About Me

Urban geographer into infrastructure | Sheffield University

Saint-Louis Sinking
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Saint-Louis Sinking

I’m walking through Guet Ndar, a neighbourhood in Saint-Louis, Senegal. We can hear the waves of the nearby Atlantic Ocean. During my last visit, a number of years ago, they seemed perhaps more distant, whereas now they seem almost upon us. We turn a corner near a mosque and look out. What were once streets […]

The climate crisis, carbon capital and urbanisation
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The climate crisis, carbon capital and urbanisation

In a new, open-access article in Environment and Planning A, Jon Silver considers the low-carbon restructuring of the waste system in Mbale, Uganda, a town struggling to address its socio-ecological futures. Silver asserts that an Urban Political Ecology approach to how urban carbon governance is materialised advances three particular concerns; the governing of urban circulation, carbon capital […]

PhD positions available in Critical Infrastructure at Darmstadt
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PhD positions available in Critical Infrastructure at Darmstadt

Announcement of 12 PhD Positions The newly formed interdisciplinary Research Training Group Critical Infrastructures: Construction, Functional Failures, and Protection in Cities at the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany (close to Frankfurt), announces twelve PhD positions (3 years) scheduled to begin 1 October 2016. The Research Training Group is funded by the German Research Council, and […]

Namuwongo: Key to Kampala’s Present and Future Development
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Namuwongo: Key to Kampala’s Present and Future Development

Ahead of an exhibition celebrating the Kampala neighbourhood, Namuwongo, Joel Ongwec showcases the contribution this informal settlement and its inhabitants to Uganda’s capital city. Kampala is the largest city of Uganda with over 1.5 million residents. Its rapid population growth has put pressure on the municipality to deliver basic services as up to 60 per […]

Disconnecting Detroit
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Disconnecting Detroit

Jonathan Silver reflects on the recent water shut offs in Detroit A police car moves toward water shut off protesters in Detroit  (Picture: Detroit Water Brigade – https://twitter.com/DETWaterBrigade) You might have seen images circulating out of Detroit over the last few weeks of the unfolding humanitarian crisis. Utility company vehicles, highly weaponized police, distressed but […]

The rise of Afro-Smart cities should be viewed with caution
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The rise of Afro-Smart cities should be viewed with caution

Jonathan Silver ponders the meaning of Smart cities across urban Africa. The recent announcement by IBM establishing its twelfth global laboratory in Nairobi has followed a rise in news about Smart cities across urban Africa. These include IBM’s inclusion of Durban and Abuja in its Smarter Cities Challenge, a plethora of summits and conferences, together with planning for a series […]

Applying for the Urban Political Ecology in African Cities Workshop 
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Applying for the Urban Political Ecology in African Cities Workshop 

Here we provide final details including how to apply to the forthcoming… Urban Political Ecology in African Cities Workshop – Funded places available                 University of Pretoria 22-26 September 2014  WHAT?  A 5 day workshop for early career researchers to discuss critical approaches to urban environmental research, drawing […]

RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2014 Sessions
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RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2014 Sessions

We are pleased to announce two fantastic sessions at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2014 on urban political ecology.  We are excited and we warmly thank all authors for sending us their abstracts. We hope for a great meeting in London in August 2014. Below you will find all abstracts including our CFP. The session follows […]

SUPE Workshop at University of Pretoria
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SUPE Workshop at University of Pretoria

                    SUPE Collective held our first workshop in late March at the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria. With ten participants and a fairly relaxed program over the course of  the day we discussed some of the current debates in urban political ecology, what they […]

Southern Africa City Studies Conference 2014
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Southern Africa City Studies Conference 2014

                    We are pleased to announce our participation at the third Southern Africa City Studies conference, to be held in Johannesburg from 27th to 29th March 2014. This event builds on a series of previous conferences and workshops which have brought together people who have the […]