In recent decades, the field of urban studies has neglected the question of the hinterland: the city's complex, changing relations to the diverse noncity landscapes that support urban life. Neil Brenner and Nikos Katsikis argue that this ‘hinterland question’ remains essential, but must also be radically reimagined under contemporary conditions.@en

Contemporary conceptualizations of the urban condition emphasize the specific geographies, dynamics and consequences of city-building processes, whether in specific regional contexts or as a national, continental or global aggregation. The urban is conceived with reference to the conditions, morphologies and transformations of the city, a specific type of human settlement or techno-infrastructure that is contrasted to other, putatively non-urban spaces. Prior to the 1970s, the field of urban studies devoted extensive attention to the role of non-city landscapes in the urbanization process. The major contemporary counterpoints to this hegemonic, city-centric approach to urban studies are associated with various streams of urban ecological thought.@en

In recent decades, the field of urban studies has neglected the question of the hinterland: the city's complex, changing relations to the diverse noncity landscapes that support urban life. Neil Brenner and Nikos Katsikis of the Urban Theory Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Design argue that this ‘hinterland question’ remains essential, but must also be radically reimagined under contemporary conditions.

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