Project Publications
Critical Dialogues of Urban Governance, Development and Activism: London and Toronto
Edited by Susannah Bunce, Nicola Livingstone, Loren March and Alan Walks
Published 2020 by UCL Press
Cities have been sites of some of the most visible manifestations of the evolution of processes of globalization and population expansion, and global cities are at the cutting edge of such changes. Critical Dialogues of Urban Governance, Development and Activism examines changes in governance, property development, urban politics and community activism, in two key global cities: London and Toronto.
The analysis is inherently comparative, but not in the traditional sense – the volume does not seek to deliver a like-for-like comparison. Instead, taking these two cities as empirical cases, the chapters engage in constructive dialogues about the contested and variegated built forms, formal and informal governmental mechanisms and practices, and policy and community-based responses to contemporary urban concerns.
The authors position a critical dialogue on three central issues in contemporary urban studies: governance, real estate and housing, and community activism and engagement. Their less traditional approach to comparative framing seeks to understand London and Toronto from a nuanced perspective, promoting critical reflection on the experiences and evaluative critiques of each urban context, providing insight into each city’s urban trajectory and engaging critically with wider phenomena and influences on the urban governance challenges beyond these two cities.
Recent Publications by Research Team Members
Besco, L. & Kirk, E. (2020) Industry perceptions of government interventions: generating an energy efficiency norm. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 23(1), 130-142. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2020.1832884.
Bjorkman, L. & Harris, A. (2018) Engineering cities: mediating materialities, infrastructural imaginaries and shifting regimes of urban expertise. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 42(2), 244-262. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12528.
Brail, S. (2021). Patterns amidst the turmoil: COVID-19 and cities. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 48(4), 598–603. https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083211009638
Brail, S. & Kleinman, M. (2022) Impacts and implications for the post-COVID city: the case of Toronto, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 15(3), 495–513. https://doi-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.1093/cjres/rsac022
Bunce, S. & Barndt, J. (2020) Origins and Evolution of Urban Community Land Trusts in Canada. In John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed, and Maria E. Hernandez-Torrales (Eds.), On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust. Terra Nostra Press. Accessible at http://www.pnlt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Origins-and-Evolution-of-Urban-Community-Land-Trusts-in-Canada_Common-Ground.pdf.
Dantzler, P., Korver-Glenn, E., & Howell, J. (2022). Introduction: What Does Racial Capitalism Have to Do With Cities and Communities?. City & Community, 21(3), 163-172.
Ferm, J., Panayotopoulos‐Tsiros, D., & Griffiths, S. (2021). Planning urban manufacturing, industrial building typologies, and built environments: Lessons from inner London. Urban Planning, 6(3), 350–367. https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/4357.
Fiorentino, S., Livingstone, N., Cooke, H. & McAllister, P. (2022) The future of the corporate office? Emerging trends in the post-Covid city. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy, and Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsac027.
Kemeny, T., Petralia, S., & Storper, M. (2022) Disruptive innovation and spatial inequality. Regional Studies, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2022.2076824.
Livingstone, N., Bunce, S., Fiorentino, S., & Short, M. (in progress). Introduction to Special Issue: Density, Sustainability and the Governance of Urban Futures Frontiers in Sustainable Cities.
Mah, J. (2022). Broadening equitable planning: Understanding indirect displacement through seniors’ experiences in a resurgent Downtown Detroit. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X221135006.
Marjanović, M., Wuyts, W., Marin, J., & Williams, J. (2022). Uncovering the Holistic Pathways to Circular Cities—The Case of Alberta, Canada. Highlights of Sustainability, 1(2), 65-87. https://www.hos.pub/articles/hsustain1020006.
Mittal, G. (2022) The state and the production of informalities in urban transport: Vikrams in Dehradun, India. Geoforum (136), 273-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.10.003.
Natarajan, L. (2021). Policy-making for an ’unruly’ public?. Cities & Health, 5(sup1), S45-S47. https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2020.1785175.
Natarajan, L. & Short, M. (Eds.) (Forthcoming May 2023) Engaged Urban Pedagogies: Participatory Practices in Planning and Place-Making. UCL Press: London. https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/180288.
Rodgers, S. & Moore, S. (2020) ‘Platform phenomenologies: Social media as experiential infrastructures of urban public life’ In Urban platforms and the future city: Transformations in infrastructure, knowledge, governance and everyday life, Stehlin J, Hodson M, Kasmire J, et al. (eds). London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Urban-Platforms-and-the-Future-City-Transformations-in-Infrastructure/Hodson-Kasmire-McMeekin-Stehlin-Ward/p/book/9780367334192.
Sendra, P. (2023) The Ethics of Co-Design. Journal of Urban Design. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2023.2171856.
Walks, A., Hawes, E., & Simone, D. (2021) Gentrification in large Canadian cities: tenure, age, and exclusionary displacement 1991-2011. Urban Geography, 42(5): 603-633. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1832376.
Walks, Alan, and Soederberg, S. (2021) The new urban displacements? Finance-led capitalism, austerity, and rental housing dynamics. Urban Geography. 42(5): 571-582 https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2021.1956721
Post-Covid Cities 