All past events

Compulsory registration Joint Webinar on Zoom with the African Centre for Cities Presentation of the upcoming book: Worlding Home: An Urban Ethnography of Peacekeeping Camps in Goma, DRC This book opens up and interrogates the socio-spatial dynamics of contingent camps inhabited by United Nations peacekeepers in and around the city of Goma, DRC. Between 2017 and 2019, the city of Goma and two adjacent towns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo accommodated UN peacekeepers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America in over 20 different camps. This study brings the productive tension between these camps and the city to life […]

Zoom Compulsory registration Managing ordinary life: (Im)predictability, Violence and Solidarity in Latin American Urban Margins. In a favela in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, daily life unfolds in the streets — children play, neighbours socialise, and local venues are lively. In contrast, a similarly impoverished neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, features empty streets and locked doors, with residents avoiding public space. Both settings have a strong local drug trade and are described as violent by their inhabitants and by the surrounding society, yet their urban experiences diverge sharply. This work, based on extensive comparative ethnographic research, examines the factors that contribute to […]

In-person/Hybrid Compulsory registration Presentation of the upcoming book: Circularités urbaines. Déchets, énergie, CO2 : enquête sur le bouclage des flux résiduels  Cet ouvrage cherche à comprendre les facteurs complexes et multi-échelles qui gouvernent les résidus urbains et autorisent ou non un bouclage des flux dans une perspective d’économie circulaire. Des opérations, réussies ou non, de valorisation des déchets et d’énergie (sous la forme de chaleur fatale) sont étudiées dans plusieurs métropoles fortement industrialisées (Dunkerque, Lyon, Lille et Rotterdam). L’enquête est également a-territoriale car ces flux sont très fortement cadrés par un ensemble de normes et d’instruments qui relèvent de plusieurs politiques […]

Zoom Compulsory registration Presentation of the upcoming book: Creative Construction: The Rise and Stall of Mass Infrastructure in Latin America Infrastructure is at the heart of contemporary development strategies and critical for vibrant cities.  Yet short time horizons are thought to impede infrastructure provision in democracies.  Why do elected politicians invest in infrastructure projects that will not be completed during their time in office?  The answer depends on understanding what infrastructure is and does in politics.  I argue that the political rewards from infrastructure projects come from the associated contracts.  Like many goods and services, infrastructure investments are neither fully privatized, in the sense of transferring […]

Sciences Po, Room J210, 13 Rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris In-person only Compulsory registration Urban and regional research: Beyond methodological nationalism and colonial legacies The seminar focuses on rethinking how methods and theories tackle the complexities of urban and regional dynamics. By bringing together interdisciplinary scholars, the event examines how contemporary methodologies—from transnational and postcolonial perspectives to critical urban theory—can analyse patterns of inequality, social exclusion, and urban transformation. It will tackle the following questions: How can novel methodological approaches better capture the interplay between local practices and global forces? In what ways do existing theories limit our understanding of urban […]