Urban Radar: Trailer

In this trailer, we set out the background to Urban Radar, the format of the show and the main questions that we will explore. 

Urban Radar is a podcast series which reflects on current events and emerging trends through the lens of cities and urban life. It is brought to you by Sheffield Urbanism, a community of urban researchers in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Sheffield, UK. 

Urban Radar places urban dynamics at the centre of contemporary global affairs. In each episode we scan the news to bring unique urban perspectives into the issues that shape our world. We will invite members of our research community to provide evidence-based informed insights into the ways that cities and urban communities are impacted by, driving and responding to current events.

We will also include special features that profile cutting-edge research and analysis happening within and beyond the Sheffield Urbanism community. These link to the overarching questions we will explore in the podcast, including: 

• How can urban research help to build solidarity and a sense of belonging in the face of rising individualism, consumerism, and capital accumulation?
• How can we foster place-based innovation to harness technological developments as tools to address inequalities between different groups within and across urban areas? 
• What potential does urban political mobilisation have to transform power relations in a world characterised by authoritarianism and oligarchy? And what are its limits?
• Whose knowledge and expertise - human, non-human and artificial - gets to determine the way we live together in urban space?
• How can and do urban communities re-imagine cities as spaces of environmental justice and sustainable inhabitation?

Join us each month as we attempt to decode some of the events and issues on our urban radar - and if you want to know more, follow Sheffield Urbanism on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

CREDITS:

Podcast production, presentation and editing: Tom Goodfellow and Beth Perry 

Post-production editing and marketing: Polly Clifton

Training and production support: Jack Clayton

Distribution, promotion and marketing: Riya Singh and Vicky Simpson

Music: Horizon (original music by Tom Goodfellow, recorded and produced by Alan Thomson)

Podcast Cover: Dan Farley Designs

Hosts:

Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Studies and International Development in the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change.

Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK.

If you want to know more about the research featured in this podcast, follow Sheffield Urbanism on LinkedIn, or bluesky, Instagram or visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institute

Email feedback to: [email protected]

Thanks to the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Sheffield for funding this podcast and the Creative Media Suite for recording facilities.