Infrastructures shape how resources flow through the city and influence social disparities. However, infrastructural systems are not fixed and their implications change through political and economic transformation, technological shifts and citizen mobilisation.
The theme examines how infrastructure in cities and
across states, influences movements of resources, people and finance, shaping urban social and ecological (in)equalities.
Research Questions
– How are infrastructures planned and managed and what does this mean for resource flows, access and urban development?
– How do people, cities and states influence urban conditions through infrastructuralisation?
– Can infrastructure in action tackle social divisions through socio-technical innovation, common ownership and solidarity?
– How can we compare infrastructure in action across diverse scales, processes and contexts?
News
Airbnb and the short-term rental revolution – how English cities are suffering
Written by Jonathan Silver, Leverhulme ECR Fellow at The University of Sheffield. This article was originally published on The Conversation on August 23, 2018. The short-term rental market has ballooned in recent years. According to the Residential Landlords Association, Airbnb listings…
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Special Issue: Energy Research and Social Science
A special issue of Energy Research and Social Science that focuses on Spatial Adventures in Energy Studies: Emerging Geographies of Energy Production and Use has just been published. The essays in this special issue have been guest edited by Vanesa…
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Projects
Postcolonial urbanisms and a comparative theory of infrastructure (Levenshulme funded project)
HICCUP — Heterogenous Infrastructures of Cities in Uganda Project: Thinking Infrastructure with the South. A multi-disciplinary team developing crucial knowledge about urban infrastructure challenges in Africa and the developing world
Events
6th and 7th September 2018 – Speculative infrastructures and cities in-the-making
6th and 7th September, 2018 A workshop sponsored by Urban Geography journal + Urban Institute/SIID at the University of Sheffield Organisers: Paula Meth and Jonathan Silver with Beatrice De Carli, Tom Goodfellow, Philip Horn, Juan Miguel Kanai, Michele Lacione, Melanie Lombard, Victoria Okoye,…
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400
Estimated value in billions of global market for smart urban systems by 2020
53
More than half of the world’s population live in cities, making them key to improving energy efficiency
2.5
Number of people who voluntarily wear an electronic tracking device such as a smartphone
80