News | Realising Just Cities

A new policy brief has been published by Dr. Ryan Bellinson examining how the concept of co-production can be used as an approach to promote participative urban climate policy development. This policy brief draws on his recent PhD research that was supervised by Urban Institute Director Professor Beth Perry and Co-Director Professor Aidan While.

Read more about A new policy brief on co-production in climate politics

The final reports for the British Academy / Mistra Urban Futures project Whose Heritage Matters are now available for free download.

The central question for Whose Heritage Matters was whether, and if so how, cultural heritage could be mobilised to support more sustainable and just urban futures in Cape Town and Kisumu. Our aim was to critically explore what international targets and agendas for cultural heritage and sustainable development mean in the context of entrenched and everyday urban challenges.

Read more about Whose Heritage Matters? Final Reports

The Sheffield-Manchester Local Interaction Platform Director Professor Beth Perry is one of the authors of this new open access book and contributes findings from the Realising Just Cities Project as part of Mistra Urban Futures programme.

Read more about New Practical Action publication on Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-production has now been published open access

Beth Perry and colleagues have published a new article ‘Cities coping with COVID-19’ in CITY. The Symposium of authors, brought together by Mistra Urban Futures, explore how their cities (Gothenburg and Malmö in Sweden, Sheffield and Greater Manchester in the UK, Cape Town in South Africa, Kisumu in Kenya, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Shimla in northern India) have been impacted by COVID-19 and how they and their national and state/provincial governments responded in the context of their sustainable development commitments.

Read more about Cities coping with COVID-19

Heritage is not only our identity: It is also our politics, our complex histories, and our memories. Heritage shapes the way we live, eat, pray, raise our children and interact with each other. Cultural heritage can bring people together, but it can also be used to keep people apart — as the rise of the right wing all over the world is worryingly demonstrating.

By Naomi Roux, Rike Sitas and Maurietta Stewart

Read more about Braai, the beloved country: The impossible burden of heritage

Seeing the inner city from the South was a Realising Just Cities action research project which took place between 2017-2019 at the Sheffield-Manchester Local Interaction Platform. The research was co-produced between Dr Sophie King and women engaged in community action in areas of high deprivation in Manchester, Salford and Stockport.

Read more about Realising Just Cities through savings

Professor Tim May has recorded (with permission from the publishers) a chapter – ‘Sustaining Our Lives’ - from Thinking Sociologically written with the late Zygmunt Bauman and published by Wiley in 2019.

The focus of the chapter is on boundaries and the role they play in our lives, perceptions, actions and identities. It does not address the pandemic, but raises issues which may help in our understanding. I offer some thoughts on the current situation below and a link to the recording can be found at the end.

Read more about Professor Tim May reads a chapter from Thinking Sociologically, written with Zygmunt Bauman

In October, the University of Sheffield hosted the fourth international Realising Just Cities conference. Several parts of the programme were captured on video and are now available to watch on the UK Realising Just Cities Youtube channel. We're also pleased to be able to share slides from the policy exchange with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (see downloads below).

The YouTube selection includes:

Five responses to the question "What difference did it make?" including UK Realising Just Cities co-researcher Sharon Davies:

Read more about New: Videos from #JustCities2019

The latest newletter from Mistra Urban Futures is now available. Articles include a summary of the final Realsing Just Cities conference hosted in Sheffield-Manchester last month and a video showcasing work across the platforms over the last 10 years.

Read more about Mistra Urban Futures newsletter now available

Infographic from the report Realising Just Cities: An Overview of Activity 2016–2019

“Innovative funding and enabling institutions are needed to support and nurture dedicated researchers to work in partnerships to realise just cities.” This is among the conclusions of Realising Just Cities: An Overview of Activity 2016–2019, a new report which also demonstrates what becomes possible when such support is in place.

Read more about Realising Just Cities needs innovative funding -- reporting back from RJC UK