This innovative book applies the metaphor of Dracula to understand a highly controversial reality that marks so many cities today: how the rage of smart city development and growth proceeds, is organized, and produces benefits for some and afflicts others.

It also explores how social science research into these issues may be informed by the insights of gothic literature as conceptual bonds are forged between the social sciences and the humanities. Focusing on Miami and Mexico City, the book reveals a new quiet warfare being unleashed on the poor and a “Dracula-like” development conduct being rolled out that spreads rapidly across the globe.

This book will appeal to students, researchers, and informed readers interested in urban studies, city planning, urban sociology, critical geography, and literature studies. The book is lucidly written and substantively deep to enhance classroom teaching and provide important details for research on urban redevelopment, city restructuring, and societal change. On the popular front, non-academic readers will find the book enriching and compelling, as only few books clearly and provocatively link the shadows of gothic horror with contemporary realities in cities.