About
My book, Ordinary Cities (Routledge, 2006) developed a post-colonial critique of urban studies. My recent book, Comparative Urbanism: Tactics for Global Urban Studies (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022), proposes new methodological foundations for urban studies. Earlier empirical research explored the history of apartheid cities, and the politics of post-apartheid city-visioning. Current empirical projects focus on the politics of large-scale urban developments (London, Johannesburg, Shanghai) and the transnational circuits shaping African urbanisation (Accra, Dar es Salaam, Lilongwe).
Awards
- Elected Member of the Academia Europaea, 2022
- Elected Fellow of the Society of South African Geographers. RGS-IBG Murchison Award for “the publication judged to contribute most to geographical knowledge in recent years [Ordinary Cities, 2006], 2009
Relevant Publications
- 2022. Robinson, J., Wu, F., Harrison, P., Wang, Z., Todes, A., Dittgen, R., & Attuyer, K. (2022). Beyond variegation: The territorialisation of states, communities and developers in large-scale developments in Johannesburg, Shanghai and London. Urban Studies, 59(8), 1715–1740. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980211064159
- 2022. Comparative Urbanism: Tactics for Global Urban Studies. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
- 2006. Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity and Development. London: Routledge.