Annual Lecture Series

Beyond austerity urbanism and creative city politics, Professor Margit Mayer, October 2012

Professor Margit Mayer's talk looked at urban politics and contemporary social movements that contest neoliberal urban development by invoking the right to the city. Her recent publications include Neoliberal Urbanism and Its Contestations: Crossing Theoretical Boundaries (2011, with Jenny Künkel) and Cities for People, Not for Profit: Critical Urban Theory and the Right to the City (2011, with Neil Brenner and Peter Marcuse). The lecture was followed by a seminar in the Bartlett School of Planning. 

Henri Lefebvre and Planetary Urbanisation, Dr Andy Merrifield, October 2011

Dr Andy Merrifield's presented on Henri Lefebvre, the right to the city and Asimov, and how to reclaim the metropolis as a theoretical object and political object of progressive struggle. Dr Andy Merrifield's recent publications have included  Metromarxism: A Marxist Tale of the City (2002), Guy Debord (2005),  Henri Lefebvre : A Critical Introduction (2006) and  Magical Marxism: Subversive Politics and the Imagination (2011).

The Future of Urban Studies, June 2010

A panel chaired by Professor Matthew Gandy presented on recent developments in urban studies ranging across topics such as emerging conceptions of urban politics, new approaches to the interpretation of urban culture, and conceptual linkages between the global North and the global South. Speakers included Professor Patrick LeGales (Professor of Politics and Sociology at Sciences Po Paris (FNSP), Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, Centre de Recherche Politique de Sciences Po - CEVIPOF (FNSP/CNRS), Professor Joachim Schloer (Director of Parkes Institute for Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton) and Professor Jennifer Robinson (Department of Geography, UCL).