This book traces the origins of constitutional silence about the metropolis; explores how urban agglomeration affects the theory and practice of constitutional democracy; examines the constitutional status and jurisprudence of megacity autonomy/dependence; advances new arguments for granting the metropolis adequate constitutional standing; and probes the political economy of state-city constitutional relations across time and place.

Ran Hirschl is Professor of Political Science & Law at the University of Toronto. As of 2016, he holds the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship in Comparative Constitutionalism, having been granted a coveted AvH International Research Award (the most highly-endowed research award in Germany) by the Humboldt Foundation. From 2006 to 2016 he held the Canada Research Chair in Constitutionalism, Democracy and Development at the University of Toronto. In 2014, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC)--the highest academic accolade in that country. The official citation describes him as "one of the world's leading scholars of comparative constitutional law, courts and jurisprudence."

• Introduction: An Urban Era


• Chapter 1: The Sound of Constitutional Silence


• Chapter 2: The Metropolis in "Old World" Constitutional Law


• Chapter 3: Constitutional Innovation in Governing the Metropolis:


• Law, Economic, Politics


• Chapter 4: Attempts at City Self-Empowerment


• Chapter 5: Rethinking City Constitutional Status


• Acknowledgments, List of Cases Cited, Index