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Urban Studies
Exchanges: A Cambridge UP Podcast August 1, 2022

Earthopolis

A Biography of Our Urban Planet

Carl H. Nightingale

Hosted by Mark Klobas
This is a biography of Earthopolis, the only Urban Planet we know of. It is a history of how cities gave humans immense power over Earth, for good and for …

Urban Studies

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Interviews with scholars of urban studies about their new books

Environmental Studies July 29, 2022

Water Always Wins

Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge

Erica Gies

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Trouble with water – increasingly frequent, extreme floods and droughts – is one of the first obvious signs of climate change. Meanwhile, urban sprawl, industrial agriculture and engineered water infrastructure …
Mobilities and Methods July 26, 2022

Radical Resilience

Athenian Topographies of Precarity and Possibility

Othon Alexandrakis

Hosted by Alize Arıcan
Radical Resilience: Athenian Topographies of Precarity and Possibility (Cornell UP, 2022) relates narratives of Athenians struggling to survive the impoverishment of relentless austerity measures, compounding emergencies, and human disasters of …
Sociology July 22, 2022

Showroom City

Real Estate and Resistance in the Furniture Capital of the World

John Joe Schlichtman

Hosted by Michael Johnston
A unique and engaging account of local urban decision-making within the globalizing world High Point, North Carolina, is known as the “Furniture Capital of the World.” Once a manufacturing stronghold …
British Studies July 13, 2022

The Mercenary River

Private Greed, Public Good: A History of London's Water

Nick Higham

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
No city can survive without water, and lots of it. Today we take the stuff for granted: turn a tap and it gushes out. But it wasn’t always so. For …
Popular Culture July 8, 2022

Two Wheels Good

The History and Mystery of the Bicycle

Jody Rosen

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The bicycle is a vestige of the Victorian era, seemingly at odds with our age of smartphones and ride-sharing apps and driverless cars. Yet we live on a bicycle planet …
South Asian Studies July 4, 2022

Properties of Rent

Community, Capital and Politics in Globalising Delhi

Sushmita Pati

Hosted by Saronik Bosu
We live in cities whose borders have always been subject to expansion. What does such transformation of rural spaces mean for cities and vice-versa? Properties of Rent: Community, Capital and …
Policing, Incarceration, and Reform June 23, 2022

The Streets Belong to Us

Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification

Anne Gray Fischer

Hosted by Patrick Reilly
Anne Gray Fischer speaks about her path to and through research, including how sex workers informed her analysis of policing and state violence, the role of law enforcement in struggles over economic …
Public Policy June 22, 2022

Yes to the City

Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing

Max Holleran

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The exorbitant costs of urban housing and the widening gap in income inequality are fueling a combative new movement in cities around the world. A growing number of influential activists …
Sociology June 20, 2022

The Urbanization of People

The Politics of Development, Labor Markets, and Schooling in the Chinese City

Eli Friedman

Hosted by Michael Johnston
Amid a vast influx of rural migrants into urban areas, China has allowed cities wide latitude in providing education and other social services. While millions of people have been welcomed …
Urban Studies June 17, 2022

Vulnerable Communities

Research, Policy, and Practice in Small Cities

James J. Connolly, Dagney G. Faulk, and Emily J. Wornell

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Vulnerable Communities: Research, Policy, and Practice in Small Cities (Cornell UP, 2022) examines the struggles of smaller cities in the United States, those with populations between 20,000 and 200,000. Like …
Latino Studies June 17, 2022

A Place at the Nayarit

How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community

Natalia Molina

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
In 1951, Doña Natalia Barraza opened the Nayarit, a Mexican restaurant in Echo Park, Los Angeles. With A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community (U California …
Geography June 16, 2022

Trophy Cities

A Feminist Perspective on New Capitals

Dorina Pojani

Hosted by Ingrid Bailey
Offering a fresh perspective, this timely book analyzes the socio-cultural and physical production of planned capital cities through the theoretical lens of feminism.  In Trophy Cities: A Feminist Perspective on New …
Gender Studies June 15, 2022

Queer Carnival

Festivals and Mardi Gras in the South

Amy L. Stone

Hosted by Isabel Machado
Queer Carnival: Festivals and Mardi Gras in the South (NYU Press, 2022) reveals the importance of citywide celebrations like Mardi Gras and Fiesta for LGBTQIA+ communities in the US South …
American West June 14, 2022

Refusing Death

Immigrant Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice in LA

Nadia Y. Kim

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
The air in Los Angeles can be lethal, and nobody knows this better than the city’s Latinx and Asian immigrants, argues Dr. Nadia Kim in Refusing Death: Immigrant Women and …
Anthropology June 10, 2022

Ethics, Politics, and Anarcho-Punk Identifications

Punk and Anarchy in Philadelphia

Edward Anthony Avery-Natale

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Edward Anthony Avery-Natale's book Ethics, Politics, and Anarcho-Punk Identifications: Punk and Anarchy in Philadelphia (Lexington, 2016) explores the ways in which those who identify as punks and anarchists living in the …
Sociology June 7, 2022

Contemporary Housing Struggles

A Structural Field of Contention Approach

Ioana Florea, Agnes Gagyi, and Kerstin Jacobsson

Hosted by Anna Zhelnina
Contemporary Housing Struggles: A Structural Field of Contention Approach (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) provides a comparative study of housing contention in Budapest and Bucharest in 2008-2021. The financialization of housing and …
General History June 6, 2022

Urban Archipelago

An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands

Pavla Simková

Hosted by Aliide Naylor
The Boston Harbor Islands have been called Boston's "hidden shores." While some are ragged rocks teeming with coastal wildlife, such as oystercatchers and harbor seals, others resemble manicured parks or …
Chinese Studies June 3, 2022

Underglobalization

Beijing's Media Urbanism and the Chimera of Legitimacy

Joshua Neves

Hosted by Julia Keblinska
Joshua Neves’ Underglobalization: Beijing's Media Urbanism and the Chimera of Legitimacy (Duke University Press, 2020) examines the interplay of contemporary Chinese media practices with urban space, locating his analysis in …
Urban Studies June 1, 2022

Reimagining Sustainable Cities

Strategies for Designing Greener, Healthier, More Equitable Communities

Stephen M. Wheeler and Christina D. Rosan

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
What would it take to make urban places greener, more affordable, more equitable, and healthier for everyone? In recent years, cities have stepped up efforts to address climate and sustainability …