Urban Theory

Coordinator: Tim Bunnell, Associate Professor, History and Francis L. Collins, Assistant Professor, Geography

Project Description and Scope

A wide range of scholars across campus are involved in researching and teaching urban studies. The field is inherently trans-disciplinary such that it is not surprising to find architectural studies widely cited in urban geography texts, for example, while work by geographers, sociologists and political scientists find their way onto reading lists in urban planning. The aim of this proposed grouping is to build upon these connections by allowing scholars with diverse disciplinary backgrounds – in anthropology, architecture, geography, planning, political science and sociology – to discuss readings of common interest. We are interested, in particular, in texts which theorize the urban. This does not preclude discussion of empirically-rich urban scholarship but this should have wider theoretical scope or significance.

We would like to keep the list of readings fairly fluid to allow collective consideration of readings encountered in the ongoing flow of our urban scholarship. However, we are proposing to anchor our meetings around three texts from which we can pursue reading ‘pathways’, including through ‘following’ readings which are cited in the anchor texts. We propose to meet once every three weeks, alternating the venue between Kent Ridge and Bukit Timah campuses (such that the group should also help to overcome associated spatial divisions).

Initial Reading List

  • Michael Shapiro (2010) The Time of the City: Politics, philosophy and genre (Interventions). Routledge.
  • Ed Soja (2010) Seeking Spatial Justice (Globalization and Community). University of Minnesota Press.
  • Matthew Gandy (2002) Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Meeting Schedule and Events

We will meet on Friday afternoons (at 2pm), alternating between the Department of Geography on Kent Ridge Campus and the Asia Research Institute at the Bukit Timah Campus.

List of Participants

  • Tim Bunnell [ARI and Geography]
  • Chang Jiat Hwee / Lai Chee Kien [Architecture]
  • Eric Thompson / Daniel Goh / Misha Petrovic / Kim Ji Youn [Sociology]
  • Peter Marolt / Michelle Bunnell Miller / Wang Shu-Yi [ARI]
  • Rita Padawangi [Global Asia Institute]
  • Francis Collins / C.P. Pow [Geography]
  • Jason Bonin [Law]