SURGE.

We are a group of scholars located in the global South drawn together by our interests in bringing to the fore divergent forms of urbanism. SURGE currently includes members from Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan and South Africa. Furthermore, we come from different disciplinary backgrounds, yet converge in our interest in public spaces, and their diverse roles in urban contexts within the global South.

We see our initiative as an ongoing, open dialogue to understand Southern processes through their histories, genealogies, and evolution, with the ambition to further develop theorisation and methodologies from the global South, which respond to present and future challenges. This dialogue resonates with our diversity and inclusiveness.

SURGE is a response to the call to ‘unlearn’ how certain geographies have been researched, represented, documented and surge towards acknowledging, understanding and learning from differences, to address Global challenges. Practically, SURGE aims to investigate the multidimensional evolutionary dynamics of Southern processes, including historical colonial influences, and encompass emergent knowledge, local know-how and geo-cultural urban terminology. This endeavour is a continuation of ongoing efforts that have been undertaken to induce analytical and synthetical approaches to push for more “pluriversal” (Vasudevan and Novoa E, 2021) urban studies and terminologies. It seeks to build upon efforts and continue to create knowledge from this rich Southern multiplicity.

Our initiative will manifest in a panoply of webinars, conferences, joint publications and cross-geographical curricular explorations.

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