Metropolitics

What It Takes to Keep Trees Alive in Urban Bangladesh

Efadul Huq & Mohammad Azaz — 2026-10-27T06:00:00Z

Tree-planting campaigns promise greener cities, but their success depends on more than planting targets. Drawing on their municipal experience in Dhaka, Efadul Huq and Mohammad Azaz show how inter-agency non-cooperation produces land scarcity, municipal rules obstruct community stewardship, and how planting programs prioritize visibility over long-term survival.
Across climate-stressed cities and regions, governments increasingly use tree planting and waterway restoration as visible,

- From the Field / Bangladesh, Dhaka, green spaces, Asia, Global South, trees, greening, planting, local government, municipality, cooperation

A De Facto Subsidized Market-Led Activity: The Political-Economy Rationale of Affordable Housing Provision in Beirut

Rouba Wehbe — 2026-10-06T05:00:00Z

A contradictory form of affordable housing has taken root in Beirut, based on informally repurposed deteriorated structures for short-term use and “rent intermediaries” who often displace owners. This recurring configuration intermingles profit realization with subsidized access, giving rise to a compelling case study of the diverse factors influencing housing affordability.
In Beirut, an apparently contradictory form of affordable housing has taken root in the wake of decades of Israeli

- From the Field / affordable housing, Lebanon, Middle East, Beirut, housing, housing crisis, social housing, public housing, market

Neighbourhood Planning in London and the Uneven Social Geographies of Public Engagement

Lexi Iacono & Claire Colomb — 2026-06-23T05:00:00Z

A new mechanism of public participation in planning has remained mobilised by more affluent social groups, renewing debates around local “civic capacity” in English (urban) governance.
Are channels of public participation in urban planning always mobilised by more privileged social groups? Decades of research in Europe and North America have shown that this is often the case, despite efforts to involve broader publics (Inner and Booher 2004; Brownill and Parker 2010). A new instrument created

- From the Field / localism, United Kingdom, England, London, neighborhood, planning politics, land-use planning, social diversity, governance, local governance, local authorities, local government

The Making of City Digital Twins: The Case of Dassault Systèmes

Oskar Steiner — 2026-02-03T06:00:00Z

With their origins in manufacturing and heavy industry, “digital twins” are increasingly being applied to urban planning and governance. As Oskar Steiner demonstrates, while the private firms that develop these tools often market them as a way to “let the city speak,” in practice they mostly serve as a vehicle to amplify and legitimize those companies' own voices.
As cities rush to brand themselves as “smart,” city digital twins have emerged as the latest techno-utopian promise: a live,

- From the Field / technology, smart city, digital city, digital economy, platformization

An Unexpected Victory in the Fight to Save Philadelphia Chinatown

Andrew Lee — 2025-10-14T05:00:00Z

Grassroots efforts to counter gentrification-inducing megaprojects often fail as elected officials negotiate various interests. Using the case of 76 Place in Philadelphia, Andrew Lee examines the nuanced interplay of forces that spared Chinatown from a new arena.
“When they raze these streets, I'll no longer know which way my toes are pointed.” — Dylan Tran, “My Soul Travels Between Three Cities”
On December 19th, 2024, Philadelphia City Council voted 12–5 to approve 76 Place, a

- From the Field / Chinatown, Philadelphia, gentrification, Pennsylvania, United States, mobilization

Producing Affordable Housing in West Africa: How States Respond to Demand and Local Realities

Mathilde Mouton & translated by Oliver Waine — 2025-10-10T05:00:00Z

Based on her consulting work in West Africa, Mathilde Mouton highlights the limitations of state-led social housing programs. She calls for greater consideration of initiatives in the informal sector to produce housing that is adapted to the needs and resources of local populations.
A plan for 100,000 new homes in Senegal, a plan for 150,000 social housing units in Côte d'Ivoire, a plan for 40,000 dwellings in Burkina Faso, a plan to build 20,000 homes in Benin… Over the past decade, many

- From the Field / Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa, Senegal, housing, affordable housing, informal housing, social housing

The Emergence of Transnational Queer Organizing Across a Hardening US–Canada Border

Elizabeth Hessek — 2025-09-30T05:00:00Z

LGTBQ+ refugees in the United States not only face the violence of the nation's immigration policy but are also constrained by international agreements that limit Canada's ability to offer refugee status to them. Elizabeth Hessek describes how these challenges have created opportunities for transnational networks to support queer refugees wherever they may be.
As migration control has surfaced as a barometer of national sovereignty in public debate, recent migration scholarship has rejected

- From the Field / LGBTQ+, queer, community organizing, refugees, United States, Canada, North America, borders, immigration, immigration policy, networks

The Fight for Community Ownership in Los Angeles Chinatown via the LA Chinatown CLT

Amy Zhou — 2025-07-08T05:00:00Z

Community land trusts are one strategy to stem displacement due to real-estate speculation in Chinatowns across North America. Yet, as Amy Zhou demonstrates through her work with the LA Chinatown Community Land Trust, these efforts must address multiple challenges to realize the potential of community ownership.
Over the past few years, the community land trust (CLT) movement has held a significant amount of attention across North America, and particularly in a number of Chinatowns, including

- From the Field / community land trusts, Chinatown, displacement, real estate, property ownership, United States, community organizing, Los Angeles

Istanbul as a Showcase of AKP's Electoral Techno-Nationalism

Yohanan Benhaïm & translated by Oliver Waine — 2025-06-03T05:00:00Z

In Turkey, President Tayyip Erdoğan was re-elected for a third term in May 2023. Yohanan Benhaïm looks back on the last electoral campaign in Istanbul and shows how "techno-nationalism" and its implementation in urban spaces have become an electoral tool for the ruling AKP party.
In Turkey, despite the economic crisis and the earthquake of February 2023, the elections of May 14 and 28, 2023, saw the People's Coalition (Cumhur Ittifakı) retain its majority in parliament and President Erdoğan

- From the Field / Turquie, Istanbul, politique, élections, mégapole, industrie de défense, technonationalisme, campagne électoral

Integration or Chainsaw: Some Reflections on the Policies of Cruelty in Milei's Argentina Based on the ReNaBaP Case | Integración o motosierra: Reflexiones sobre las políticas de crueldad en la Argentina de Milei a partir del caso ReNaBaP

Facundo A. Corti — 2025-05-20T05:00:00Z

Policy efforts in Argentina to reduce housing inequality have been met with Milei's chainsaw. Facundo A. Corti shows how the state has made the fight for housing equality a one-sided struggle.
---- Series: Horizons in the Housing Struggle ▼ Pulse aquí para leer en español ▼
The National Registry of Popular Neighborhoods (Registro Nacional de Barrios Populares, or ReNaBaP) was created in 2017 through Decree 358, which institutionalized a registry initiated the previous year by civil society

- From the Field / Argentina, Latin America, South America, Global South, housing, housing policy, informal housing, informal settlements, urban integration, Javier Milei, public policy, working-class neighborhoods