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Urban Radar

Urban Radar

By: Tom Goodfellow and Beth Perry
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Urban Radar is a podcast series brought to you by Professors Tom Goodfellow and Beth Perry, which reflects on current events and emerging trends through the lens of cities and urban life. Drawing on the unique range of urban expertise in the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, we place urban dynamics at the centre of contemporary global affairs.


Feedback:


Email: urbanradarpod@gmail.com

Instagram: @urbanradarpodcast


Credits:


Podcast production, hosting, editing & promotion: Tom Goodfellow & Beth Perry


Post-production editing & promotion: Sam Burgum


Production support: Jack Clayton


Distribution, promotion & marketing: Vicky Simpson


Music: Horizon (music by Tom Goodfellow, produced by Alan Thomson); Falling Down (music by Tom Goodfellow, performed by the Dice, produced by Alan Thomson); Ghosts (music by the Dice; produced by Alan Thompson); Kilimanjaro (music by Tom Goodfellow, produced by Alan Thompson).


Supported by the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester.

© 2026 Urban Radar Politics & Government Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 33. CLEANING UP THE CITY: Waste-lands in Mumbai and Lagos (+moving capitals, +renaming cities, +urban running events and more)

    33. CLEANING UP THE CITY: Waste-lands in Mumbai and Lagos (+moving capitals, +renaming cities, +urban running events and more)
    Sep 21 2026
    In this month's episode, Beth and Tom reflect on UN World Clean-up Day, inviting Deji Akinpelu (Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development (CHSD) University of Lagos), and Purva Dewoolkar (School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester) to share their work rethinking waste management and sanitation in Lagos and Mumbai. Also on the radarWhy do capital cities get moved, and will Uganda be moving its capital?What does new UK sanctions on Israeli settlements mean for the two-state and ‘shared homeland’ solutions? And what is the potential role of cities?What is the history of cities seceding from nation-states?How do massive urban running events have positive and negative effects on the city?As the quest for (urban) superintelligence ramps up, what are the generational differences in how we approach AI?What’s in a name? With Trump renaming more geographies, can Tom remember the former names of cities in Beth’s quiz? Guests: Deji Akinpelu is a documentary filmmaker, photographer and advocate for inclusive urban development whose practice documents architecture, heritage and everyday urbanism across Lagos and West Africa. He founded the Rethinking Cities Initiative (RCI) in 2017, following the forced eviction of the waterfront community at Otodo Gbame, and has since built a body of work that treats the recording of the city, its buildings, its cultural traditions and its threatened settlements, as an act of advocacy for their survival.ACRC: Transforming informal settlements in Lagos through community-drive WASHDisplaced: A City’s ScarsPurva Dewoolkar is Bicentenary Research Fellow in the School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester. Dewoolkar’s research integrates human geography, urban studies, critical development studies, and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), collaborating with Mumbai's campaign for Universal Access to Water and Manchester's cultural institutions to develop care-centred, community-led approaches for documenting and understanding urban infrastructural struggles in the Global South, centring the lived experiences and vocabularies of resistance.On shaky grounds: situating safe sanitation in Mumbai’s sub-surface legacies of wasterHabitation counter-stories: thinking from the autoconstructed basti-Cheeta Camp, MumbaiSewers and sewage treatment in Mumbai: Temporality, difference, competing universals and infrastructural entanglements.LinksSponsor Beth to raise money for War Child UKOff the Shelf – Festival of Words, Sheffield 2026References:Jaim Yacobi and Omar Dajani - 'Shared Homeland Paradigm' ESRC projectJane Jacobs - Cities and the Wealth of NationsCharles Tilly - Cities and States in World HistoryEdensor & Larsen - Rhythmanalysing marathon runningHow to be an Anti-Capitalist CityDavid Robinson - The Intelligence TrapCugurullo et al - The Rise of AI Urbanism in Post-Smart CitiesThe Conversation - ‘Gen Z is pushing back against AI’Prerona Das - Smart Cities Beyond Methodological CityismPrince Guma - The Temporal Incompleteness of Infrastructure and the UrbanGabriella Bennett - How to Build a CityHosts:Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, and CEO of the African Cities Research Consortium, University of Manchester. 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. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 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. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.comYou can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcastThanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast. And to Sam Burgum, for post-production editing and promotion.
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • 32. INDIGENOUS URBANISM AND YOUTH: fluid geographies in Latin America, +Ceuta, +cats and dogs, +marine heatwaves, +population surge and more

    32. INDIGENOUS URBANISM AND YOUTH: fluid geographies in Latin America, +Ceuta, +cats and dogs, +marine heatwaves, +population surge and more
    Aug 21 2026
    In this month's episode, Beth and Tom mark World Indigenous Peoples' Day and the International Day of Youth with Dr Philipp Horn, School of Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield. Drawing on Philipp's work with Indigenous youth from the Bolivian cities of El Alto, Santa Cruz, Sucre and Rurrenabaque, they challenge stereotypes of indigenous lives, highlighting fluid geographies and mobilities between urban and rural areas. Together they discuss Indigenous claims to the city, how young Indigenous people navigate urban life and what indigenous epistemology and practice can offer urban studies.Also on the radarHow strategic and local authorities are responding to the new guidance on what 'sex' means in the Equalities Act 2010Why border cities are geopolitical flashpoints: a look at Ceuta in contextWhat feral cats in Seoul and dogs in Istanbul tell us about more-than-human urban developmentHow marine heatwaves impact coastal cities and communitiesHow population surges and shrinkages shape urban politics around the worldWhether urban glitches, like a solar eclipse, disrupt the 24-hour cityGuest: Philipp Horn is Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography and Planning at the University of Sheffield, UK. His research focuses on Indigenous urbanism, youth rights, urban informality, and participatory planning in the global South, with a regional focus on Latin America. He has published numerous journal articles, books, book chapters and working papers, with recent work focusing on multilocal Indigenous lives, urban informality, and multi-modal collaborative research. Find out more about his work on these project websites:Indigenous Development Alternatives, funded by the ESRCContested Territories, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 873082)From the back catalogue:Trans Rights and the CitySeeing the CityRiver/CityReferences:Lessons from Ceuta, Myriam Cherti Beyond the Border, Alice BuoliOpen Call: Surfaces of War, Popular Intelligence in the MediterraneanYongsan CatsBetween Care and Violence: The Dogs of IstanbulOttoman History Podcast - Between Care and Violence: The Dogs of Istanbul | Mine Yıldırım | Free Listening on Podbean AppCall for Community Consultation: Journal of Southern TheorisingHosts:Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. 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. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 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. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.comYou can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcastThanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 20 mins
  • 31. INSIDE URBAN STUDIES: Voices from RC21, +chokepoint cities, +Binface, +bar brawls, +polo clubs and more

    31. INSIDE URBAN STUDIES: Voices from RC21, +chokepoint cities, +Binface, +bar brawls, +polo clubs and more
    Jul 29 2026

    In July's radar, we report back from one of the major urban studies conferences - RC21 - which is held every two years in different cities across the world. Bringing together 1200 scholars at the University of Vienna, the 2026 conference provided spaces for provocation and discussion about the methods, approaches and theories we need to identify and address urban inequalities in these contemporary times.

    The central part of the episode is a discussion with the editors of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) - Mona Fawaz, Liza Weinstein and Nik Theodore - about their 50th anniversary plans. We are excited to announce that these include a proposed collab with Urban Radar to produce a mini-series of special episodes connecting long-standing urban questions raised by scholars over the past five decades to contemporary analysis from emerging researchers.

    We also share a series of vox-pops from the conference, with Dolf te Lintelo, Catalina Ortiz, Gabriel Silvestre, Nitin Bathla, Simone Tulumello, Lindsay Sawyer and Vanesa Castan Broto.

    Before that, on our radar we discuss:

    • Whether the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz might herald the development of new 'chokepoint' cities able to control strategic waterways
    • What Count Binface could learn from previous comedy candidates standing for election
    • The implications of Berlin's bunker shortage for cultural and arts venues
    • The Soho bar brawl and which city has the latest bedtime
    • Why young people are busy doing nothing in Bangkok
    • Why environmentalists are disputing the closure of a colonial-era polo club in Delhi

    Read More:

    Founding IJURR editorial, 1977

    Reflections on Critical Urban Studies in Perilous Times

    RC21 Conference Website

    From Our Archive:

    RIVER/CITY: A conversation with Olivia Casagrande and Roberto Monte-Mor

    SEEING THE CITY: A conversation with Junia Mortimer and Felipe Magalhaes

    URBAN LABS IN TIMES OF CRISIS AND POST-TRUTH: A conversation with Mona Fawaz and Nausheen Anwar

    Hosts:

    Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. 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. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441)

    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. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)

    Email feedback to: urbanradarpod@gmail.com

    You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast

    Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
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