Star clusters near and far; tracing star formation across cosmic time
  Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of
their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their
constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their
surrounding ionised, warm, neutral, and molecular gas. We, then, move beyond
the Local Group to review star cluster populations at various evolutionary
stages, and in diverse galactic environmental conditions accessible in the
local Universe. At high redshift, where conditions for cluster formation and
evolution are more extreme, we are only able to observe the integrated light of
a handful of objects that we believe will become globular clusters. We
therefore discuss how numerical and analytical methods, informed by the
observed properties of cluster populations in the local Universe, are used to
develop sophisticated simulations potentially capable of disentangling the
genetic map of galaxy formation and assembly that is carried by globular
cluster populations.
