This book presents the findings of a major Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project into urban austerity governance in eight cities across the world (Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Melbourne, Dublin, Leicester, Montreal and Nantes). It offers comparative reflections on the myriad experiences of collaborative governance and its limitations. International contributors from across the social sciences discuss ways that citizens, activists and local states collaborate and come into conflict in attempting to build just cities. They examine the development of egalitarian collaborative governance strategies, provide innovative ideas and tools to extend emancipatory governance practices and show hopeful possibilities for cities beyond austerity and neoliberalism.