Urban Studies

Urban Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of urban studies about their new books

Tim Altenhof, "Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings" (Zone Books, 2026)

April 5, 2026

Breathing Space

Tim Altenhof
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings (Zone Books, 2026) is a compelling and wide-ranging analysis of pneumatic phenomena in modern cu…

Kristina Jonutytė, "Between the Buddha and the New Tsar: Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia" (Cornell UP, 2026)

April 1, 2026

Between the Buddha and the New Tsar

Kristina Jonutytė
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between the Buddha and the New Tsar: Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia (Cornell UP, 2026) by Dr. Kristina Jonuty…

Tyesha Maddox, "A Home Away from Home: Mutual Aid, Political Activism, and Caribbean American Identity" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024)

March 31, 2026

A Home Away from Home

Tyesha Maddox
Hosted by Kiana Knight

A Home Away from Home: Mutual Aid, Political Activism, and Caribbean American Identity (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024) examines the significance of Carib…

Christina Schwenkel, "Sonic Socialism: Crisis and Care in Pandemic Hanoi" (U California Press, 2025)

March 31, 2026

Sonic Socialism

Christina Schwenkel
Hosted by Camellia Pham

In an era dominated by visual information, what can the sounds of a pandemic reveal about crisis and care? How might attuning to sonic atmospheres unc…

Robert Whiting, "Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan (Tuttle, 2024)

March 27, 2026

Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies

Robert Whiting

Amy Chavez talks with Robert Whiting about his recently released book Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan (…

Erica Morawski, "Development Design: Hotels and Politics in the Hispanic Caribbean" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025)

March 26, 2026

Development Design

Erica Morawski
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Underneath picturesque views of palm trees, fruity cocktails in hotel lounges, and day trips to preserved colonial zones lies a history of tourism des…

Susanne Vees-Gulani, 'Icon Dresden: Baroque City, Air War Symbol, Political Token" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

March 23, 2026

Icon Dresden

Susanne Vees-Gulani
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Icon Dresden: Baroque City, Air War Symbol, Political Token (University of Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Susanne Vees-Gulani explores how memory and po…

Elizabeth Mitchell Elder, "Company Towns: Industry Power and the Historical Foundations of Public Mistrust" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

March 22, 2026

Company Towns

Elizabeth Mitchell Elder
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Company Towns: Industry Power and the Historical Foundations of Public Mistrust (University of Chicago Press, 2026), Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell Elder …

Alistair Moffat, "Edinburgh: A New History" (Birlinn, 2024)

March 17, 2026

Edinburgh

Alistair Moffat
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

From prehistory to the present day, the story of Edinburgh is packed with incident and drama. As Scotland’s capital since 1437, the city has witnessed…

Courtney Humphries, "Climate Change and the Future of Boston" (Anthem Press, 2026)

March 16, 2026

Climate Change and the Future of Boston

Courtney Humphries
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Like many of the world’s iconic coastal cities, Boston faces potentially severe impacts from climate change. Depending on global emissions, Boston cou…

Suzanne Mettler and Trevor E. Brown, "Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy" (Princeton UP, 2025)

March 14, 2026

Rural Versus Urban

Suzanne Mettler and Trevor E. Brown
Hosted by Ursula Hackett

How the urban-rural divide drives partisan polarization Why have Americans living in different places come to experience politics as a battle between …

Imperial Depths: Mark Letteney and Matthew Larsen on the Roman Prison System (JP)

March 12, 2026

Imperial Depths

The notion of abolishing prisons strikes some as an impossible dream: could we could reasonably conceive of a society that responded to harm without t…

Daneesh Majid, "The Hyderabadis: From 1947 to the Present Day" (Harper Collins, 2025)

March 9, 2026

The Hyderabadis

Daneesh Majid
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

From the annexation of the princely state of Hyderabad in September 1948 to the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 and the eventual creation of Telan…

The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City with Henry Sapoznik

March 8, 2026

The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City

Henry Sapoznik
Hosted by YIVO Institute

The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City (SUNY Press, 2025) offers a new look at over a century of Yiddish culture in New York City. Author …

Lucy Lavers et al.," Adventurous Vents: A Journey through the Ventilation Shafts of Britain" (Penguin, 2025)

March 6, 2026

Adventurous Vents

Lucy Lavers, Judy Ovens, and Suzanna Prizeman
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

At the heart of the modern world lie ventilation shafts. We may not notice them, but wherever there are tunnels, sewers, mines, car parks and energy s…

Nicole E. Trujillo-Pagán, "Detroit Never Left: Black Space, White Borders, Latino Crossings" (NYU Press, 2025)

March 3, 2026

Detroit Never Left

Nicole E. Trujillo-Pagán
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Detroit seemed to experience an explosive rebirth following its bankruptcy, the largest in US municipal history. It was as if the slate had been wiped…

Seth S. Tannenbaum, "Bleacher Seats and Luxury Suites: Democracy and Division at the Twentieth-Century Ballpark" (U Illinois Press, 2026)

March 3, 2026

Bleacher Seats and Luxury Suites

Seth S Tannenbaum
Hosted by Paul Knepper

Celebrated as a democratic space for all Americans, the major league ballpark in fact privileged the middle- and upper-class white male fan while taci…

Maurice Rafael Magaña, "Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip-Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico" (U California Press, 2020)

March 1, 2026

Cartographies of Youth Resistance

Maurice Rafael Magaña
Hosted by Sneha Annavarapu

In Cartographies of Youth Resistance: Hip-Hop, Punk, and Urban Autonomy in Mexico (U California Press, 2020), based on a decade of ethnographic fieldw…

Ananya Vajpeyi, "Place: Intimate Encounters with Cities" (Women Unlimited Ink, 2025)

February 23, 2026

Place

Ananya Vajpeyi
Hosted by Lucas Tse

'In the five years that I tacked incessantly between Delhi, Venice and Istanbul, two questions plagued me: How do we lose what we lose? Why do we love…

Mark D. Steinberg, "Moral Storytelling in 1920s New York, Odessa, and Bombay: Sex, Crime, Violence, and Nightlife in the Modern City" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

February 21, 2026

Moral Storytelling in 1920s New York, Odessa, and Bombay

Mark D. Steinberg
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Using public storytelling as a driving force, Moral Storytelling in 1920s New York, Odessa, and Bombay: Sex, Crime, Violence, and Nightlife in the Mod…