Metropolitics

What is the state of urban theory from the Global South and how can local research simultaneously advance scholarly research and be a vehicle for advocacy? Dr. Naomi Adiv and Dr. Hari Sasikumar explore these questions with Anant Maringanti. metropolitics.org/What-Is-Worth-…

New book review: Ahmed Allahwala on Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani's "The Cities We Need," which shows the importance of understanding how the loss of "ordinary" places—diners, corner stores—impacts how we understand neighborhoods and ourselves. metropolitics.org/The-Cities-We-…

Public transportation has a decisive role to play in ecological transition. Yet key players in the sector prioritize resource-intensive technical innovations. Arnaud Passalacqua and Philippe Poinsot re‑examine experiences in France to identify solutions. buff.ly/AhibQ5b

In case you missed it: "Agrarian Fantasy, Settler Colonial Property, and the Making of Industrial Johannesburg" by Renugan Raidoo. buff.ly/yPjului This is the last in our series on "Provincializing the 'Real-Estate Turn'" — read the series here: buff.ly/FzETu1f

In case you missed it: In "On the Land Question in India: The Case of Sriperumbudur Industrial Region in Peri-Urban Chennai," V. Gajendran shows that amidst intense demand for land, farmers near Chennai, India face dispossession by neglect. metropolitics.org/On-the-Land-Qu…

"Useful Transgressions: Informality, Power, and Urban Life in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay" by Ryan Thomas Devlin buff.ly/UpdIuFM

In case you missed it — "Unexpected Outcomes: Land Ceilings, Rent Control, and the Rise of Real Estate in Bombay" by Nikhil Rao. Rao demonstrates that, paradoxically, Mumbai’s neoliberal real-estate system has its origins in progressive legislation. metropolitics.org/Unexpected-Out…

"Digital twins” are increasing within urban planning and governance. As Oskar Steiner demonstrates, while private firms advocate these tools as a way to “let the city speak,” in practice they serve to amplify and legitimize those companies’ own voices. buff.ly/fM0VFb5

New book review — Ryan Thomas Devlin on Jennifer Tucker's "Outlaw Capital": In "Outlaw Capital," Tucker argues that the gray spaces of informality are essential to the vitality of cities, leveraged for different ends by elites and the poor alike. metropolitics.org/Useful-Transgr…

“The Apartment You Can Own with Pride”: Federally Insured Black Housing Cooperatives, 1950–1955 | by Nicholas Shatan buff.ly/e5UFjaG

Postwar Black cooperatives insured by the federal government trouble the binary of public and private in housing development. buff.ly/e5UFjaG

Urban Theory and the Cold War: Reflections on the Political Economy of Urban Land and Real-Estate Development in Southeast Asia | by Gavin Shatkin buff.ly/q16qF3j

Introduction to the series "Provincializing the 'Real-Estate Turn'" | by Sai Balakrishnan and Llerena Guiu Searle buff.ly/sFum1KH

The first article in our "Provincializing the 'Real-Estate Turn'" series examines how the Cold War’s repressive politics of land and law still underpin Southeast Asia's contemporary struggles over land rights, urban space and democracy buff.ly/q16qF3j

The papers in our latest series, "Provincializing the 'Real-Estate Turn'," edited by Sai Balakrishnan & Llerena Guiu Searle, “think against” the concept of real estate, starting with—and generating—grounded questions about particular places. buff.ly/sFum1KH

The Emergence of Transnational Queer Organizing Across a Hardening US–Canada Border | by Elizabeth Hessek buff.ly/iahRwVB

LGTBQ+ refugees in the US face the violence of US immigration policy and are constrained by agreements that limit Canada’s ability to offer them refugee status. Elizabeth Hessek shows how challenges have created opportunities to support queer refugees buff.ly/iahRwVB

Visible Minorities, Visible Risk: Toronto’s Unequal Eviction Burden | by Prentiss Dantzler & Khalil Martin & Abigail Meza buff.ly/11taqX4

In Toronto, who gets evicted isn’t random—it follows the city’s racial and economic divides. Canada’s data practices hide crucial details about who is most at risk. buff.ly/11taqX4

Cities around the United States are bracing for federal funding cuts to social services. Yet, as Brenden Beck explains, cities have long been cutting social-service spending while increasing police spending, even as crimes rates have fallen. buff.ly/1uMr5Ai