The idea of cosmopolitan citizenship is commonly associated with cities, a
normative philosophical view of a liberal democratic world, and a cultural dimension of
diversity in globalisation. Following earlier - critical and affirmative - reflections of
cosmopolitan urbanism, recently, postcolonial scholars have revived the cosmopolitan claim
for cultural difference as epistemological critique of urban globalisation. But the contemporary
importance of cosmopolitanism as a postfoundational approach in the social sciences is
mostly attributed to the work of Ulrich Beck. Based on a review of the various meanings of the
cosmopolitan term in the current urban debate, this paper draws out some contributions from
Beck's approach. Introducing normative-interpretative agency to historical and material power,
cosmopolitanism translates into an open-ended conception of institutional change and
continuity in knowledge and societal reality. As critical inquiry can contribute to opening up
legitimacy, cultural politics pose a potential theoretical and practical alternative to neoliberal
globalisation. Urban diversity can be a source of plural interactions that internalise
cosmopolitisation processes in different material and institutional contexts, with open and
differentiated outcomes for strengthening or transforming power relations. By thus reflecting
the cosmopolitan relation of power and knowledge, critical urban studies shift into the focus of
social science as political field and societal practice.
