Metropolitics

Russia's “Authoritarian Modernization” Through Urbanization: What Lessons Can Be Learned from New Moscow?

Vladimir Pawlotsky & translated by Oliver Waine — 2024-06-28T05:00:00Z

Can the recent New Moscow urban development project shed light on the political, economic and demographic issues of contemporary Russia? Vladimir Pawlotsky questions the “authoritarian modernization” at the origin of this project, which has seen the Russian capital more than double in area.
Far from the ever more numerous warmongering diatribes he has been known for since 2022 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, during his presidency (2008-2012) Dmitri Medvedev promoted the modernization of his

- From the Field / urban project, authoritarian regime, globalization, Moscow, metropolis, Russia

Migration and Inequalities: The Importance of Social Class

2021-11-19T06:00:00Z

Since the 1990s, Anne-Catherine Wagner's research has focused on migrants from the most affluent classes in society. In this interview, she returns to the notion of international capital, which she used in her work to shed light on inequalities relating to mobility, particularly in her pioneering survey of “expat” executives in France.
Where does your interest in upper-class migration come from, and what do you see as the contribution made by work on this subject?
When I began my PhD

- Interviews / mobility, expatriation, globalization, social class, upper classes, migrants, immigration, migration, school, education, inequalities

Queens, New York: A Global Microcosm

Susie J. Tanenbaum — 2021-05-04T05:00:00Z

Susie J. Tanenbaum reviews Immigrant Crossroads: Globalization, Incorporation, and Placemaking in Queens, New York, highlighting how the new edited volume by Tarry Hum, Ron Hayduk, François Pierre-Louis, Jr., and Michael Alan Krasner uses the case of Queens, New York, to bring together interdisciplinary perspectives on contemporary immigration issues in a hyper-diverse urban setting and expands the field of immigration studies in promising ways.
On January 28, 2017, an executive order from

- Reviews / Queens, New York, migration, immigration, migrants, immigrant incorporation, diversity, hyper-diversity, globalization, placemaking, Donald Trump

Aéroports de Paris: A Strategic Lever for the French State?

Nathalie Roseau & translated by Oliver Waine — 2021-01-26T06:00:00Z

Following growing controversy surrounding the French government's plans to privatize the Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group, Nathalie Roseau looks back at the history of this organization and questions the wisdom of such a reform.
On April 11, 2019, France's lower house of parliament, the Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly) approved a law known as PACTE (Plan d'Action pour la Croissance et la Transformation des Entreprises – Action Plan for Growth and Transformation of Enterprises), paving

- Debates / climate change, Greater Paris, airport, sustainable development, Île-de-France, ADP, France, globalization, Paris region, Paris, transport, transport policy, environment, environmental protection, economic development, territorial development, privatization

Right(s) to the City in Hanoi

Divya Leducq & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-10-11T05:00:00Z

Over the past decade, urban change has accelerated and transformed the physical, social and symbolic landscapes of Hanoi. Taking as her starting point a survey in the Vietnamese capital, Divya Leducq identifies three key means in which residents express their right to the city which, in a context of multiple aspirations, reflect a shared desire for high-quality urban planning.
In recent years, urban transformation processes advocated by proponents of “top-down” planning built around

- From the Field / Hanoi, Vietnam, right to the city, inhabitant, civil society, urbanization, urban planning, urban development, social class, globalization, associations

Made in China, Sold in West Africa

Anne Bouhali & Nora Mareï & Mamadou Dimé & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-05-31T05:00:00Z

From a small border post between Senegal and Mauritania, Anne Bouahli, Nora Mareï and Mamadou Dimé follow the journey of goods from Europe and China, as well as locally produced merchandise, with a view to examining and analyzing the different forms that globalization is taking in these little-studied areas.
Along the Tangier–Nouakchott–Dakar coastal corridor, the Rosso crossing on the Senegal River is both a border and a discontinuity in terms of transit. As the missing link in the

- From the Field / commerce, borders, mobility, globalization, Africa, West Africa, China, Morocco, Mauritania, Global South, Senegal

Trends Global, Impact Local

John Shapiro — 2017-05-23T11:38:54Z

Global wealth, immigration and capital flow have profoundly influenced local retail districts in world-class cities. In 2016's Global Cities, Local Streets: Everyday Diversity from New York to Shanghai, 16 research partners compared retail transformations in Amsterdam, Berlin, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto, and New York. John Shapiro comments on their findings and insights.
Sharon Zukin, Philip Kasinitz, and Xiangming Chen have followed up on Zukin's Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic

- Reviews / gentrification, globalization, migration, retail districts, capital flow

Migration and globalization: a tragic tale

Olivier Thomas & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-10-30T05:55:00Z

At a time when flows of capital, goods and information are increasing, more and more material, ideological and institutional obstacles are limiting the movements of international migrants. Two works published in 2012 propose a critical analysis of this state control of inward migrants.
The works of Marc Bernardot and the Migreurop network provide two complementary views that enable us to grasp the political, economic and social stakes of Western nations' migration policies, and more

- Reviews / Europe, camps, immigration, globalization, migration, borders, detention centres

Professionalisation, gentrification and welfare reform: 20 years of socio-spatial change in London

Manuel Appert & Anaïs Collet & Chris Hamnett — 2013-06-19T04:55:00Z

The 2008 financial crisis called time on a long period of economic transformation in European cities that has seen their socio-spatial structures change radically. The conventional wisdom, in line with the works of Sassen, is that social inequalities have increased, but Chris Hamnett, interviewed by Metropolitics, takes a more finely shaded view, and invites us to take a closer look at the trajectories of ethnic minorities and the impacts of welfare reform.
Major cities across the world have

- Interviews / gentrification, ethnicity, housing, housing policy, inequalities, welfare state, urban regeneration, globalization, socio-spatial inequalities, polarization, displacement, metropolization, replacement, race, video, Featured

A Regionalist Panorama for Architecture and Beyond

Karla Britton — 2013-01-30T05:55:00Z

Can architecture preserve local identities in a globalizing world? In their new book, Liane Lefaivre and Alexander Tzonis present critical regionalism as a viable alternative to the standardization of contemporary architecture and landscapes. They trace the history of this movement and highlight the social and environmental challenges that it can help overcome.
How do we become modern and at the same time remain attached to cultural sources? How do we revive an old, dormant civilization and

- Reviews / architecture, regionalism, globalization