Over the past few years, a significant body of research has offered insights into the politics of urban development. Most notably, government-led redevelopment has received a great deal of attention, because many local and national governments shifted from their position of facilitator to initiator of redevelopment. In response to a new political economy at subnational levels in which cities were in pursuit of “global city” status, urban redevelopment became associated not only with development and prosperity but also with displacement and inequality. In this field, a series of studies examining urban redevelopment under neoliberalism in cities competing for economic status have been conducted in the past 20 years. Eleonora Pasotti is one of the emerging scholars on this subject, recognizing the role of political city branding in transforming poor neighborhoods in culturally rich areas, thereby making them ready for middle- and high-class consumption. In this important new work, Resisting Redevelopment: Protest in Aspiring Global Cities, Pasotti examines the politics behind urban competition, confronted by insurgent practices of urban redevelopment resistance, in an empirical, comparative study that presents the elements of successful mobilizations and describes their policy impact.

As the title suggests, this work focuses on protest campaigns against redevelopment in aspiring global cities. The author is particularly concerned about successful contentious practices that involve “experiential tools.” These are instruments of protest that draw on emotional personal experiences and symbolic resources and have a grassroots orientation, “aimed at building a sense of collective identity” (p. 124). This book tackles two main questions: How have citizens adapted to redevelopment resistance, and under what conditions does resistance take place? Its objective is to provide a comprehensive examination of the reasons why local residents protest against gentrification, the residents’ perspective on redevelopment, and the factors behind variance in protest. To reach this goal, Pasotti implements a productive engagement between social movements studies and urban studies, a type of approach that is being increasingly used by political scientists, sociologists, and geographers concerned about the dynamics of urban social mobilization in the context of a neoliberal political economy. The book is organized around 29 anti-gentrification campaigns covering the period of one decade in 10 cities in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Resisting Redevelopment is divided into three main parts, one theoretical and two empirical. The first part sets the scene for the comparison and elaboration of the concept of experiential tools to define contemporary neoliberal politics of urban development, in which global city status is achieved by displacement and social injustice. This part also presents the author’s methodological choices. Experiential tools serve varied purposes: from city branding to facilitation of citizen mobilization, these tools contribute to participants' commitments and enthusiasm, encouraging them to socialize and have fun. Experiential tools can also promote solidarity among participants and in some cases are a significant element of a protest’s success, such as the case of the Yougay neighborhood in Santiago (Chile), which successfully blocked extreme gentrification by relying heavily on experiential tools and wider networks.

The second part of the book is dedicated to the elements of successful protests. Pasotti emphasizes the ways protesters were able to achieve success using experiential tools for sustainable citizen engagement as part of a new repertoire of contention. To explain success, the author discusses displacement and the drivers of resistance, arguing that protesters’ success is often unexpected in the face of dominant pro-growth regimes and coalitions (p. 7). Here, she explores the concept of experiential tools in practice, as participants become able to define their own identity, enjoying socialization and promoting solidarity in public events that (re)connect them to the city space—festivals, art expositions, games, heritage documents, and city walks, to cite a few. In other words, in conjunction with other variables, such as wider networks, previous protest experiences, and the presence of strong allies, experiential tools can shape and define mobilization values and identities.

The third part of the book focuses on the policy impact of protest. In analyzing not just the most successful cases, Pasotti examines variation in the outcomes of protest, with attention to the various degrees of success in different political contexts.

As an important contribution to urban studies and contentious politics, Resisting Redevelopment opens the door for new understandings of why people mobilize and how social movements grow and expand. The book addresses such a rich collection of cases, contexts, social actors, and forms of collective action that it would be impossible to give equal attention to them all in this short review. Consequently, I mention three important contributions.

The first is its expansion and operationalization of the concept of experiential tools. Building from previous work on “frame alignment process” (David A. Snow et al., “Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation,” American Sociological Review, 51 [4], 1986), Pasotti shows that experiential tools are a key instrument for successful protest action. In showing why and how protesters used experiential tools, the book brings this approach to prominence and emphasizes how the sense of belonging to a place can serve to trigger collective action (in combination with the other elements previously mentioned).

The second contribution points to the dual role of cultural producers in gentrification as meaningful political actors. While producing arts and resistance, cultural producers simultaneously help make areas considered unworthy or rundown more palatable for the wealthy population, thereby making these areas more attractive for tourists and investors. Several cases in the book illustrate this point, but it was in the case of Boyle Heights (Los Angeles) that the role of cultural producers in the gentrification process surfaced most strongly.

The third contribution relates to the book’s research design. Embracing an innovative qualitative comparative analysis approach, the author presents clear reasoning for the selection of cases (based on city indexes) and the logical criteria for inclusion and exclusion of cases. Setting up the variables of interest clearly in the beginning helps clarify the presentation of cases and the theoretical analysis. Pasotti is in fact a skillful writer, and the presentation of cases and narratives of protest makes this book a pleasant read. A line of argument not developed in the book, however, was a focus on development alternatives. When the urban space is the center of overlapping cultural, economic, and spatial conflicts, innovative approaches might be pushed forward into day-to-day practices. A further area of research could be how innovative protest experiences are integrated into legal and governance systems.

Overall, the book offers a valuable discussion of contentious politics and urban redevelopment in the context of resistance to gentrification. It should appeal to those interested in urban social movements and contemporary struggles against gentrification around the globe.