INURA 2025 - Anti-fragility through strengthening civil society

 

Darth Vader unmasked in Finland.  Mural of Urho Kaleva Kekkonen by Matti Lankinen (photo by Carr, 2025) 

At the end of June, Kryvets and Carr attended the annual conference of the International Network for Urban Research and Action (INURA) conference, held in Tampere, Finland, and co-organized in hybrid format with colleagues in Ukraine. The theme was “In War We Fight, In Peace We Build”: a title provocative too for some; but an unavoidable, daily and visceral reality for others.

 

INURA 2025 was an invitation to both explore the socio-spatial dynamics of a city (as is usual during the city part INURA conferences), as well as the contested processes of building, reimagining, strengthening, and sustaining a liberal civil society in the face of conflict.

 

Between the two of us, Kryvets and Carr attended a number of tours, which at first glance might seem a disparate selection of themes ranging informality, art, wartime urbanism, infrastructure, and civil society. In retrospect, we contend it was about anti-fragility. 

 

Informality and Art - Artist Matti Lankinen led us through Hiedanranta, a former industrial district where artists from around the world were invited to render large-scale murals, repurposing industrial spaces. Most appreciated was Lankinen’s depiction of former President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, who held office from 1956 to 1982, and who apparently was rather fragile and easily offended by critique.

 

Visitors were also introduced to the Labra540 Collective, showing interim cultural spaces in underused buildings. The project's ethos: inclusion, experimentation, and circular economy, towards sustainable living. And, in Pyynikki, artist Mika Pettissalo introduced visitors to Koko Kylän Piha (“the whole village’s yard”) — a squatted art space in a former hospital courtyard. Together, these were tours about spaces of expression and experimentation.

 

Wartime Urbanism from Ukraine - Hybrid tours with colleagues in Ukraine connected Finland with the urban realities in both Kyiv and Kharkiv.

 

Joining from Kharkiv, Svitlana Gorbunova-Ruban explained the evolution of a local volunteer movement -- from Chornobyl through COVID to the current conflict. Peer support, animal rescue, infrastructure for vulnerable populations, and emergency help, exposed was the grassroots activism that defines resilience in Ukraine.

 

Another presentation offered windows into the emotional and artistic landscapes in wartime Ukraine. Unfortunately, the sample of art pieces showcased were mainly the yellow and blue murals containing strong military motifs. This mislead the audience - that is well versed in, and sensitive to, the production of national socalisms - to conversations about Ukrainian state-sponsored propaganda and to an interrogation about how Ukraine handles diversity in the construction of its nation. Of course, questions of academic curiosity are expected and indeed essential, but to us, we understood this as a conversation around popular Kremlin tropes that ultimately blame the victim. To round out this discussion, we provide links that hint at the diversity of art expressions that are found around Ukrainian cities.

• Irpin mayor reveals fate of Banksy artwork when building is demolished 
• Street art by Gamlet Zinkivskyi in Kharkiv, Ukraine
• War destroyed his city. He stayed to paint over the destruction 

 

In another panel discussion later (by the same presenter), the audience was unfortunately misinformed again about the history, implication and function of Hromadas - the Ukrainian system of decentralized local governance. Members of the audience left believing that Hromadas were reflective of an ambiguous set of cultural communities organized east-west across the territory (another trope). First, Snyder's 23 lectures at Yale University on the Making of Ukraine instruct that Ukraine's cultural divides are not east-west, but north-south. Second, Hromadas are not cultural, they are in the first instance, administrative. They are the new units of administration that resulted from the decentralization of governance process that began institution in 2014/2015: Hromadas are municipalities.

 

The purpose of the Hromada was to produce a new decentralised governance structure across the country, redistributing financial resources and decision-making power to the local level. Local councils became responsible for the management of public properties, utilities, transport networks, health care facilities, and education (Rabinovych et al 2023), which was made possible through increases of tax revenues to the Hromadas.

 

Today, Homadas are the primary structures through which the United Nations, USAID (until recently), the GIZ, the Red Cross, hundreds of international twin city initiatives, and thousands of other smaller institutions deliver resources and build institutions of democratic civil society, and resilience. While deep debates about restructuring continue, Hromadas are also lauded with being the key avenue of  self-organization, volunteer organizing, and resistance (not the national level as is often suggested) (Kudkenko 2023; Rabinovych et al 2023). 

 

Academically, the Hromada system is a classic case of government restructuring, and as such there is no shortage of literature to draw upon towards the formulation of a founded critiques, as the contradictions in multi-level, multi-scalar governance is very well established in urban studies literature (Affolderbach and Carr 2016; Carr 2014; Brownill & Carpenter 2009; Jessop 2005; Hitz/Schmid/Wolff 1994; Keil 2008; Smith 2008). (Markus and I have have been teaching this at DGEO for 15+ years.). And, correspondingly, questions about the Hromadas structure are indeed being asked because there are, of course, risks, including how to deal with the aggression, how to govern in times of war, and ownership of reconstruction efforts (Arends et al 2023; Colomb 2007; Keudel and Huss 2024; Rabinovych et al 2023; Rabinovych et al 2025). These are important urban lessons, not about culture, but of research, action, politics and power.

 

Infrastructure for Defence and the Everyday - Bombs are not falling in Finland, but city officials were not blind to threats to their territory, their institutions, their bodies - i.e. their sovereignty - and the need for response measures to protect its residents. A well-visited excursion prepared by Panu Lehtovuori’s led visitors through the city’s above ground (wide allees) and below ground defence mechanisms. Currently repurposed as sports centres and parking lots, bunkers at a depth of 50 m underground had the capacity to shelter 300,000 residents in less than 72 hours.

 

Inside the bunkers (photo Carr, 2025)

Meanwhile, Tampere continues its investments in infrastructures for public good. A tram tour with Jaakko Stenhäll, Green Party City Councillor, introduced visitors to Tampere’s transit-oriented development.

Anti-Fragile Cities -- Ultimately INURA 2025 posed deeper questions about what constitutes anti-fragility in urban space. How and when is anti-fragility invoked? How do locally specific circumstances (resources, information, education, strength of inclusive institutions) shape processes of resilience? What are the epistemologies behind agendas of resilience? What can cities learn from each other? Being from Luxembourg, what can we learn from abroad?

On the tours and during the informal conversations in-between, anti-fragility in Tampere, was indeed about a dramatic project of building systems of preparedness against violence (pathetic as it is that in 2025, there are still some on the international stage who--to put it mildly--act in bad faith). However, and moreover, anti-fragility was also about strengthening civil society: preserving inclusive spaces for different forms of expression (including the freedom to critique figures of authority), protecting labour, building mobility and communication networks, caring for neighbours and young people, valuing the experimentation with different ways of living.  

 

Mark Saunders and Christian Schmid, 2025

Thank you to the organizers Mariia Pristupa and Jens Brandt, and to Linda Strande, Jason Katz, Elke Rauthe, Britta Grell, Marit Rosol, Philipp Klaus, Richard Wolff, Stijn Oosterlynk, and so many others for the deep conversations.

 

And Mark Saunders, founding member of INURA, it was with great sadness to learn that you had to leave this world so early. While everyone is grateful for the time with you in Tampere, you will be missed terribly. For readers, here is his work at Spectacle. Memories of Mark can be contributed here.

-- Constance Carr and Olga Kryvets


References 

Affolderbach J, Carr C (2016) Blending scales of governance: land-use policies and practices in the small state of Luxembourg. Reg Stud 50(6):944–955. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2014.893057

Arends et al 2023; Decentralization and trust in government: Quasi-experimental evidence from Ukraine. Journal of Comparative Economics 51(4), Pages 1356-1365 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2023.08.002

 

Brownill, S., & Carpenter, J. (2009). Governance and `Integrated’ Planning: The Case of Sustainable Communities in the Thames Gateway, England. Urban Studies, 46(2), 251-274.  

Carr C (2014) Discourse yes, implementation maybe: an immobility and paralysis of sustainable development policy. Eur Plann Stud 22(9):1824–1840. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2013.806433

Colomb C. (2007) Requiem for a lost Palast. ‘Revanchist urban planning’ and ‘burdened landscapes’ of the German Democratic Republic in the new Berlin. Planning Perspectives, 22 (July 2007) 283–323

Hitz, H., Schmid, C., & Wolff, R. (1994). Urbanization in Zurich; Headquarter Economy and City-Belt. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 12(2), 167-185. https://doi.org/10.1068/d120167

 

Keil, R. (2008) Governance Restructuring in Los Angeles and Toronto: Amalgamation or Secession? International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 24(4) https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.00277

 

Keudel, O., & Huss, O. (2024). Polycentric governance in practice: the case of Ukraine’s decentralised crisis response during the Russo-Ukrainian war. Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, 39(1), 10-35. Retrieved Jul 14, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.1332/25156918Y2023D000000002

Kudlenko, A. (2023). Roots of Ukrainian resilience and the agency of Ukrainian society before and after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Contemporary Security Policy, 44(4), 513–529. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2023.2258620
 

Rabinovych et al (2023). Explaining Ukraine's resilience to Russia's invasion: The role of local governance. Governance - An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions. 37(4)  https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12827
 

Rabinovych, M., Brik, T., Darkovich, A., Hatsko, V., & Savisko, M. (2025). Ukrainian decentralization under martial law: challenges for regional and local self-governance. Post-Soviet Affairs, 1–25.

 

Smith, N. (2008) Uneven Development: Nature, Capital and the Production of Space, Basel Blackwell, Oxford, 3rd Edition. University of Georgia Press, Atlanta.

Carr appointed to the Scientific Committee of the inaugural BeNeLux Geography

The BeNeLux Geography conference (8-10 April 2026 in Leuven)is organized by the geographical communities of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg, and will provide an opportunity to present and debate work in geography and spatial planning as well as ample opportunities for informal conversation and networking. The conference is a continuation, and scaling up, of the bi-annual Belgian Geography Days (hosted by Namur in 2024) and the Dutch Geographers Days (last organized by KNAG in 2006). As such BeNeLux Geography hopes to provide a forum for geographic conversation that is affordable and easy to reach for colleagues in the Benelux and beyond.

Carr from DGEO was appointed to the Scientific Committee that has further representation from all corners of the BeNeLux region and across the many sub-disciplines of Geography. You can find the list on our website (https://lnkd.in/dZsrZx5w).

A tentative timeline for the organization of sessions and abstracts is in the works. There will be two phases. The Scientific Committee will first propose a foundational set of sessions, which will be supplemented by a general Call for Sessions which will be open between 22 September and 15 October 2025. The Call for Papers/Abstracts will be open between 20 October and 16 November. 

So take a note of those dates and start thinking what new work you might want to share with the BeNeLux geography community next year!

Planning on retreat, or: Have you ever heard of “Bauturbo”?

Last week, the German federal government released the so-called “Bauturbo”, a legislative initiative dedicated to improving development conditions.(1) The new legislation is supposed to facilitate development and construction in areas where previous regulations didn’t foresee that. The initiative’s main objective is to accelerate development, particularly housing production. Housing shortages are generally considered a significant societal problem throughout Germany, and complaints about the lengthy development processes have increased in intensity and frequency. In this respect, Germany’s situation seems largely comparable to that of many other countries in the Global North. 

    This new government legislation indicates a significant shift in orientation. It sounds completely different compared to a consultation document published by the previous coalition only last summer.(2) That document was seen as a template for sustainable urban and regional development, as well as building and planning policies. In contrast, among other issues, the new legislation signals the government’s intention to abandon its own and the European Union’s commitment to significantly reducing land take. Of course, politics have changed since a new coalition of Conservatives and Social Democrats took office in May. As part of its political mission, the government claims to be accelerating development to revive the economy, reduce bureaucracy, and increase housing production. However, one might argue that this policy is akin to throwing out the baby with the bathwater, as it could significantly harm planning. Associations such as the Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung (DASL) and the Vereinigung für Stadt-, Regional- und Landesplanung (SRL) offered critical insights into the new legislation.(3) However, the issue with Bauturbo extends beyond that.

     As related calls for deregulation and less intervention have turned out to be problematic, at least five critical points can be noted. First, public debates have blamed planning and regulation for the delay in development. According to some observers, the “bureaucracy” associated with planning applications is the main reason for the lack of growth and investment. This statement is one-sided, to say the least. Development is usually composed of different elements and affected by various factors, such as the supply and demand of land, investment capital, interest from future users, speculation, and inflation. Therefore, the assessment that primarily blames planning is not backed by empirical evidence. It seems as if the proponents of this criticism have an issue with planning legislation and implementation, and they point at bureaucracy while actually hitting at planning more generally. 

    Second, the Bauturbo decision is just one part of a larger trend that puts enormous strain on planning. This trend undermines the practical relevance, feasibility, and acceptance of planning by regulation, targeting particularly legal procedures that are essential for land use planning, such as delineating building perimeters, informing land use and development decisions, and facilitating the preparation of development and building permits. However, the sentiment critical of planning has gone far beyond and affects neighbouring fields as well.(4) Rising political dissent is evident in areas such as environmental policy (related to air quality, water policy, and nature protection) and the long-contested field of mobility politics. Prominent cases include environmental policy in the Netherlands, which has long struggled with nitrogen depletion in groundwater and, as a result, earned a farmers’ party joining the parliament after the last elections; the housing crisis in England, which has given rise to another round of liberal planning reforms set to diminish regulations; or the battleground made up by transport and mobility controversies in many countries that seem extremely difficult to resolve. Not to speak of the apparent “war on motorists” in the UK, which seems to divide cities and societies. Numerous cases provide sufficient reason to believe that planning is under threat, misused as a scapegoat for societal conflict that should be accepted as normal in modern, pluralistic societies.

    Third, the promise to build more houses through accelerated development—made possible by abandoning legal restrictions—needs to be discussed in light of the main forces that dominate the housing market, most notably property, private capital and financialization. Even further building activity will not resolve the main problems housing currently faces under market conditions, and given the current malaise on the construction market, which are pressing in terms of both quantity and affordability. Without cleverly regulating the housing market, additional deliveries are unlikely.

    Fourth, it is clear that bypassing planning procedures will by far not automatically achieve the desired outcomes of accelerating the development process and improving acceptance of the results. Often, the opposite will happen. As long as neighbours and stakeholders have legal recourse against development processes, little will change in substance. The only difference will be that bad planning will shift the point of contestation from within the planning process to the courts, potentially resulting in lengthy (and costly) disputes. This will not be better, faster or more effective. The risks are high that the big promise of acceleration ends up in the quandaries of governance, finance and public opinion.

    Fifthly and finally, the new legislation also signals the German government's intention to abandon its own land policy targets (nationwide reduction of land take to 30 hectares/year, originally by 2020, currently by 2030) as well as the target formulated by the European Union to significantly reduce land take (net zero land consumption by 2050). This is a very problematic signal from the point of view of open space protection and the generally recognized need to create climate resilience and promote biodiversity.

    The Bauturbo-discourse suggests that planning processes can be accelerated at will and without disadvantages. This is an illusion. Today, spatial planning is confronted with two interlinked problems that are equally difficult to solve. They affect both urban and regional or peripheral areas: on the one hand, the growing pressure to develop land reserves and, on the other, the decreasing ability to deal with the resulting conflicts appropriately. Resistance to plans and planning procedures appears to be growing in general. These changes have led to an intensification of the conflict situation, whereby planning and politics appear to be losing ground to the media and populist discourse. In this mixed situation, not less, but more and above all better planning is needed.

    These changes have led to increased conflict, with planning and politics seemingly losing ground compared to media and populist discourses. Although the call for better planning is justified, forming a coalition of ambitious planners and political decision-makers who can campaign for democratic planning on a large scale probably requires strong political will. In summarizing these thoughts, planners need a new skill: the ability to articulate and constructively deal with conflict. And they must emphasize the role of planning in democratic societies.(5) This has nothing to do with bureaucracy. An effective and efficient approach to dealing with private demands is required to protect the public interest. In other words: Technocrats from all countries must unite ... to combat paperwork, paragraphs and particular interest in order to plan for the common good. This is the primary objective of planning institutions and practitioners. 

Markus Hesse

Index

(1) Bundesministerium für Wohnen, Stadtentwicklung und Bauwesen (2025): Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Beschleunigung des Wohnungsbaus und zur Wohnraumsicherung. Berlin. (18.6.2025). Previous version as of 5.6.2025 available HERE.

(2) Bundesregierung (2024): Transformationsbericht der Bundesregierung zum Bereich Nachhaltiges Bauen und Verkehrswende – Herausforderungen und Wege der Transformation mit Blick auf die Stadtentwicklung, den Bau- und Bauwerksbereich und die nachhaltige Gestaltung der Mobilität. BT-Ds 20/12650 v. 28.08.2024. Berlin. Available online HERE.

(3) DASL (2025): Letter to members of the Deutscher Bundestag as of 27.6.2025. An earlier draft can be found HERE. SRL (2025) Stellungnahme zum Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Beschleunigung des Wohnungsbaus und zur Wohnraumsicherung. Berlin as of 18.6.2025. Online HERE.

(4) The latest issue of the online/OA-scholarly journal Urban Planning was devoted to the topic 'The Role of Planning in 'Anti-Democratic Times', which comes extremely timely. All papers available HERE.

(5) Town & Country Planning Association (2025): The end of democratic planning? A briefing by the TCPA on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill for the House of Lords. London: TCPA.

A quick bibliography of references on Ukraine

Sometimes, when discussing Ukraine one gets the sense that different languages are being spoken, or at the very least, different reference points. So, I provide a very brief list of key thinkers here. All of the following have made marathon careers studying fascism, autocracies, authoritarianism. You could spend hours and hours on each of them, diving into their writings, interviews, podcasts, substacks.

 

General:

 

Prof Phillips O'Brien - Head of the School of International Relations, Uni St. Andrew
Professor of Strategic Studies/ War Studies. Find his substack and podcast here: https://phillipspobrien.substack.com

Prof. Timothy Snyder
Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Uni. Toronto
On youtube, find 20-hour course lectures on Ukraine, when he taught at Yale.
recent interview:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7PcxC1p-Z-g&pp=ygUOdGltb3RoeSBzbnlkZXI%3D

Anne Applebaum, Senior Fellow of International Affairs, John Hopkins
https://www.anneapplebaum.com/books/

Prof Stephen Kotkin, Professor in History and International Affairs, emeritus, Princeton Universtiy. Here is a recent speech at Vienna Humanities Festival:
https://youtu.be/3Odt-z_-1cA

 

 

In urban geography specifically:

Prof Vlad Mykhnenko
Professor of Geography and Political Economy, Oxford University
(some here might also know him for his path-breaking work on shrinking cities)
Here is a recent interview:https://youtu.be/OZ7Lnc8gbpk

 

Here is a collection of articles on Ukraine at the Transactions of the British Institute of Geographers -- the journal of the Royal Geographical Society.  All of these articles speak to each other. I would recommend to comb all the bibliographies for further important references! Kryvets and Carr also have a paper as part of this conversation: It should actually be listed there (note to self: contact publisher).  But here is a link to the article in the meantime.

Carr invited to keynote panel at Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Thank you Ilia Antenucci, Armin Beverungen, Maja-Lee Voigt.  It was a great pleasure to join the keynote plenary to discuss “Amazon & Co. - resistance is not futile” Panel Discussion Yonatan Miller (Berlin vs. Amazon) & Katja Schwaller (Stanford University) (Chair: Maja-Lee Voigt). Information here, and the final programme here:

 

2025 IGU Urban Annual Meeting -- Call for abstracts

2025 IGU Urban Commission Annual Conference "Cities and Urban Systems in Transition: Transformations, Resilience, and Policy" Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa 11-15 August 2025 

The Urban Commission of the International Geographical Union (IGU-UGI) in collaboration with the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University, South Africa is pleased to invite you to the 2025 Annual IGU-Urban Conference. 

IGU Conference | GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES | Stellenbosch University

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

We are a group of geographers from almost all continents of the world who share a common interest in the study of cities, urban regions and urbanisation processes. The Urban Commission represents the Urban Geography community within the International Geographical Union, an international, non-governmental, professional organisation devoted to the development of the broad discipline of Geography. Our primary aim is to provide an open forum for the exchange of ideas on geographical and urban issues, with particular emphasis on bringing together geographers of very different origins, interests and levels of qualification. A key activity of the Urban Commission is the organisation of an annual conference, and this call is the first step towards the next conference that will be held in Stellenbosch University, South Africa, between Monday 11th to Friday the 15th of August 2025. 

    Our members include individuals working in geography and planning departments, those working in non-university research institutes or in practice worldwide. While we are committed to promoting current geographical research and raising public awareness of geography as a scientific discipline, we also place particular emphasis on supporting early-career researchers. We encourage young researchers to become part of our network and to attend our annual conferences. Outstanding conference papers submitted by early career researchers have the opportunity to be selected through a competitive process to receive the Early Career Researchers Award. We call upon both established and early-career researchers working in geography and related interdisciplinary contexts to send in their abstracts. 

These are invited to relate to the five key study domains as defined by the IGU-Urban Commission below, but do not necessarily have to be confined to these: 

1. Cities as drivers of, and driven by, transformational change

2. Cities, urban systems and nation-states

3. Urban areas under pressure of transformation

4. Climate change, resilience, urban health and well-being

5. Governance, institutions, urban policy

IMPORTANT DATES 

 Conference date: the 11th to 15th of August 2025

Deadline for abstracts: the 15th of March 2025

Acceptance of abstracts/notification of authors: the 15th of April 2025 at the latest.

Opening of Registration & Payment: the 15th of March 2025

Deadline for early registration: the 31st of April 2025

Deadline for late registration: the 31st of June 2025

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION 

Extended abstracts must be written according to the attached template (at the end of this call). Deadline for abstract submission: the 15th of March 2025 

Please use the attached abstract template of download the abstract template on the Stellenbosch University webpage HERE: IGU Conference | GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES | Stellenbosch University 

All abstracts should be sent to:

Herman Geyer: hsgeyerjr@sun.ac.za

Dani Broitman: danib@technion.ac.il ;

Natacha Aveline: natacha.aveline@cnrs.fr

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT

Early registration fees: USD $250.00 (from the 15th of March until the 31st of April 2025). Late registration fees: USD $300.00 (from the 1st of May until the 31st of June 2025). South African registration fees: R4000.00 (Until the 31st of June 2025). Additional fees for accompanying persons: USD $100.00/R1800.00 These amounts include daily lunches, coffee breaks, opening welcome reception, final gala event and excursions.

Payment options:

1. Online registration will be available on the 15th of March

2. EFT/Swift transfer (An official Stellenbosch University

Invoice can be requested from the conference organisers) please get in touch with Herman Geyer: hsgeyerjr@sun.ac.za

EARLY CAREER RESEARCH AWARD

As part of its 2025 Annual Conference the IGU Urban Commission once again offers a paper competition for Early Career Researchers in Urban Geography. The best paper (or papers) will win this year’s EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER AWARD to be presented during the Annual Conference in Stellenbosch. Participation in the paper competition is open to all early career researchers (up to 5 years after completion of a PhD) who present their paper during the Annual Conference of the IGU Urban Commission. Only one paper per participant may be entered for the paper competition. To enter the paper competition, we do not expect a fully written paper, but a more extensive (6 pages long) abstract, following the general abstract guidelines and submitted through the normal abstract submission process for the conference. The deadline for submission of abstracts is also the 15th of March 2025.

PROPOSED SCHEDULE

(To be confirmed once the abstracts are selected) 

Monday the 11th of August 20205 to Friday the 15th of August 2025

ABOUT STELLENBOSCH

Stellenbosch is renowned as one of South Africa’s oldest and most prestigious cities. It is located approximately 50 km (32 mi) from Cape Town CBD and 37 km (23 mi) from Cape Town International Airport. Stellenbosch is characterised by oak tree-lined streets, picturesque historical Cape Dutch architecture and expansive vineyards of the Golden Triangle winegrowing region. Stellenbosch is known as a premier tourist destination, due to its quality lifestyle and cultural and culinary diversity. It is also home to Stellenbosch University, a globally ranked research university. Stellenbosch is situated in a green belt area with strong heritage preservation policies enacted over large sections of the historic urban centre. This preserved the architectural character of the town, with most new developments conforming to the existing Cape Vernacular and Victorian architecture of the region. Similarly, to protect the aesthetic characteristics of the area, various landscapes and scenic routes with historic vineyards, rolling hills and dramatic mountain backdrops are protected through targeted measures such as protective zoning, building line setbacks, and height and coverage restrictions. Stellenbosch was one of the first municipalities to implement an urban edge policy in 2000.

    As a university town and a business and innovation capital, Stellenbosch is one of the most dynamic and highly regarded local economies in Africa. Despite its status as a mid-sized town, Stellenbosch holds the rank of South Africa’s 13th largest economy, hosting an innovative entrepreneurial economy with a large financial sector, advanced research facilities, a dynamic ICT sector, advanced business services, the command-and-control functions of major JSE-listed companies. It has one of the highest densities of innovative start-ups and billionaires per capita in South Africa. It is also renowned for its cultural activities. Stellenbosch has a vibrant social life with regular cultural events and festivals, world-class sports facilities and active nightlife. It is also a very socially diverse town with a range of languages and cultures represented in the town. Due to the small urban footprint of the Municipality, almost any nature lover is within five minutes of a hiking or mountain biking trail. The spectacular natural beauty of the mountains and vineyards, coupled with the temperate Mediterranean climate characterised by hot summers and mild winters, creates a superb quality of life surpassing that of Cape Town, ranked as the second-best city to live in globally.

    The Drakenstein, Wemmershoek, Hottentots Holland and Limietberg mountains and the fertile agricultural valleys and orchards contains some of the country's highest-yielding agricultural land in terms of income and employment generation. Coupled with a well-established viticulture economy, comparatively high rainfall and a favourable Mediterranean climate, Stellenbosch boasts some of the best living conditions and scenic vistas in South Africa. Stellenbosch’s unique Boland Mountain Fynbos, Riparian forests and Sand Plain Fynbos is part one of the smallest and richest floral kingdoms in the world. Significant portions (38%) of the Municipality contain globally critical ecological habitats. These are protected as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve and private nature reserves, ensuring the continued maintenance of property values and lifestyle quality in the region.

VENUE

The conference venue will be hosted at the Adam Small Theatre complex, c/o Victoria and van Ryneveldt streets, Stellenbosch on the Stellenbosch University Campus. This venue is centrally located close to the city centre and diagonally across the road from the main university campus entrance. The Welcome Reception and Gala Event will be held at the Department of Geography/Geology, Chamber of Mines building, c/o Merriman and van Ryneveldt streets, next to the main university campus entrance.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Prof Ivan Turok

Vita: Prof Ivan Turok holds the Research Chair in City-Region Economies in the Department of Economics and Finance and the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State. He has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and 11 books/monographs and is one of the most highly cited social scientists in South Africa. He is ranked in the top 1% of global scientists by Stanford University and Clarivate Web of Science and ranked 42 out of 9701 top global scientists within the specific field of urban and regional planning. He holds an NRF B1 rating and is the former Editor-in-Chief of the top international journal, Regional Studies. He is also a Distinguished Research Specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council and was the Chairman of the Durban City Planning Commission. 

 Ivan Turok was formerly Professor of Urban Economic Development and Director of Research at the University of Glasgow, a Mellon Fellow at the University of Cape Town and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Strathclyde. He is an occasional adviser to the United Nations, OECD, African Development Bank, UNECA, and several national governments. His recent books include Transitions in Regional Economic Development (2018, Routledge), Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa (2019, Springer), and Restoring the Core: Central City Decline and Transformation in the South (2020, Elsevier). He was a finalist for the NSTF Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.

Prof Brij Maharaj

Vita: Prof Brij Maharaj is a Senior Professor of Geography at the University of Kwazulu-Natal. He has received widespread recognition for his research on urban politics, mega-events, segregation, local economic development, xenophobia and human rights, migration and diasporas, religion, philanthropy and development. He has published over 150 scholarly papers in renowned journals, as well as published five co-edited book collections. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He is a former president of the Society of South African Geographers and was co-editor of the South African Geographical Journal (Routledge).

 Brij  Maharaj is a B-rated NRF researcher and was a Consulting Editor of the Journal of Immigration and Refugee Studies. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Urban Affairs, Geoforum, Antipode, Indian Ocean Survey, African Geographical Review, Migration and Development, and South Asian Diaspora. Brij Maharaj was a prominent anti-apartheid activist and is presently a civic advocate who actively promotes a revived civil society in democratic South Africa. He is a regular media commentator on topical issues as part of his commitment to public intellectualism. 

VISA REQUIREMENTS 

Most countries do not require a visa for South Africa. Please enquire at the following websites regarding visa requirements: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_South_Africa http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/immigration-services/exempt-countries

If you require an official invitation from Stellenbosch University for your visa, please contact Herman Geyer: hsgeyerjr@sun.ac.za 

ORGANISERS AND CONTACTS 

For more information:

Herman Geyer: hsgeyerjr@sun.ac.za – IGU Urban Commission Coordinator in South Africa.

Dani Broitman: danib@technion.ac.il Chair – IGU Urban Commission.

Natacha Aveline: natacha.aveline@cnrs.fr Secretary – IGU Urban Commission.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

C20.42 - Urban Commission of the International Geographical Union (IGU-UGI): Cities in Transition: Transformations, Resilience, and Policy

Dani Broitman, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

Natacha Aveline-Dubach, Research director CNRS-Paris, France

Ludger Basten, Technical University of Dortmund, Germany

Hermanus Geyer Jr., University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

Markus Hesse, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Zaiga Krisjane, University of Latvia, Latvia

Hanane Llouh, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Julio Pedrassoli, University Federal Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

Ivan Townshend, University of Lethbridge, Canada

Jun Tsutsumi, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Publication in Transactions of the British Institute of Geographers

Carr and Kryvets recently published "Imagining post-war futures amid cycles of destruction and efforts of reconstruction" in Transactions - the official journal of The Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers).

Download here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/3G8EJXSGMK7GKWRASCKK?target=10.1111/tran.12738

Or request access here: https://orbilu.uni.lu/handle/10993/62587

Welcome Deepa Joshi, a Visiting PhD Researcher from DAStU, Politecnico di Milano

We are delighted to host Deepa Joshi for the next 6 months, visiting us from Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano

Project Title: The Role of Digital Platforms: Exploring the Socio-Spatial Implications in the context of the Italian region (DP-SSI) 

Funded by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) 

Fulfillment Centre at Rondissone, Piedmont, Italy (Photo: Joshi, 2024)

 

Project Summary:
Currently, our cities are meeting with new forms of urban conditions that are produced by data, technologies and managed by a new category of economic actors: Digital Platforms (DPs). Typically, they are characterised by the networks, automation, circulation of goods, people, information and money across the planet. In development agendas (both national and international), they are often framed as ‘Digitalisation tools’ and acknowledged as a necessary means to address the complex issues of equity, social cohesion and sustainability. Concerning this phenomenon, the critical inquiries in literature , provide useful references for urban research by questioning the credibility of data itself, data-driven methods, technology-based governance structure, uneven distribution of labour and work and the capital accumulation by platforms (Carr and Hesse 2022; Kenny and Zysman 2019; Kitchin et al. 2017; Ash et al. 2018; Graham and Dittus 2022; Srnicek 2017,Artioli 2018).

In the urban planning and policy domain, DPs present themselves as important drivers in developing urban processes. On a broader level, DPs are prominently urban-based actors with a ‘technology-based solutions’ rationale. For policy framing and decision-making, DPs have emerged as guiding actors for city investments, public policy implementations, knowledge production and know-how processes for governments and institutions. However, at the same time, they are not without critics, and numerous questions about their operationalisation remain. They appear as distant entities from local urban conditions and places but are simultaneously visible through their diverse infrastructure arrangements with new operational setups and functional reuse of existing spatial typologies, often in the periphery of the urban regions.

Against this background, this PhD study is positioned at the confluence of three key thrust areas of our current time i.e. 1) digitalisation processes in e-commerce retail and logistic segments; 2) technology-based urban governance structure and institutional relations; 3) new kind of physical infrastructural arrangements and spatial typologies.

This research takes the Amazon Platform as the key element for analysis and explores its socio-spatial effects on the Italian regional context. The broader aim is to trace the operational sites of the Amazon platform that often occupy the spaces that are next to big cities. In particular, it explores the role of the Amazon platform through the vantage point of e-commerce retail and logistic functions. The key objectives of this study are 1.) to understand Amazon’s operational characteristics, their infrastructure needs and interaction with local institutions and other actors 2) to investigate the major location sites of Amazon's process of settling and development stories in the context of Italian regions and 3) to explore, How some cities in Italy are selling to Amazon platform some of their services?

Carr invited to the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano

Thank you Deepa Joshi and Valeria Fedeli for organizing this wonderful event !

The Role of Digital Platforms: Exploring Socio-spatial Implications
at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Contemporary urban spaces are increasingly shaped by digital technologies, data, and the increased circulation of materials and goods, people, and information. These changes are particularly relevant to the E-Commerce operations, logistic spaces and managed by a new category of economic actors: Digital Platforms(DP’s). They are visible through diverse infrastructural arrangements, new production settings, automation, the functional reuse of existing spatial typologies and the arrival of new ones. This further poses many challenging questions for urban research: How do DPs shape physical urban spaces, and what are the impacts at the local level? What are the interdependencies between places of circulation and urban spaces in cities? What kind of new local-global arrangements and interventions are being formed? Oriented around the operational characteristics of DPs, this seminar aims to build a reflection on the socio-spatial implications and sustainability interventions from the vantage point of e-commerce retail and logistics functions.

Sina Hardaker, University of Würzburg, presented on "The Platform Fix: A critical lens on how digital platforms address pending urban-economic challenges"

Constance Carr (DGEO) presented, "Three ways that Amazon entrenches social-spatial patterns of urban development"

Niccolò Cuppini, The University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, presented "Circulations: Genealogies and Tendencies of Platform Urbanization"
 

Nicholas Rudikoff, Campaigns Director at UNI Global Union, talked about labour issues with Amazon.

These were followed by a discussion round  led by Deepa and Valieria with special feedback from Stefano Di Vita and Simonetta Armondi.

 

 

gerne wieder!

The IGU Urban Commission

Who we are? 

We are a group of geographers from almost all continents of the world who have a common interest in the study of cities, urban areas and urbanisation processes. The Urban Commission represents the urban geography community under the roof of the IGU-UGI, the World's main geography association (https://igu-online.org). IGU-Urban is used to organise an annual conference and also participates in the IGU's general and regional conferences. It includes both established geographers and early career researchers, such as PhD students. Our members come from different parts of the discipline and work either in academia, in non-university research institutes or in practice. The current Steering Committee consists of eight members from countries as diverse as Brazil, China, France, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Russia and South Africa, and is chaired by Professor Maria Pinheira Mantiñan, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and co-chaired by Professor Javier Delgado, Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM, and Professor Markus Hesse, University of Luxembourg. These representatives will be elected for a period of four years.

What we do?

Our primary aim is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on geographical and urban issues at an international, if not global, level, with particular emphasis on bringing together geographers of very different origins, interests and levels of qualification. A second commitment is to represent the urban geography and research communities within IGU-UGI/The International Geographical Union as the world's umbrella organisation for geography. A key activity of the Urban Commission is the organisation of its annual conference (usually held in the second half of August), which each year attracts between 70 and 100 or more geographers from around the world to present papers, hold workshops and explore the site on field trips. The current four-year mandate of the Commission can be found on this website.

Our target groups

Since we represent urban geography within IGU-UGI, our natural partners are individuals working in geography departments worldwide, as well as members of planning departments and those working in non-university research institutes or in practice. While we are committed to promoting current geographical research and raising public awareness of geography as a scientific discipline in general, we also place particular emphasis on supporting early-career researchers. We encourage young researchers to become part of our network and to attend our annual conferences. Outstanding conference papers submitted by early career researchers have the opportunity to be selected through a competitive process to receive the Young Scholars Award.

2024 Annual Meeting, Cork (Ireland)

This year's meeting will take place next week at University College Cork (UCC) in Cork, Ireland. This is the second time we have met in the country after 2015. We are now meeting in conjunction with the IGC, the IGU's main conference, which will be held in Dublin on the campus of Dublin City University from 24-29 August. The UCC campus in Cork offers the best of what can be expected in terms of a creative space for gathering. Thanks to our local hosts and co-organisers, especially Therese Kenna, urban social geographer from the UCC Department of Geography, we are looking forward to an excellent conference. The conference outline and further information can be found on the IGU Urban Commission's website.

MH, 16 August 2024

So much great work at the 10th Nordic Geographers Meeting in Copenhagen

Opera goers in Copenhagen can park their cars in a very fancy underground parking (Photo: Carr 2024; and thank you Gene Desfor for the hint!)

For me, the Nordic Geographers Meeting in Copenhagen got going bright and early on Day 1 with a packed session on "Tech and the City" organized by Maja de Neergaard and Adriana de La Pena Espinosa, who presented on, respectively, 'pilotism' in the aftermath of smart city tech, and the Ciudad Creativa Digital in Mexico. It was also a great pleasure to finally meet and listen to Guy Baeten and Carina Listerborn. For my part, I presented some work on data center expansion as led by Google and Amazon.

Another highlight was listening to Federico Cugurullo present his new book, "Artificial Intelligence and the City" that he edited together with Federico Caprotti, Matthew Cook, Andy Karvonen, Pauline McGuirk and Simon Marvin. (One would also do well to follow his fantastic work on The Line in Saudi Arabia!) Published by Routledge, “AI and the City” is a must-read for contemporary urban planners. Unlike the endless catalogue of new technologies that are emerging that can potentially be applied in urban environments, and unlike the hype around AI that is unfolding today, this book thinks about the links between the myriad of artificial intelligences, their developers, the institutional networks that might embed them, and then different kinds of urban path dependencies that evolve from decisions around implementation. In this way, one has to think not just about the kinds of technological solutions that might be applied to certain urban problems, but more broadly about questions concerning the kind of cities do we want to live in, and how can this be achieved. Thank you Andy, for inviting me to the discussion panel with Lorena Melgaco, Ramon Ribera Fumaz, Maja de Neergaard, and Johanna Yipull.

--Constance Carr

Saffron, a casualty of data center development

A wonderful and precious gift from Tu Nube Seca Mi Rio (photo: Carr 2024)

 

Last week in Cambridge, at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, I met some inspiring activists from Spain who are fighting data centre constructions. They, from the organization Tu Nube Seca Mi Rio (Your Cloud is Drying up my River), presented everyone at the event with this precious gift of saffron from the Albacete region, one of the victims--casualties--of the data centre development that is planned for the area. Spain is, of course, famous for its saffron, and it is incredible to think that one day it could be a spice of the past.

It seems also incredible that thirsty data centers would be built in the arid fields of Spain where there is a long history of water politics. But as these activists explained: To Spanish authorities, Spain is such an awesome place for business development, that they see absolutely no reason why a lack of water would be a barrier to data center development; Spain c/should even become the new Virginia(!) (currently known by some as the data center capital of the world). This kind of confident cognitive dissonance is frustrating to those interested in an actual conversation and debate. Knowing what we know about narrative/hype versus delay/failure/competition in the industry, I also wonder what else is going on.

 

--Constance Carr

Invited talk at the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, University of Cambridge

"Bringing sounds of yesterday into my city room," Pink Floyd, Grantchester Meadows
(Photo: Carr 2024)

Last week, I had the great pleasure speaking at the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, University of Cambridge on issues of democratic participation and the social spatial distribution of data centers in metropolitan regions under growth pressure. A huge thanks to Dr. Julia Rone, Tom Lacey, Christine Adams, and Dr. Ann Kristin Glenster for the wonderful invitation, and for organizing such an engaging event.

Focussing on the Metropolitan Areas of Seattle and Washington, my main contribution was showing some of the spatial logics behind data center expansion and describing some of the sociological problems that result. It was an honour to be the only urban geographer in the room!

The main messages I wanted to deliver were:

• Data centers are urban infrastructures, clustering in or around metropolitan regions where they build upon existing digital infrastructures (cables, pipes, roads), and can make use of local labour, markets and politics.
• The uneven spatial distribution of data centers can invoke inter-jurisdictional competition for tax revenue, (in addition to competition over water, power, and land resources that data centers require).
• Data centers can encroach on communities devaluing properties, and causing the flight of residents with higher incomes
• Protest movements can be mischaracterized by media (as, for example, a white middle class NIMBYist movement)
• The data center industry shops around for different offers in regulation.
• The scale of the problem is unknown because the input needs of many data centers are not publicly available, and pressure is increasing as demand rises

Listening to others throughout the event, several further issues surfaced:

• Awareness campaigns are needed. It is clear that most people who are confronted with data center development in their neighbourhoods are taken rather unawares about what data centers are, what their functions are, what resources they need, how these might need to be maintained over time, the costs that will be incurred, and who is behind them. They are then confronted with a steep learning curve that must then be communicated (which takes time) to the wider public. In this respect, data industry leaders profit from the lack of transparency and missing regulatory frameworks.
• Protest groups that react to data center developments have (until this event) largely operated in isolation. Enhancing networking opportunities and facilitating knowledge exchange would significantly boost awareness and informed decision-making.
• A moratorium? Clearly, data centers fulfil a purpose in helping the emergence of important new technologies. However, a temporary halt on data center development could generate the needed time for communities to make necessary assessments in order to arrive at founded and informed decisions.

 --Constance Carr