Large-scale megaprojects in urban development--often known as "Grands Projets"--are increasing in number all over the world. A new model for urban "regeneration" in which entire areas are reconceived in toto, they have become major drivers of economic change in cities. As such, these Grands Projets can be read as manifestations of the larger political agenda of their city, and they offer productive case studies to investigate current urban trends in a globally connected form of concentrated urbanization.

The Grand Projet looks into the adaptive and inclusive capacities that urban megaprojects can offer by focusing on sites in Paris, London, Hamburg, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Barcelona and Singapore. The book provides the first comprehensive reading of selected urban megaprojects in Asia and Europe, and a new, comparative view of their role in contemporary urban development.