19. THE NEW URBAN GEOPOLITICS: Inside Caracas + urban Greenland, + embassies and disinformation in London, + neighbourhood governance and more

In this first episode of Series 2 of Urban Radar, Beth and Tom start to tackle some of the many ways in which the current moment of geopolitical turmoil is filtering down into in cities and towns across the world. 

We make the most of our new Sheffield-Manchester partnership by bringing on Dr. Erika Garcia Fermin (29:45 minutes onwards) from the University of Manchester's Global Development Institute, for an in-depth conversation on the Venezuala crisis and its urban dimensions. With Erika we delve into Venezuela's recent history and how Hugo Chavez's distinctly urban populist project of redistribution morphed over two decades into extreme authoritarianism, mass population exodus and dysfunctional, disempowered city governments under Maduro. 

We then consider whether and how the dramatic US intervention and removal of Maduro might serve as a window of opportunity for opposition forces in the cities to reverse the tide of authoritarian, centralizing governance. 

Before, this, on our radar (from 05:40) we ponder: 

- The view from Greenland's capital, Nuuk, on potential US invasion and what this tells us about how urban areas are being geopolitically re-mapped

- the approval of plans for a Chinese 'mega-embassy' in London and its local and geopolitical significance

- Overlooked cities and towns in the US affected by Trumpian funding cuts and other 'erasures'

- Reforms to neighbourhood governance in the UK, and the importance of the neighbourhood scale for addressing wider division and challenges to democracy

- Dis/misinformation and crime stats in London, and the growing recognition of the need for urban anti-disinfo strategies 

- Iran's protest and the politics of physically relocating capital cities 

Guest:

Erika Garcia Fermin completed her PhD at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, in 2024. Grounded in questions of urban governance and socio-spatial justice, her work focuses on the politics of value extraction in urban development, especially around urban land, and in how these processes relate to the ways urban spaces are planned, governed, and valued.

Read More:

https://thetruesize.com/

Disinformation in the City: Response Playbook - https://www.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/5060724/Disinformation-in-the-City-Reponse-Playbook_compressed-1.pdf

Controlling the Capital: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/controlling-the-capital-9780192868329?cc=gb&lang=en& 

Hosts:

Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.  His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 

Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)

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Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.