Urban Political Podcast

Roger Keil's new book, 'Suburban Planet', is a major contribution to (re)thinking the urban age in terms its peripheries rather than its centres. He seeks to provide us with a way of coming to terms with the process of suburbanization and the diversity of suburban forms. But does he succeed? And what are the political implications of his arguments? Listen to our book forum with Theresa Enright (University of Toronto), Berenice Bon (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development, Paris), Philippe Koch (Zurich University of Applied Sciences) and Roger Keil (York University, Canada).

We are living on a suburban planet, if you ask Roger. He even wrote a book with that title. In the interview, he elaborates on the political implications of that condition. Situating his work on global suburbanisms in relation to the L.A. School and the debate around planetary urbanization, he flexes his intellectual muscles to make us believe that it is the suburbs that Marx and Lefebvre would pay most attention to today. Plus, find out about his surprise as Markus read a book passage back to him. “I must have been high on something when I wrote that.” Roger Keil is a Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University in Toronto. He researches global suburbanization, urban political ecology, cities and infectious disease, and regional governance. Keil is the author of "Suburban Planet" (Polity 2018) and editor of "Suburban Constellations" (Jovis 2013). A co-founder of the International Network for Urban Research and Action (INURA), he was the inaugural director of the CITY Institute at York

The call to make academic research more socially relevant has become a commonplace. But what does it mean to for academic research to benefit urban activism? What is to be done when the logics of academia obstruct deeper activist engagements? This roundtable engages these challenges with four seasoned activist-scholars. Kate and Uli work in academia using different strategies to relate their job with activist engagements. Tomislav and Richard both have a background in urban research and have entered local politics. Tomislav recently entered Zagreb city council as a member of the opposition and Richard became part of the Zurich city government. Discussion ensues among the participants about the prospects of straddling the requirements of research and action. A controversial and collegial late-night open-air wine-panel in the context of the INURA (International Network for Urban Research and Action) conference in Zagreb in July 2019. Participants: Richard Wolff is an urban researcher and activist from Sw

Part 2: Regaining Democratic Control The second part examines the extent to which democratic control has been exerted in the Checkpoint Charlie case and how development plans have been modified under increased pressure from societal groups. Listen to hear about the possibilities of contesting tourist-centred developments in inner cities and why activists should never automatically trust a leftwing government… Our studio guest: Christoph Sommer is completing his PhD in geography at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin); using Berlin as case, he is exploring how conflict-prone urban tourism is (un-)governed. He is co-founder of the Urban Research Group New Urban Tourism at the Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Studies (HU Berlin) and recently co-edited the book Tourism and Everyday Life in the Contemporary City.

Part 1: Heritage Preservation and Urban Development Much-visited by tourists and generally avoided by Berliners, the site has faced growing conflict over plans to develop a hotel, Hard Rock Cafe and museum. This first part details the historical importance of the empty plots at the former Cold War border crossing and reflects on wider debates about heritage, tourism and urban development.Find out why urban emptiness can have heritage value. Our studio guest: Christoph Sommer is completing his PhD in geography at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin); using Berlin as case, he is exploring how conflict-prone urban tourism is (un-)governed. He is co-founder of the Urban Research Group New Urban Tourism at the Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Studies (HU Berlin) and recently co-edited the book Tourism and Everyday Life in the Contemporary City.

Welcome to the Urban Political Podcast! In this brief episode, we introduce ourselves, tell you about the motivation and purpose behind the podcast and what you should expect to hear in our pod in the following months.