2024 Events

his presentation took place on Thursday 14th November 2024 with Crystal Legacy. Abstract: Community engagement exists as a paradox. On one hand, participation is core to the creation of climate just and democratic cities. On the other hand, participation can also seed the production of social licences for infrastructure proponents seeking outcomes that are otherwise […]

This presentation took place on Thursday 17th October 2024 with Ohoud Kamal. Abstract: The seminar will outline Kamal’s work on understanding other forms of urbanisms in the global South and what that means in relation to policy and development. Ohoud Kamal is an assistant professor of Urban Studies at the American University of Madaba (AUM). […]

This presentation took place on Thursday 19th September 2024 with Professor Clifford Amoako. Abstract: In this presentation, I consolidate the view that informality is an instantiation of African urbanism, the multiple ‘beings’ of the urban, which offers a situated lens to start the discourse on African urbanism. With such framing, I call into question various […]

This seminar took place on Thursday 5th September 2024 with Kelly Dombroski Abstract: Kelly will speak to her recent book, Caring for life. It tells the story of shifting hygiene assemblages in Minority and Majority World urban contexts, laying out the transformative possibilities of informal care practices for collective, widespread change. Kelly Dombroski is an […]

This seminar took place on Thursday 8th August 2024 with Professor Michele Lancione Abstract: Conventionally, home is framed as a place of security and belonging, while its loss defines what it means to be homeless. On the basis of this binary, a whole industry of policy interventions, knowledge production, and organizing fails to provide solutions […]

This seminar took place on Thursday 25th July 2024 with Dr. Hesam Kamalipour. Abstract: Forms of urban informality have become integral to how places are being made, unmade, and remade, particularly within the context of what is commonly referred to as the Global South. In this presentation, I discuss my research, which aims to explore […]

This seminar took place on Thursday 13th June 2024 with professor Jennifer Robinson Abstract: Ideas about shared predicaments across the global South have framed thinking within concepts – such as informality and developmentalism – that hold potential, but also pitfalls in gaining traction in critical analyses of power. This talk will reflect on the possibility […]

This seminar took place on Thursday 9th May 2024 with research fellow Sabina Andron. Abstract: Surfaces have taught me everything I know about cities. Using visual ethnographies of graffiti and public signage, this talk will examine public walls as typologies of urban in/formality and spatial co-production. Dr. Sabina Andron is a specialist in urban visual […]

This seminar took place on Thursday 12th April 2024 with senior lecturer in social planning Dr. Ash Alam Abstract: The seminar will outline Ash’s work in informal housing sectors in Bangladesh to show how housing infrastructures in marginalised settings can be reworked by developing a new set of lexicons.  Ash Alam is a Senior Lecturer in Social […]