About this Research Topic
The growing challenge of climate change on cities in the global South and the increasing centralisation of scarce resources, inevitably promote political and democratic deficit for urban residents to secure their existence. The idea of the structural irrelevance of cities in the poorer parts of the world has led to the urban theory being segmented between wealthier and poorer cities. 'Ordinary cities' framework has made a valiant attempt to decenter the politics of urban growth from the stranglehold of the global/world city perspective. This has also enabled a relook at the ideas of ‘planetary urbanisation' and ‘glossy globalisation’ which have reinforced images of winners and losers in the urban landscape. Structural irrelevance comes into existence when any given city has been left behind in the race for global recognition. The assumption of ‘ordinary cities’ is that cities considered as ‘structurally irrelevant’ suffer from limited allocation of resources and investments and thereby poor representation in the global city rankings.
Post the pandemic, an integrated, globalised urban space demands an intervention which is more than the ‘Ordinary’ to remain relevant. The question is how far is Urban-Ordinary or Planetary promoting inclusive, emancipatory participation at the ground level? This Research Topic will pick up case studies from recognised researchers in the South Asian, South East Asian and East Asian contexts.
• Do cities in the global South have to be visualised by the exceptionalist lens of the global North? What are the key characteristics of cities that continue to thrive from a place outside the traditional global core?
• How far have cities been able to reinvent themselves based on directed interventions introduced by the imperatives of global, national and regional capitalism?
• How can a balance be drawn between city life and the need for urban transformation in a developing world context?
• What is the crisis of governance? The wish was that these cities might inform new thinking on urban policy and advance the ‘quest for social and territorial justice’.
• How far are cities in emerging economies suffering from structural irrelevance?
• What role does ‘developmentalism’ play in the progression of these cities and why?
• How far are cities in the global South vulnerable to global economic trends and challenges?
• Does structural irrelevance really matter for cities in the global South?
Attempts to normalise the experiences of cities in the global South by selectively choosing cities to fit a model are fraught with dangers of reinforcing theoretical irrelevance. Thus, engaging with particular cities can help form new understandings of urbanity in these peripheral regions. There may be an urgent need to ensure that these cities in the developing world are supported by relevant urban theory which mirrors the experience of the global South. Such a theory is inclusive of both the marginalised and the upwardly mobile and not necessarily focused on those who represent the successful image of the global North. The ‘intellectual maps’ in the global South are intrinsically and fundamentally different from those perceived in the North.
This Research Topic seeks to challenge and propose a new trajectory of decolonised discourses that are not binary and essentialist in character and form.
Post the pandemic, an integrated, globalised urban space demands an intervention which is more than the ‘Ordinary’ to remain relevant. The question is how far is Urban-Ordinary or Planetary promoting inclusive, emancipatory participation at the ground level? This Research Topic will pick up case studies from recognised researchers in the South Asian, South East Asian and East Asian contexts.
• Do cities in the global South have to be visualised by the exceptionalist lens of the global North? What are the key characteristics of cities that continue to thrive from a place outside the traditional global core?
• How far have cities been able to reinvent themselves based on directed interventions introduced by the imperatives of global, national and regional capitalism?
• How can a balance be drawn between city life and the need for urban transformation in a developing world context?
• What is the crisis of governance? The wish was that these cities might inform new thinking on urban policy and advance the ‘quest for social and territorial justice’.
• How far are cities in emerging economies suffering from structural irrelevance?
• What role does ‘developmentalism’ play in the progression of these cities and why?
• How far are cities in the global South vulnerable to global economic trends and challenges?
• Does structural irrelevance really matter for cities in the global South?
Attempts to normalise the experiences of cities in the global South by selectively choosing cities to fit a model are fraught with dangers of reinforcing theoretical irrelevance. Thus, engaging with particular cities can help form new understandings of urbanity in these peripheral regions. There may be an urgent need to ensure that these cities in the developing world are supported by relevant urban theory which mirrors the experience of the global South. Such a theory is inclusive of both the marginalised and the upwardly mobile and not necessarily focused on those who represent the successful image of the global North. The ‘intellectual maps’ in the global South are intrinsically and fundamentally different from those perceived in the North.
This Research Topic seeks to challenge and propose a new trajectory of decolonised discourses that are not binary and essentialist in character and form.
Keywords: ordinary cities, planetary cities, structural irrelevance, governance, developmentalism
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