Urban Radar

In July's radar, we report back from one of the major urban studies conferences - RC21 - which is held every two years in different cities across the world. Bringing together 1200 scholars at the University of Vienna, the 2026 conference provided spaces for provocation and discussion about the methods, approaches and theories we need to identify and address urban inequalities in these contemporary times. The central part of the episode is a discussion with the editors of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) - Mona Fawaz, Liza Weinstein and Nik Theodore - about their 50th anniversary plans. We are excited to announce that these include a proposed collab with Urban Radar to produce a mini-series of special episodes connecting long-standing urban questions raised by scholars over the past five decades to contemporary analysis from emerging researchers. We also share a series of vox-pops from the conference, with Dolf te Lintelo, Catalina Ortiz, Gabriel Silvestre, Nitin Bathla, Simone Tulumello, Lindsay Sawyer and Vanesa Castan Broto. Before that, on our radar we discuss: Whether the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz might herald the development of new 'chokepoint' cities able to control strategic waterways What Count Binface could learn from previous comedy candidates standing for election The implications of Berlin's bunker shortage for cultural and arts venues The Soho bar brawl and which city has the latest bedtime Why young people are busy doing nothing in Bangkok Why environmentalists are disputing the closure of a colonial-era polo club in Delhi Read More: Founding IJURR editorial, 1977 Reflections on Critical Urban Studies in Perilous Times RC21 Conference Website From Our Archive: RIVER/CITY: A conversation with Olivia Casagrande and Roberto Monte-Mor SEEING THE CITY: A conversation with Junia Mortimer and Felipe Magalhaes URBAN LABS IN TIMES OF CRISIS AND POST-TRUTH: A conversation with Mona Fawaz and Nausheen Anwar Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this month's feature Tom and Beth are joined by Professor Nicola Banks from the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester to discuss One World Together, an innovative model of charitable giving that makes sure the bulk of the funding ends up where it is needed most. Often less than 10% of what we give to charity gets to where it's needed, and communities are not always the ones deciding what it gets spent on - even though they are the best placed to identify and address local challenges. What if there is a different way? We discuss: Why are traditional approaches to charity unsuited to addressing urban poverty around the world? How does the reduction of international aid impact the existing structural and institutional inequalities which underpin dominant development and donor models of charitable giving? How do innovations like One World Together help us rethink charitable approaches to addressing urban poverty? Guest: Nicola Banks is a Professor of Global Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. Her research situates development as a long-term process of transformation and social justice. She has undertaken decades of research on urban poverty, youth and the role of NGOs in global development, including work on employment and livelihoods among the urban poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh and an ESRC Future Research Leaders award to look at youth experiences of urban poverty in Tanzania. She is Director of Social Responsibility for the School for Environment, Education and Development (SEED) and in 2022 launched One World Together, a global movement for trust-based giving which has been recognised for outstanding social and environmental impact through the University of Manchester’s Making a Difference Award. Donate: Home - One World Together Read more: Power and its discontents: The long road to systemic change in the aid sector - ScienceDirect NGOs, States, and Donors Revisited: Still Too Close for Comfort? - ScienceDirect Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode Tom and Beth are joined by Professor Sarah Marie Hall from the University of Manchester to reflect on ten years since Brexit and specifically how austerity has altered the lifecourses of young people in Barcelona, Sardinia and Greater Manchester. Together, they discuss how Brexit layered on top of existing crises, how community podcasts helped chart economic change during this extended period of waiting, and why valuing everyday lived experience as evidence is a radical act. And, perhaps, even a way to finally bring austerity as a lived condition to an end. Go to 32:54 for this discussion. Also on our radar: Why the UK is introducing Dutch-style youth hubs How the boundaries between humans and animals are changing in the city Whether local authorities are ready for a hybrid war with Russia How human factors, from corruption to poverty and planning regulations, might have worsened damage from the earthquake in Venezuela "Goonism" and the underground economy of political street violence in Kenyan cities Banning flags in Oxfordshire Guest: Sarah Marie Hall joined University of Manchester in October 2012 as a Hallsworth Research Fellow in Political Economy and became a Professor in 2022. She is a member of the Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives and Manchester Urban Institute, where she previously co-chaired the Urban Justice, Gender and Social Difference Feminist Collective. In February 2021 she won a £1.5m UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship on the theme of Austerity and Altered Lifecourses , a 5- year project across the UK, Spain and Italy which has recently been extended for three further years. Click here to visit the Future Lives and Austerity Digital Exhibition . From our archives: Episode 15 on Brexit and rats Episode 11 on flag wars Read more: Much loved collection for Butterfly Conservation, in memory of Malcolm Tait Archipelagic Technonatures (Simon Marvin) Watch Salisbury Poisonings: The Untold Story | Stream free on Channel 4 Africa's shadow enforcers - The Continent On Staying (Will Mason) Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

High up in the Andes mountain range, two rivers begin their journeys. Starting in the El Plomo hill, one becomes the Mapocho river travelling though Chile into Santiago, dividing the city in two. The other makes its way from the Peruvian Andes and develops into a complex network of waters and rivers to become the Amazon basin, one of the longest rivers in the world. Rivers such as these shape and are shaped by the cities they meet. In this month’s feature Tom and Beth are joined by Dr Olivia Casagrande and Professor Roberto Monte-Mór to ask: What can urbanists learn from studying the Mapocho and Amazon rivers? How does thinking with rivers challenge our categories of urbanization, racialization and indigeneity? How do creative and visual methods enable us to see or dream with the river differently? Together they take a fascinating tour, diving into concepts of ‘extended naturalization’ and ‘fluvial epistemic alternatives’; following what river/city intersections mean for metropolitan green-blue planning; unpacking the implications of giving legal rights to rivers and the meanings of indigenous narratives; and how storytelling with and through rivers helps us dream of alternative ways of being and doing. Guests Olivia Casagrande is a social anthropologist engaged in interdisciplinary and collaborative research on inequalities, political and racial violence, the (post)colonial city and alternative urban epistemologies. She is a Lecturer at the School of Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield. She has recently completed an ESRC project with the Epew Collective in Santiago, Chile, which led to multiple creative outputs developed along the Mapocho River, available on Fillke Pewma . Recent works concern questions of authorship and engagements in collaborative research with indigenous groups. Roberto Monte-Mór is a Professor at the Centre for Development and Regional Planning and Graduate Centre for Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. His teaching and research focus on economics and urbanism, particularly urbanization, and planning theories, metropolitan and regional planning, urban and regional economics, solidarity economies, spatial organization, and development alternatives in the Amazon. His photography is the basis of a new work with Junia Mortimer on Urban-Nature Archives, which is also discussed in this paper . From our archives: Seeing the City: A discussion with Junia Mortimer and Felipe Magalhaes (Episode 20) Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode Beth and Tom are joined by Dr Lotte Hargrave from the University of Manchester to discuss whether psephology - the study of elections and voting behaviour - can predict the next Prime Minister of the UK. All eyes are turned on the town of Makerfield in Greater Manchester, where Andy Burnham is making a play to win the constituency and head south - back to Westminster, and (probably) a leadership contest to replace Keir Starmer as UK PM. With Lotte we discuss whether we can predict the results of the election, the potential outcomes of a win for Burnham for the Greater Manchester mayoralty and why hyperlocal factors suggest it is all still to play for. Go to 27:56 for this discussion. Also on our radar: Whether the UK needs to introduce maximum indoor temperatures for workplaces as urban heat rises Rising concern about Ebola in African cities in the shadow of global aid cuts Activism and urban organising for domestic workers How urbanization is driving the global sand crisis The many faces and contradictions of datacentre resistance Housing and the World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan Guest: Dr Lotte Hargrave is a Lecturer in Quantitative Political Science at the University of Manchester and a contracted psephologist for the BBC Elections Programme. Her research focuses on political behaviour , public opinion, gender and stereotyping in politics, and electoral politics . Before joining Manchester, she was Head of Data Science at the polling company Deltapoll. Website: Dr Lotte Hargrave From our archives: Interview with Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram (Episode 6) The Manchester Model - with Adam Leaver and Rich Goulding (Episode 2) Read more: sand — RareEarth_KateDawson AI Data Centers Are The New Plantations Unless We Build Them Differently - Honolulu Civil Beat Building Climate Resilient Housing - World Cities Report Late deciders, higher turnout - The Conversation Political favourability ratings, May 2026 Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode - recorded on location in Kampala, Uganda during an African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) workshop in late April - we delve into questions of how urban communities in informal settlements can build power through their own forms of knowledge and data collection, and how two-way exchanges between cities can strengthen this process. For the main discussion, Tom was there in person with two of the research programme’s ‘City Manager’s - Jack Makau (City Manager for Nairobi) and Temilade Sesan (City Manager for Lagos). The discussion is first introduced by Beth and Tom who set the scene and provide some background, and following the main conversation they also offer concluding reflections. In this episode, we explore: How can community-led data collection and analysis help to shift the levers of urban power? What role can action research play in changing the attitudes of governments towards the urban poor? How can we move from individual to collective solutions through community action and transnational learning? Along the way, we consider how co-produced urban research with communities changes the kinds of questions we ask as researchers; the challenges of bringing government to the table to take community priorities seriously; and the role of civil society organizations and universities as intermediaries in this process. Those interested in the issues and processes discussed here can delve further into the history through our discussion with Diana Mitlin in Episode 12 on 'Urban Informality and Translocal Learning '. Jack Makau is Associate director of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Kenya, and ACRC City Manager for Nairobi. In the course of his decades of work with SDI, he has worked to support communities collect data in over 400 informal settlements in cities across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, and Bukina Faso. DR. Temilade Sesan is a Lecturer and Researcher at the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL), University of Ibadan, Nigeria - and the ACRC City Manager for Lagos. Her research examines the socioeconomic dimensions of the food-energy-waste nexus in Africa, especially as they intersect with issues of the environment, gender, health and urban planning. Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode, Beth and Tom are joined by Ryan Bellinson, researcher/civil servant living in Portland, Oregon, US, to discuss how residents and community groups can mobilise their power to resist democratic backsliding. From Minneapolis to Portland federal immigration enforcement agents have been deploying hostile tactics to identify and seek to deport migrants, even those of legal status. Meanwhile federal programmes of support from housing to environmental protection are being slashed in part to finance massive increases in defence spending. The asymmetry between authoritarian and progressive forces is increasing. In this context, what powers and levers remain for grassroots groups and public bodies to push back? Go straight to 33:13 for this conversation. First, on the radar, they discuss: Whether implementing Palantir's federal data platform in Sheffield could exacerbate health inequalities What the Hillsborough Law has in common with ritualistic dunking in Trento, Italy Food security in the context of the closure of the straits of Hormuz Whether 'adopting' cities marks a new approach to post-war aid & reconstruction in Mykolaiv, Ukraine Pope versus Trump: appeals to authority and the role of religion in African cities Real estate in and around New York - what the media does and doesn't cover Guests: Ryan Bellinson is a former PhD student of the University of Sheffield and is now Community Innovation Strategist at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He also co-leads the new Governing Together programme , working with Dark Matter Labs, and is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Cities, Climate and Innovation at University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Read more: Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People Nation of Neighbours Religious Urbanisation Public Banking Project Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

Come with us to Johannesburg and Dhaka in this month's feature. Visit the markets and stalls of Jeppe, in inner city Johannesburg, a dynamic ecosystem of informal traders, sometimes called Africa’s shopping Mecca. Head with us to Korail, an informal settlement of 300,000 dwellers, sometimes called Bangladesh’s largest slum. In this double book talk, we are joined by two critically-acclaimed authors. With Tanya Zack we discuss her book T he Chaos Precinct: Johannesburg as a Port City , a narrative of how migrant Ethiopians have shaped this trading post in the inner city. With Tanzil Shafique we explore his book City of Desire: An Urban Biography of the Largest Slum in Bangladesh which challenges what and how we know the different desires of settlement-dwellers. Together we consider: how global-local dynamics shape and are shaped by different urban places around the world how formal and informal spaces in cities are managed, policed and regulated the epistemic politics and positions of doing urban research Guests Tanya Zack is a South African urban planner and writer whose work has focused on urban regeneration, contemporary migration, informal work, urban policy and affordable housing. Her writing in Wake Up This Is Joburg (Duke University Press, 2022) has been lauded for being amongst the freshest and most original material on an African city. It was included in the longlist of the 2024 Sunday Times/Exclusive Books Literary Awards. The products of her professional practice in Johannesburg's inner city, including an inner-city transformation policy, and a study of cross border shopping, are recognised as ground- breaking interventions. Tanzil is Senior Lecturer of Urban Design at the Sheffield School of Architecture and Associate of the Urban Institute. Tanzil’s research looks at southern urbanism, pluriversal architectural practice and informal planning, mainly focusing on the ongoing adaptation and transformation due to climate change led by the local citizens. He is currently leading a dweller-led urban wetland restoration stewardship project in Dhaka and co-convenes the Platform for Just Housing (Najjyo Abashon Moncho or NAM), which works towards housing and climate justice with local activists and citizens. Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

This month, Tom and Beth are joined by Hannah Sende r, University of Sheffield, and Mariam Bazzi , Beirut Urban Lab to discuss how propertied families in small towns in Lebanon have responded to violence and displacement over the past years (Go to 35:04 for guests). When left with no savings, and little help to repair and reconstruct after military interventions, property becomes a moral relationship, as much as a personal asset: what ought housing to be used for, when urbicide becomes a core goal of warfare? Also on our radar: Infrastructural causes of flooding in Nairobi What Cubans in Miami reveal about how diaspora shape urban politics Banksy's loss of anonymity in an era of surveillance capitalism Data centre politics in the French local elections Scam centres in Cambodia Habermas, an unrecognised urbanist? Guests: Hannah Sender is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield. Her current research examines land and housing relations in Lebanon. Mariam Bazzi is a researcher at the Beirut Urban Lab, working on cultural heritage destruction and reconstruction in Palestine and Lebanon. Previous work included tracking the urbicide in Gaza . And More: Compound capitalism - Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li, Mark Bo Capitalism and conflict at the margins - Xu Peng, Jonathan Goodhand, Patrick Meehan, Naomi Yonder Habermas and the City - Tommaso Vitale The Sheffield Declaration ( see also episode 4 ) Planning and crisis - Mona Fawaz ( see also episode 10 ) Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode Beth and Tom are joined by Cristina Temenos from the University of Manchester to discuss a wide range of issues from trust in medicine, responses to COVID-19 and experimentation and evidence in localised healthcare settings. Together, they ask: Faced with crisis after crisis, how do municipalities deliver public health care in Athens, Santiago and Greater Manchester? What forms of experimentation, innovation and alternative provision emerge during crisis, and what does this mean for the role of state and non-state services in addressing the needs of vulnerable populations? What does crisis policy-making look like and how is it changing the way we are thinking about evidence and expertise? Guests: Cristina Temenos is a Reader in Human Geography, an urban, political geographer, her current project explores how cities are managing intersecting health, economic and social crises to negotiate more just urban futures. Her research is focused on health inequalities and the politics of access to care in cities globally. Working in the field of policy mobilities, she has developed this work in relation to drug use and treatment, public health, housing, economic austerity, environmental sustainability, transport, and climate change. She has recently published in journals such as Progress in Human Geography, IJURR and Dialogues in Urban Research. Read More: Crisis policy-making and revanchist public health politics The modalities and politics of crisis urbanism Urban crisis as infrastructure, not event: A view from Beirut Crisis and the urban imagination Austerity co-production Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode Tom and Beth are joined by Professor Aidan While from the University of Sheffield to explore how robotic urban infrastructures are already reshaping everyday lives, homes and mobilities. From self-driving taxis to autonomous delivery drones the size of a lorry, we take a closer look at how experimentation in US cities, across Africa and now in the UK foreshadows the stealthy rise of robots across multiple domains. Go straight to 37:33 for this discussion. First in our radar, we cover: Leaflet wars in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Greater Manchester How space and stigma play out in the Epstein and UK grooming scandals What the UK Royal Family have to do with cities Urban foundations & fallouts from the death of Mexican drug lord, El Mencho The promise of Spain's approach to regularising undocumented migrants How to better assess the vulnerabilities of regions and cities to the green transition Guests: Aidan While researches environmental and climate policy, urban technology and future cities, and the politics of planning in the UK and internationally. This podcast draws on his ESRC project on Robotics as Urban Automation . He has written on sidewalk delivery robots , ecologies of automation , and regulating urban robotics . Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode Tom and Beth are joined by visiting researchers to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, Junia Mortimer and Felipe Magalhães. They discuss: How can we see and understand the city in this geopolitical age of conflict and global uncertainty? How can photographs and visual archives make visible the complexities of cities, particularly those in the Global South? When seeing directly is not possible, what other approaches can help us analyse the intense volatility of cities impacted by urbanisation and industrialisation processes? What do these methods mean for urbanists interested in urban change? What endures, what transforms and how do we validate what counts as knowledge? Guests: Junia Mortimer is an Assistant Prof at the Department of Urban Planning at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. She is currently an Urban Studies Foundation International Fellow at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield. She has curated exhibitions including Urbanos Arquivos (2023) in Salvador, which won first prize in the 2024 Arquisur Competition and she coordinates the Laboratory of Experiments on Image and Architecture . Felipe Magalhães is an Assistant Prof at the Department of Geography, UFMG, Brazil and Visiting Fellow at University of Manchester. He has been working on popular and solidarity economies, deindustrialization and extractivism in the Brazilian context. He has recently published in the journals Environment and Planning D: Society and Space , IJURR and Antipode . Key archives/figures mentioned: Zumvi Afro-Photographic Archive : Lázaro Roberto. Roberto Monte Mor Edneia Aparecida de Souza Ariella Azoulay Francisco de Oliveira Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this first episode of Series 2 of Urban Radar, Beth and Tom start to tackle some of the many ways in which the current moment of geopolitical turmoil is filtering down into in cities and towns across the world. We make the most of our new Sheffield-Manchester partnership by bringing on Dr. Erika Garcia Fermin (29:45 minutes onwards) from the University of Manchester's Global Development Institute, for an in-depth conversation on the Venezuala crisis and its urban dimensions. With Erika we delve into Venezuela's recent history and how Hugo Chavez's distinctly urban populist project of redistribution morphed over two decades into extreme authoritarianism, mass population exodus and dysfunctional, disempowered city governments under Maduro. We then consider whether and how the dramatic US intervention and removal of Maduro might serve as a window of opportunity for opposition forces in the cities to reverse the tide of authoritarian, centralizing governance. Before, this, on our radar (from 05:40) we ponder: - The view from Greenland's capital, Nuuk, on potential US invasion and what this tells us about how urban areas are being geopolitically re-mapped - the approval of plans for a Chinese 'mega-embassy' in London and its local and geopolitical significance - Overlooked cities and towns in the US affected by Trumpian funding cuts and other 'erasures' - Reforms to neighbourhood governance in the UK, and the importance of the neighbourhood scale for addressing wider division and challenges to democracy - Dis/misinformation and crime stats in London, and the growing recognition of the need for urban anti-disinfo strategies - Iran's protest and the politics of physically relocating capital cities Guest: Erika Garcia Fermin completed her PhD at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, in 2024. Grounded in questions of urban governance and socio-spatial justice, her work focuses on the politics of value extraction in urban development, especially around u rban land, and in how these processes relate to the ways urban spaces are planned, governed, and valued . Read More: https://thetruesize.com/ Disinformation in the City: Response Playbook - https://www.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/5060724/Disinformation-in-the-City-Reponse-Playbook_compressed-1.pdf Controlling the Capital: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/controlling-the-capital-9780192868329?cc=gb&lang=en& Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

Urban Radar is a podcast series which reflects on current events and emerging trends through the lens of cities and urban life. Launched in 2025, Urban Radar hit the UK social science podcast charts, and was amongst the top 5% of new podcast entrants (according to one major streaming platform!). It reached listeners in every continent, over 80 countries and 670 cities. Series 1 included 18 episodes, with 40 guests, including leading urban studies theorists and thinkers, early career scholars and PhD students. Series 2 of Urban Radar will continue to place urban dynamics at the centre of contemporary global affairs. Hosted by Professor Tom Goodfellow and Professor Beth Perry, guests will be drawn from across the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester in a new transpennine collaboration. In this Series 2 trailer, Tom and Beth reflect on the first year of recording Urban Radar and share what's coming up in 2026. Episodes will be released 1-2 times per month, including a monthly round-up of the urban issues underlying the headlines and in-depth discussions with guests. We will continue to invite members of our research communities to provide evidence-based informed insights into the ways that cities and urban communities are impacted by, driving and responding to current events. Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

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 blocks Urban ‘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 bias America’s new National Security Strategy and how this connects to Trump’s war on urban diversity The Australian social media ban and its potentially different ramifications in urban vs rural areas Syrian cities one year after the fall of Assad On our rapid fire ‘radar of radars’, we consider: Military coups and their urban implications Technology and public space Flag urbanism and the branding of the city The UK-Denmark anti-migration love-in Solidarity, belonging and ‘urban lawfare’ The entanglements of local infrastructure and global finance Urban warfare, critical minerals and strongman diplomacy Read More The Independent Review of Carer's Allowance Overpayments: A Welcome Step Towards Wider Reform of Welfare Benefits for Carers | the Centre for Care Caring Cities: Towards a Public Urban Culture of Care? Dismantling the advertising city: Subvertising and the urban commons to come Activating the playful city: A review of ludic urbanism and introducing the ludic continuum framework Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

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 regulation the deadly response to urban protests in post-election Tanzania how Belem has shaped the agenda and design of COP30 whether the world is urbanizing faster than we think what recent UK statistics on multiple deprivation tell us about urban decline Guests: 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 Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

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? Guests Professor 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 Initiative Governing Climate Change in a Changing World Chinese Economic Zones in Africa Funding GlobalCORRIDOR (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 Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

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 cities Rats and multi-species urban life Urbanisation, colonisation, colonialism & outer space Cable cars, white elephants and Gen Z protests in Madagascar The Louvre heist & the material fabric of the city Why New Yorkers are not friends with AI Friend Guests: 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 backfired Decolonial Museology, Space Travel and the Mineral Cabinet | Museum & Society Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

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? Guests AbdouMaliq 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 Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

This month we are joined by Dr Sam Burgum & Professor Simon Rushton to dive into what the new UK Minister for Homelessness should have on their agenda (27:50) and how we can understand the wider socio-economic issues shaping the recent Gen Z uprising in Nepal (50:08). Cutting across our discussions are questions of conflict over and in urban territory, federalism and decentralisation and how best to meet basic needs - such as shelter, health or security at the local (and national) level. Also on our radar: What does the new US-UK tech partnership mean for regional inequalities, and how might this be regulated? The implications of extended settlements or 'outposts' in the West Bank The urban dynamics of witchcraft What 'Your Party' could learn from New Municipalism Cities for cars not people? (and the masculinity of urban planning) Who is left to report on local democracy and conflict? The global crisis in press freedom Guests: Sam Burgum is a Visiting Researcher at the Urban Institute and works on homelessness, property and trespass. He has written about squatting in London , the city as archive , and the importance of a historical understanding of property ownership and who has the right to urban space. Simon Rushton is Professor of International Politics in the School of Politics, Sociology and International Relations, working across issues including healthcare in Nepal and peace in Colombia. One recent co-authored book is Participating in Peace with a range of colleagues, and collaborated with CORMEPAZ, Plataforma IAP and PHASE Nepal. Read More: Corbyn's Momentum Beyond the local trap Becoming common of the public Roadkill Hosts: Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute , University of Manchester. 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. ( linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441 ) 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. ( linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry ) Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.