Benjamin H. Bradlow
Appointment
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2024-2026
Humanity's Urban Future
About
Benjamin Bradlow’s work makes connections between urbanization, climate change, industrial change, and the political challenges for democracy that confront societies across the globe. He researches issues in the built environment about what it means to build a “good” or “just” city in today’s urban world: the governance of urban inequality and the place-based dimensions of green industrial change in the Global South.
His first book is Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg (Princeton University Press, 2024). In this work, Bradlow compares the divergent politics of distributing urban public goods — housing, sanitation, and transportation — in two mega-cities after transitions to democracy: São Paulo, Brazil, and Johannesburg, South Africa.
He is currently researching a new comparative book that examines industrial transitions from carbon in the Global South. This project explores how middle-income countries with export-oriented, internal combustion engine automobile manufacturing sectors are navigating a rich world transition to electric vehicles.
Awards
- Winner, Faculty Article Award, American Sociological Association — Sociology of Development Section, 2023
- Honorable Mention, Charles Tilly Best Article Award, American Sociological Association, Comparative Historical Sociology Section, 2022
- Winner, Theda Skocpol Dissertation Award, American Sociological Association — Comparative Historical Sociology Section, 2021
- Winner, Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Dissertation Award, American Sociological Association — Collective Behavior & Social Movements Section, 2021
- Honorable Mention, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda Prize for Best Dissertation in the Social Sciences Latin American Studies Association — Brazil Section, 2021
Relevant Publications
- Bradlow, B.H. (2024). Urban Power: Democracy and Inequality in São Paulo and Johannesburg. Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691237121.
- Bradlow, B.H. (2024). "Urban social movements and local state capacity." World Development. 173: 106415. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106415
- Bradlow, B.H. (2022). "Embeddedness and cohesion: regimes of urban public goods distribution." Theory and Society. 51(1), 117-144. DOI: 10.1007/s11186-021-09456-y