Rediscovering Urban Politics
This talk by Ross Beveridge and Philippe Koch provides a novel way of thinking about the relationship between democracy and the urban based on two main arguments. First, across the globe claims for and forms of urban collective self-rule signal that the city retains democratic significance in a very specific sense: as an object of practice and thought the city is a source and stake of the urban demos. Second, urbanisation unsettles seemingly fixed boundaries between the state and society and thus opens the possibility of weaving together a new democratic fabric encompassing both. There is a democratic politics of urbanisation that shifts perspectives from institutions to practices, from jurisdictional scales to spaces of collective urban life. Seeing democracy like a city, we argue, foregrounds a way to re-locate democracy in the everyday lives of urbanites and to unlock the transformative potential of an urban democracy. This talk draws on recent work including the book “How Cities Can Transform Democracy” (2023) and the article “Seeing Democracy like a City” (2023).
This is the first seminar in the series ‘Where is Urban Politics?’ a hybrid seminar series hosted by the University of Groningen, in the academic year 2024-2025. For more information on recent and forthcoming events: https://sites.google.com/rug.nl/where-is-urban-politics-series
Purchase the book here:
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/How+Cities+Can+Transform+Democracy-p-9781509546008
Guests:
Ross Beveridge
Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow working in the field of urban politics and governance. His most recent book is How Cities Can Transform Democracy, co-authored with Philippe Koch (ZHAW Zurich) and published with Polity Press in 2022. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Geography Compass and is co-founder and editor of the Urban Political Podcast. In addition, he is co-editor of the book “How Cities Can Transform Democracy”.
Philippe Koch
Philippe, PhD, is a Professor in Urban Politics in the Department of Architecture at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). He is interested in urban democracy and politics, housing policy and, more recently, the political possibilities of architecture. He is a co-founder of urban publics Zurich, a platform that connects urbanists in and beyond Zurich. In addition, he is co-editor of the book “How Cities Can Transform Democracy”.