Special Sessions
Journal plenary sessions:
Session organisers: Shaun Lin Ziqiang, National University of Singapore
James D. Sidaway, Professor of Political Geography, National University of Singapore, gives a keynote on Urban geopolitics as worldmaking
Abstract
Reflecting on cities as centres of economic, political and symbolic power requires consideration of how they are entangled with empire, revolution, self-determination and other world-making projects. The paper explores the implications of these moves drawing on a range of cities, notably Makkah (Mecca). It begins however, by referencing twentieth century intersections of empire, gender and “race” in Reykjavík.
Session organiser: David Bissell, University of Melbourne, Australia. Session chaired by Sharlene Mollett, University of Toronto, Canada
Caroline Faria, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Texas at Austin, United States, gives a keynote on Omwavu Wakuffa, “The poor must die”: intersectional power, climate crisis, and the floodwaters of urban development in Kampala, Uganda
Abstract
In the streets, alleyways, markets, and homes of Kampala, Uganda, the water is rising. Climate change is commonly cited as the cause – decried by international development agencies, environmental groups, and scholars, along with the Ugandan government itself. But the murky floodwaters conceal more complex political ecologies of land and water, including their gendered, racio-colonial, and neoliberal sediments. Residents make sense of the city’s devastation with the words “Omwavu Wakuffa”, the poor must die. A Lugandan refrain, it reflects on the fall out of power in the country: colluding elite national and international exploitation and land theft, enabled by overt militarism and quiet, threatening, persuasion. In this talk, I engage this turn of phrase to better understand climate crises in global south cities like Kampala. To do so, we examine the drivers and devastating impacts of flooding in Ntinda/ Nakawa and connected sites across the city, linking the clearly monumental impacts of planetary warming with the grounded politics of land speculation, wetland destruction, and governmental tensions between environmental protection and elite control. These dovetail with seemingly conflicting, but often colluding, international dictates of economic growth and environmental sustainability. A story unfolding across the global south, our work connects political ecologies of flooding with interventions from feminist urban geography and global racial capitalism, pushing for attention to the ways capitalist destruction relies on, and entrenches, gendered and racialized logics, and their colonial past-presents: logics of human and environmental disposability, devaluation, waste, and inevitable death. Disrupting these logics, these framings also demand intersectional, anti-racist, and feminist attention: seeking out everyday life-sustaining and place-making as the city’s floodwaters rise.
Session organisers: Institute for Urban Research, Malmö University, Sweden
Nurhan Abujidi, Professor and Chair of the Smart Urban Redesign Research Centre at Zuyd University of Applied Science in the Netherlands, gives a keynote on Design as a Tool of Oppression and Resilience: Urbicide in Palestine
Abstract
The way urbicide is used to un/re-make Palestine, as well as how it is employed as a tool of spatial dispossession and control. Prof. Nurhan Abujidi’s lecture will examine contemporary political violence and destruction in the context of colonial projects in Palestine. Departing from a broader framework of colonial and post-urban destruction urbanism, with a working hypothesis that there are links, gaps and blind spots in the understanding of the urbicide discourse, Prof. Abujidi will draw on several examples from the Palestinian history of destruction and transformations, such as Jenin Refugee Camp, Hebron Old Town, Nablus Old Town, and the ongoing destruction and genocide in Gaza”.
Panel sessions:
Session organisers: Lawrence D. Berg, University of British Columbia, Canada & & Edward H. Huijbens, Wageningen University, Netherlands
Abstract
This special session calls for panelists to rethink academic knowledge production in the context of both planetary crises and academic overproduction. Academic knowledge, its creation and dissemination is being converted to commodities of exchange and subject to ever more intensified competition under the terms of neoliberalization. As a result, the Academy becomes continually more poorly equipped to deal with societal and environmental challenges. The session provides opportunities to identify and contest the ways that the structural forces of neoliberalization currently at play come to be expressed, in part, as the falling rate of use value of academic knowledge. We wish to explore what might happen if we begin by recognising the academic as a member of the working class that produces surplus value for the institutions at which they work. In recognizing our classed position as workers, academics can begin to undertake an autonomist inspired refusal of tasks and processes within the Academy. Our objective is to identify those structures that undermine our attempts to respond to societal and environmental crises, and then find ways to contest them. We hope that participants can draw on the embodied, emotive and fundamentally earthly entangled subjectivity of the academic to propose practical steps forward to enact such refusal and to turn the tide on the falling rate of use value of academic knowledge.
Panelists:
- Lawrence D. Berg, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Louise Fabian, Aarhus University, Denmark
- Mary Gilmartin, Maynooth University, Ireland
- Edward H. Huijbens, Wageningen, Netherlands
- Anna Karlsdottir, University of Iceland, Iceland
- Maya Lagerqvist, Uppsala University, Sweden
- Anders Lund Hansen (Lund/Roskilde)
- Noora Pyyri (Helsinki)
- Gunhild Setten, NTNU, Norway
- Derek Ruez, Tampere University, Finland
Session organiser: Nadir Kinossian, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Germany
Abstract
The global financial crash of 2008 indicates the end of the era of relative economic stability, globalisation-induced growth and market expansionism. The financial crisis was followed by a series of crises (Covid-19 pandemic, migration, wars, cost of living, intensifying climate change) contributing to the environment of geo-economic and geo-political uncertainties. These changes have affected countries, regions, communities, and households worldwide, often disproportionately affecting the most disadvantaged places and groups. Persistent geographical inequalities, growing scepticism about political institutions, discontent, and loss of hope have manifested in the phenomena of ‘left behind places’ – with specific geographical patterns and repercussions for political systems and the people governed by them.
This panel presents the second edition of a Handbook of Local and Regional Development (Routledge 2027). With 50-plus chapters, the handbook offers reflections on the implications of polycrisis for local and regional development. During the panel, the editorial team will address the following topics:
- A critical review of the current conceptual approaches to local and regional development;
- Rethinking of key concepts, assumptions, and values connected to development;
- Reflections upon the politics and policy of local and regional development in diverse geographical and political contexts.
- Perspectives from localities and regions that appear in the shade of economic growth and prosperity.
- Experiences of working on a handbook project from idea to implementation.
Session organiser: Natasha Webster, Örebro University, Sweden
Abstract
This book launch for A Research Agenda for Emotional Geographies will explore the role of emotions in geography both as a subdiscipline and a practice. Authors and invited discussants will together explore key themes from chapters and the future of emotional geographies. An open discussion will follow. Link to book: https://www.elgaronline.com/monobook/book/9781035319626/9781035319626.xml
Session organiser: Rico Kongsager, University College Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
This session offers a screening of the documentary FIRE, WATER, EARTH, AIR, a cinematic outcome of the CliCNord research project, which investigates climate change impacts and adaptation strategies in Nordic communities. Directed by Phie Ambo (DK) with co-directors Ewa Cederstam (SE), Rógvi Rasmussen (FE), and Janne Lindgren (NO), the film brings together four local film crews to portray how climate change is experienced across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the Faroe Islands.
Through the elemental framing of fire, water, earth, and air, the documentary captures the lived realities of unprecedented wildfires, floods, landslides, and storms. It features passionate individuals, retired emergency responders, children, politicians, and scientists, weaving together personal narratives with scientific insights from the CliCNord project. The result is a powerful and hopeful portrayal of how people in small communities are adapting to a rapidly changing world—and how research can be translated into concrete, locally relevant solutions.
The session will begin with a short introduction by Rico Kongsager, project leader of CliCNord, who will provide context on the research behind the film and the collaborative process that shaped its development. Following the full screening of the documentary, see trailer, the session will conclude with a brief moderated discussion on the role of film and visual storytelling in climate research.
This closing dialogue will reflect on how documentaries can contribute to climate research and public engagement, and foster dialogue between researchers, communities, and policymakers.
By showcasing FIRE, WATER, EARTH, AIR, this session aims to spark interdisciplinary reflection on the power of storytelling in geography and climate studies, and to highlight the potential of creative collaborations in research dissemination.Abstract
Session organiser: Tori Jones, Southern Connecticut State University, United States
Abstract
This session will showcase an innovative and engaging take on research communication. It will be the premiere of the short documentary ThORlI, created by Southern Connecticut State University undergraduate student and filmmaker Tori Jones. The film, a result of Tori’s undergraduate Honors thesis project, explores the impacts of a harbor expansion on the local economy and surf spot in Þorlákshöfn, Iceland. Using a Q-methodology research approach, it examines how various stakeholders perceive the environmental, cultural, and economic implications of the coastal development project. As the story unfolds, it amplifies the voices at the heart of the conflict while highlighting the challenge of balancing coastal development with environmental management. The story also follows Tori as she dives headfirst into her project. As someone studying a conflict over a surf spot, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of learning to surf. Experiencing the adrenaline rush of standing on a board for the first time gives just a glimpse into what brings people together in surfing communities. But does this hands-on experience translate into a deeper understanding of the research? These are the types of questions that can be discussed after the screening, during the “Film Maker Meets Critics” Q&A session. The speakers will include the research team from Southern Connecticut State University, who will engage in conversations about the research, filming process, and the future of science communication. The dialogue will also focus on the potential for using digital media as a means of communication. This session will invite participants to consider not just the role of storytelling in geographical research, but also how film can bridge divides between science, community, and policy. By combining research with creativity, ThORlI highlights how interdisciplinary scientific communication can inspire more equitable approaches to coastal resilience worldwide.
The session will start with the screening of the 15-minute film and a subsequent Q&A/meet the filmmakers session (35 min)
Session organiser: Don Mitchell, Uppsala University, Sweden
Abstract
One of the most visible impacts of the proliferation of digital platforms in the cities of the global north is the transformation of urban space due to new on-demand forms of services such as food and parcel delivery, ride hailing, cleaning and waitering labelled as ‘platform-mediated gig work’. As research has shown, many of the workers that provide such services are migrants. Based on a special issue in progress, this panel discussion will explore how the nexus between platform-mediated gig work and migration plays an active role in remaking the contemporary urban space. To do so, the discussion will focus on and seek to advance the concepts of ‘migration infrastructure’ and ‘labour as infrastructure’ to examine how they help us understand the logics and architectures of fulfilment that increasingly shape cities. The discussion will be attentive to the intersection of processes operating at transnational, national and urban scales which positions migrants working through digital platforms as central actors in the transformation of the city. It will also explore how the city both constrains and enables the everyday lives of these particular groups of gig workers and what it means both for them and more generally when urban space is increasingly dedicated to the processes of fulfilment, especially when the logic of fulfilment leads to ghostly spaces in what might otherwise be lively cities.
The discussion will additionally outline some of the innovative analytical tools we have developed for studying how migrants carrying out gig work are changing the city itself, while, in turn, exploring how the very urban landscapes they are central to reproducing serve to both constrain and enable how such migrant workers structure their work and non-work lives. Such tools are important not only for gaining a better understanding of the forces that shape migrants carrying out gig work and their everyday lives, but also for better understanding how shifting geographies and social relations of goods- and service-provision open and close possibilities to construct more just cities.