This project aims at furthering our understanding of the city as political space. Today, cities around the world enhance their position vis-à-vis a predominant, centralized state. Supported by vigorous economic and political development, cities increase their demands on autonomy and self-determination and have become powerful actors on the international scene. At the same time, trans-territorial networks emerge in which leading cities collaborate in a global context. In both these respects, a return of history seems apparent - metaphorically, we might refer to a "renaissance of the city-state". Two lines of reasoning mark the foci of the project: lines of reasoning that refer to the dual meaning of this renaissance and that, in extension, constitute corner-stones in a theoretical understanding of urbanity as social space. First, the project is directed towards the city's internal or local character and the city's function as a spatial foundation for the organization of politics. Second, it focuses on the city as a political node in trans-territorial global networks. The discussion boils down to an integrated analysis of the city as an interface between local and global politics. At heart stands the city's capacity to successfully navigate in this field of tension, illustrated through case studies of three contemporary cities. However, the analysis also aims at uncovering a new multifaceted political order marked by several partially-overlapping levels of authority.