This section brings together a series of essays that critically engage with foundational and emerging debates in urban theory. Each piece interrogates how cities are shaped by intersecting forces of governance, capital, spatial justice, informality, and everyday lived experience. The essays reflect a commitment to rigorous analysis, contextual specificity, and interdisciplinary perspectives, ranging from postcolonial urbanism and the politics of exclusion to questions of belonging, regeneration, and housing futures. Through diverse case studies and theoretical frameworks, this collection offers nuanced insight into the contested landscapes and transformative processes at the heart of contemporary urbanism.