Urban Radar

This month, we (Beth and Tom) are podding alone, using the final episode of the year to reflect on some of the big themes we’ve discussed in 2025 as well as on the process of making Urban Radar.  We start with our monthly radar for December, dipping into three current stories each as usual. Following this we offer some quick-fire thoughts on a number of issues and themes that have resurfaced repeatedly throughout the year and remain prominent as it draws to a close. Finally, we consider some of the highlights of podcasting itself, before unveiling a surprise in store for Series 2…On our monthly radar for December: Care work and the city - from the UK’s current ‘carers scandal’ to Bogota’s care blocksUrban ‘brandalism’, ZAP games and ‘subtervising’ (confused? Head to 9:15 to find out…)The decline of trial by jury in the UK and what this might mean for urban justice and efforts to overcome spatial, class and linguistic biasAmerica’s new National Security Strategy and how this connects to Trump’s war on urban diversityThe Australian social media ban and its potentially different ramifications in urban vs rural areas Syrian cities one year after the fall of AssadOn our rapid fire ‘radar of radars’, we consider:Military coups and their urban implicationsTechnology and public spaceFlag urbanism and the branding of the cityThe UK-Denmark anti-migration love-inSolidarity, belonging and ‘urban lawfare’The entanglements of local infrastructure and global financeUrban warfare, critical minerals and strongman diplomacyRead MoreThe Independent Review of Carer's Allowance Overpayments: A Welcome Step Towards Wider Reform of Welfare Benefits for Carers | the Centre for CareCaring Cities: Towards a Public Urban Culture of Care?Dismantling the advertising city: Subvertising and the urban commons to comeActivating the playful city: A review of ludic urbanism and introducing the ludic continuum frameworkHosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Studies and International Development in the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. If you want to know more about the research featured in this podcast, follow Sheffield Urbanism on LinkedIn, or bluesky, Instagram or visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institute Email feedback to: [email protected] Thanks to the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Sheffield for funding this podcast and the Creative Media Suite for recording facilities.

In this episode we are joined by Professor Julia Moses to consider the working lives and rights of children, and then Dr Dani Madrid-Morales to discuss disinformation and how it plays out across urban and rural areas. Reflecting on World Children's Day on 20 November, we explore children's rights and how these relate to questions of labour, as well as how attitudes to child labour have varied over time and in different national contexts (28:08). Then, in light of recent accusations from Donald Trump towards the BBC's reporting, we delve into the the challenge of misinformation, how it is changing and how it differs spatially across and within urban and rural areas (48:24). Also on our radar:how policy learning between Denmark and the UK is shaping Labour's new 'hostile environment'whether new curbs on ticket touts suggest lessons for wider market regulationthe deadly response to urban protests in post-election Tanzania how Belem has shaped the agenda and design of COP30whether the world is urbanizing faster than we thinkwhat recent UK statistics on multiple deprivation tell us about urban declineGuests:Julia Moses is a Professor of Modern History in the School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities at the University of Sheffield. She is currently leading a project, funded by AHRC, on Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts, with colleagues at the Universities of Edinburgh, Dar es Salaam and Ruhr University Bochum. The call for the virtual exhibition, mentioned in the podcast, is here Virtual Exhibition – Call for Contributions! – Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts.Dr Dani Madrid Morales is a Lecturer in Journalism and Global Communication in the School of Information, Journalism and Communication at the University of Sheffield. He co-leads the Disinformation Research Cluster in his School. His own work studies the geopolitics of disinformation in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly from an audience perspective. His latest book on this topic, co-edited with Herman Wasserman, is Disinformation in the Global South (Wiley). Dani also helps curate disinfoafrica.org, a website that brings together research on mis/disinformation in Africa. Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Studies and International Development in the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. If you want to know more about the research featured in this podcast, follow Sheffield Urbanism on LinkedIn, or bluesky, Instagram or visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institute Email feedback to: [email protected] Thanks to the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Sheffield for funding this podcast and the Creative Media Suite for recording facilities.

In this feature, Tom and Beth discuss the Global Infrastructure Race with colleagues from the Urban Institute (UI), recorded live as part of the UI’s 10 year anniversary celebrations. Drawing on insights emerging from the GlobalCORRIDOR and Pluralize projects, Jon Silver, Zhengli Huang and Linda Westman share their interpretation of the Global Infrastructure Race, its urban impacts and how we can centre and decentre the role of China. Specifically they discuss:What is the Global Infrastructure Race and how can we understand its diverse geopolitical and economic manifestations?How can historical and contemporary analysis help unpack the role of China and Chinese investments?What are the impacts on cities and urban inequalities of these activities in and beyond China?             GuestsProfessor Jon Silver is an urban geographer interested in the uneven ways in which infrastructure is planned, operationalised and experienced, working across a range of cities in the global norths and south. He leads the GlobalCORRIDOR project.Dr Zhengli Huang works on Chinese investment in infrastructure across Africa. She worked and lived in Kenya and her fieldwork experience extends to Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, and Mozambique. She works on GlobalCORRIDOR and Pluralize. Dr Linda Westman focusses on climate politics, urban transformation, and sustainability discourses, including the policy/governance aspects of low-carbon development in cities in China. She leads the Pluralize project. Read More The Material Geographies of the Belt and Road InitiativeGoverning Climate Change in a Changing World Chinese Economic Zones in AfricaFundingGlobalCORRIDOR (ID: 947779) funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.Pluralize was originally granted by the HORIZON Call: ERC-2022-STG and funded by UKRI (EP/Y00020X/1).Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Studies and International Development in the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. If you want to know more about the research featured in this podcast, follow Sheffield Urbanism on LinkedIn, or bluesky, Instagram or visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institute Email feedback to: [email protected] Thanks to the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Sheffield for funding this podcast and the Creative Media Suite for recording facilities.

Released to coincide with World Cities Day on 31 October, this episode sees Beth and Tom first joined by Prof. Matthew Flinders (26:09) to discuss what the rise in fortunes of the Green Party, UK, under Zack Polanski, means for progressive politics in the UK, and for a city like Sheffield. Then, with Said Zaaneen (51:46), they dive into what the history of refugee camps in the Gaza strip tells us about the role of international humanitarian aid, and consider implications for future reconstruction. Also on our radar:The ongoing impacts of Brexit on Northern citiesRats and multi-species urban lifeUrbanisation, colonisation, colonialism & outer spaceCable cars, white elephants and Gen Z protests in MadagascarThe Louvre heist & the material fabric of the cityWhy New Yorkers are not friends with AI FriendGuests:Matthew Flinders is Professor of Politics, Vice-President of the Political Studies Association and Chair of the Universities Policy Engagement Network. A former special advisor in both the House of Lords and House of Commons, he specialises in theoretically-informed policy-relevant research including on accountability, blame and democracy. Said Zaaneen is in the final stages of his PhD here at the University of Sheffield on Humanitarian aid, socio-spatial dynamics, and the evolution of refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, focusing particularly on two specific camps in Gaza - Jabalia and Deir Al Balah. Said also has an MSc in Management and Implementation of Development Projects from the University of Manchester, and prior to his PhD had more than 10 years experience working in humanitarian and development projects in the Gaza Strip.Read More:Madagascar protests: how ousted president Andry Rajoelina’s urban agenda backfiredDecolonial Museology, Space Travel and the Mineral Cabinet | Museum & SocietyHosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Studies and International Development in the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. If you want to know more about the research featured in this podcast, follow Sheffield Urbanism on LinkedIn, or bluesky, Instagram or visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institute Email feedback to: [email protected] Thanks to the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Sheffield for funding this podcast and the Creative Media Suite for recording facilities.

In this month’s feature Tom and Beth are joined by two leading scholars of the urban condition - Ash Amin and AbdouMaliq Simone - to reflect on questions of inclusion and belonging in the search for the 'good city'. Building on their collaborative work for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's Humanity's Urban Future programme, our guests consider: Are ideas of the good city still relevant in face of worsening inequality, segregation and individualism?Can a progressive politics of belonging overcome these divisions in a renewed urban public sphere? And, as Black History Month draws to an end, how might ideas of ‘black urbanism’ inform and enrich the field of urban studies?GuestsAbdouMaliq Simone works on issues of spatial composition in extended urban regions, the production of everyday life for urban majorities in the Global South, infrastructural imaginaries, collective affect, global blackness, and histories of the present for Muslim working classes. He is Professor Emeritus at the Urban Institute (University of Sheffield) and co-director of the Beyond Inhabitation Lab, Polytechnic University of Turin. In this episode he draws on themes explored in his work including The Surrounds: Urban Life within and beyond Capture and Improvised Lives. Professor Amin (University of Cambridge) is known for his work on the geographies of modern living: cities and regions as relationally constituted; globalisation, race and multiculture as a hybrid of biopolitics, and vernacular practices. He was founding co-editor of the Review of International Political Economy, is associate editor of City and is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences.  In this episode we discuss his recent book After Nativism: Belonging in an Age of Intolerance and refer back to previous work including Seeing Like a City.Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Studies and International Development in the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. If you want to know more about the research featured in this podcast, follow Sheffield Urbanism on LinkedIn, or bluesky, Instagram or visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institute Email feedback to: [email protected] Thanks to the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Sheffield for funding this podcast and the Creative Media Suite for recording facilities.