markets and trade unions: a review of the challenges and opportunities – Christian Lyhne Ibsen
Part II: Party strategies
5 What and where are urban left mayors delivering in England? – Max Stafford, Georgina Blakeley and Thom Oliver
6 The painstaking forging of the liberal left in Polish cities – Anna Paczes´niak
7 The Danish Social Democratic Party and urban voters, 1900-2024 – Niels Wium Olesen and Rasmus M. Mariager
8 A social democratic holding strategy? Managing the greening and radicalisation of the left in Oslo – Øivind Bratberg
9 Managing multiculturalism in two Swedish cities – Lisa Pelling
Part III: Mobilisation and the party/movement interface
10 Comparing youth mobilisation by the urban centre-left in France and Spain – Mathieu Petithomme
11 Competing for the centre-left? Urban German Green Party activists and the party/movement interface – Chantal Sullivan-Thomsett
12 Social movements and the left at the subnational level in Central and Eastern Europe – Julia Rone, Ivaylo Dinev, and Karlo Kralj
13 Pitching tents and raising walls: Building a progressive alliance in UK cities and beyond
Conclusion – Nik. Brandal and Øivind Bratberg

The contemporary left is torn between two electorates: socially conservative working-class voters and a liberally inclined middle class. Are politics and policies that appeal to both even a possibility? Nowhere is this dilemma more acute than in the bigger cities; and yet, in no other political space are answers more likely to be found. It is here that a new progressive coalition is being shaped between social democratic, green, and radical left parties, driven by new policies and a changing interface towards social movements, but also internal competition over voters.

Social democracy and urban politics delves into the changing relationship between these three-party families on the urban scene. Through a set of case studies and conceptual chapters, this book examines the electoral geography, governing strategies, and mobilisation of the broad left. Attention is directed towards the structural conditions of European cities as well as parties’ response to them. The volume is further focused on the relationship between parties and civil society, and reflects upon how the left may learn from activism and localism outside of party structures.

If there is a future for social democratic politics, it requires lessons to be learnt and contradictions to be resolved. By homing in on unfolding processes in European cities, Social democracy and urban politics offers insight into the formation and dilemmas of a broader progressive alliance.