CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue – International Planning Studies Journal (IPS)
Southern Urbanism as a negotiation of past, present, and future IPS special issue editors SURGE: Christine Mady, Sadaf Khan, Joumana Stephan, Claudia Ortiz, Ohoud Kamal, Kundani Makakavhule, Michelle Meza
Please send an abstract of 250 words with: a proposed title; a clear indication of the contribution the article will make to knowledge and particularly how it would contribute to the development of a novel theoretical, methodological and/or epistemological approach to studying Southern Urbanism; three references to surge.research.group@gmail.com by 24th June 2024. If you have any questions regarding this call, please contact us at surge.research.group@gmail.com.
Call for abstracts
The ‘global South’ notion has been a source of critical investigation for the past decades. Many see it as a fuzzy term that took on many interpretations. Some see it as a critical concept (Bishara, 2012), a geolocation, a critique of Eurocentric urban scholarship, but also a complementary perspective depicting alternative urban dynamics and processes. Alongside these diverse interpretations, the ‘Southern narrative’ is not a counter-narrative, it is a story on its own. Cities of the Global South are dynamic, multi-layered spatio-temporal entities. They combine past local heritage, culture and knowledge that are transplanted and often normalised concepts of colonial pasts, post-modern urban planning mixing between root-causes and prevailing models, migrant building practices, with emerging urban planning processes – such as informal settlements, gated communities, and so on – that require questioning agency, engagement, funding with prescribed approaches, and dominant policies. This reality reflects the complexity for interactions among residents, planners, developers, and policymakers, and calls for deeper explorations in alternative Southern palimpsests where etymologies and ontologies from the past and present are negotiated to create revisit epistemologies and methodologies that address global challenges within urban contexts at the local, everyday scale. The special issue addresses the struggle to envision cities that have used past concepts and methods, are at present in a constant state of negotiation for legitimacy and contextual relevance, and strive for alternative and resilient futures facing societal, political, economic, and environmental crises. It embraces the hybridisation of ideas from alternative narratives to advance more inclusive urban theories and leverages the reversal of perspectives starting from the south to provide ‘pluriversal’ knowledge.
Revisiting the past, evaluating the present and aspiring for alternative futures, this special issue addresses topics within different spatio-temporal frameworks:
• Colonial pasts and alternative understandings. Exploring alternative stories of coloniality’s legacies through dialogues of erasure, persistence, and re-imaginings, and discussing histories and knowledge creation tools with differential and asymmetrical timelines (for example, Ekpo & Sidogi, 2021; Mbembe, 2015; Sinclair et al., 2013). Challenging understandings of the present based on different ontologies, and their resurfacing or reproduction in urban spaces, with implications for citizenship, knowledge, politics, aesthetics, and urbanisation are addressed (Ekpo & Sidogi, 2021; Mbembe, 2015; Ndlovu, 2022; Sinclair et al., 2013).
• Everyday Urbanism and Community Perspectives. Situating and requestioning north-south classifications of everyday urban dynamics within public spaces through cross-cutting experiences – which do not necessarily have clear geographic distributions through multidisciplinary perspectives – and reflecting on previous concepts, current local needs, knowledge and practices and the possible mismatch of public space supply and demand (Landman & Mady, 2022). The everyday urban dynamics of ordinary city dwellers are essential to understand and develop meaningful public spaces. Questions arise regarding drivers of public space provision, and the extent to which it is influenced by past (colonial) ideas and concepts, current local needs, knowledge, and practices, and the possibility of shifting towards alternative futures, while2mitigating possible conflicts, contestations, or learning from disruptions, such as COVID-19 (Bild et al., 2022; Kamal, 2022; Kouros, 2022; Makakavhule, 2022; Nikšič , 2022; Vanka, 2022).
• Climate Crisis responses. Understanding and creating knowledge about the climate crisis locally from different global South contexts, as it relates to, and manifests situated practices. Through the themes of political ecology, vulnerability, community agency, and resilience, a more divergent post-colonial and transformative version of Southern urbanism emerges. Many sources of climatic stress are linked to market-based mechanisms rather than contextualised realities of local or indigenous communities, which reproduce and exacerbate imbalances and inequalities between countries causing and countries tolerating the repercussions (Mishra et al, 2023; Ecksteinet al., 2021; Streule, 2022). Deeper investigation into traditional knowledge and local craftsmanship may offer new lexicons, concepts, and alternative responses that more inclusive responses to climate crises (Jasanoff, 2007; Ruiz & Magaña, 2022).This special issue invites submissions that delve into urban complexities from a global perspective and aims to challenge ‘universalism’ and explore diverse narratives of often underrepresented or forgotten geographies, urban processes, and lived experiences of marginalised societies. The contributions would offer new insights into the ontologies, etymologies, and epistemologies of our cities to enable deepened learning from the past, mitigate present challenges, and prevent future threats. Interested authors should send their abstract of 250 words with: a proposed title; a clear indication of the contribution the article will make to knowledge and particularly how it would contribute to the development of a novel theoretical, methodological and/or epistemological approach to studying Southern Urbanism; three references to surge.research.group@gmail.com by 24th June 2024. If you have any questions regarding this call, please contact us at surge.research.group@gmail.com
Schedule
● Call for abstracts 15 May 2024
● Abstract submission date 24 June 2024
● Notification of authors on selected abstracts 8 July 2024
● Submission of manuscript for peer reviewing 30 September 2024
● Peer reviewing period October to December 2024
● Final submission January 2025
● On-line First Publication Starting January 2025
About the editors
SURGE is a response to the call to unlearn how certain geographies in the global South have been researched, represented, documented, and how to search towards acknowledging, understanding, and learning from differences. SURGE’s aim is to address global challenges, and investigate the multidimensional evolutionary dynamics of southern processes, including historical colonial influences, emergent knowledge, local know-how, and cultural urban terminology. This endeavour is a continuation of ongoing efforts that have been undertaken by scholars to induce analytical and synthetic approaches, and push for more pluriverse urban studies and terminology. SURGE seeks to build upon efforts and continue to create knowledge from this rich southern multiplicity.
References
• Bishara, A. (2012). Revolutions, Reforms and Democratic Transition in the Arab Homeland from the Perspective of the Tunisian Revolution. Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics, and Culture, 18(1), 22.