Includes bibliographical references and index.

Making sense of the city / Charlotte Williams -- Social work and the Urban Age / Charlotte Williams -- Beyond the soup kitchen / Charlotte Williams -- Reconstructing urban social work / Charlotte Williams -- Social work research and the city / Charlotte Williams -- Social issues and the city: new directions in practice / Charlotte Williams -- Superdiversity and the city / Dirk Geldof -- Ageing in urban environments: challenges and opportunities for a critical social work practice / Chris Phillipson and Mo Ray -- Disabling cities and repositioning social work / Michael J. Prince -- Care austerity and resistance / Donna Baines -- Homelessness in western cities / Carole Zufferey -- Living on the edge: new forms of poverty and disadvantage on the urban fringe / Sonia Martin and Robin Goodman -- Educating for urban social work / Susie Costello and Julian Raxworthy -- Conclusion: urban themes in twenty-first century social work / Charlotte Williams.

"This book critically explores ways of thinking about the city and its relevance for the profession of social work. It provides a colourful illustration of practice drawing on examples of social work responses to a range of issues emerging from the unprecedented scale, density and pace of change in cities. The associated challenges posed for social work include: the increased segregation of the poor, the crisis of affordable housing, homelessness, gentrification, ageing, displacement as a result of migrations, and the breakdown of social support and care. Drawing on multiple disciplines, this groundbreaking work shows that these familiar features of the twenty-first century can be counteracted by the positive aspects of the city: its innovation, creativity and serendipity. It has a redistributive, caring and cohesive potential. The city can provide new opportunities and resources for social work to influence, to collaborate, to foster participation and involvement, and to extend its social justice mandate. The book shows that the city represents a critical arena in terms of the future of social work intervention and social work identity. In doing so, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of social work, social policy, community work and urban studies" -- Provided by publisher.