Globalization

We are interested in studying the diverse processes that constitute globalization and its impacts on urban conditions and people's daily lives in cities in both US and international contexts. Our interest is in the urban and regional dimensions of these changes: in labor markets, labor flows, immigration, and welfare state restructuring; identity, culture, and concepts of citizenship; and social and cultural processes in domestic and international settings.

Faculty

Ben Kohl, Sanjoy Chakravorty, Melissa Gilbert, James Abbott, Roman Cybriwsky

Research Projects

Physical and Spatial Manifestations of Neoliberalism (Ben Kohl)
I am currently involved in research with Juan Arbona that looks at the physical and spatial manifestations of neoliberalism. We start with the understanding that while we can recognize a global, industrial, or post-industrial city, and there is a growing literature on the ‘neoliberal city,' there is less agreement about what it looks like. This project aims to identify the physical manifestations of neoliberal cities and raises questions about the social sustainability of cities under neoliberal regimes.

Persistence of Inequality and the Distribution of Income and Industry (Sanjoy Chakravorty)
This ongoing research examines the spatial and social distribution of income and industry and approaches broader theoretical questions of the persistence of inequality. The empirical results have been reported in two recent books: Fragments of Inequality: Social, Spatial, and Evolutionary Analyses of Income Distribution (2006, London: Routledge) and Made in India: The Economic Geography and Political Economy of Industrialization (2007, Oxford University Press). This research has been funded by several institutions, including The National Science Foundation, The National Institute of Justice, The World Bank, and The American Institute of Indian Studies.

Roppongi as a Global Crossroads and Urban Change in Global Cities (Roman Cybriwsky)
I am writing a book about Roppongi, the somewhat shady, well-known international nightclub district in Tokyo. It's a venue for observing the global economy in action and observing social and economic interactions between the First World and the Third World. The title is taken from the name of the major street intersection that is the hub of the district and from the "crossing" of cultures and economies that takes place there. This is part of ongoing work on urban change in a range of global cities including Buenos Aires, Kyiv, Shanghai, Phnom Penh, Batam (an Indonesian factory island), and St. Petersburg.

Recent Publications

Abbott, J.G. ., L. M. Campbell, C. Hay, T. Næsje & J. Purvis. Market Resource Links & Fish Vendor Livelihoods in the Upper Zambezi River Floodplains. Human Ecology.

Abbott, J.G. , L.M. Campbell, C. Hay, A. Ndumba, T. Næsje & J. Purvis. Rivers as Resources, Rivers as Borders: Community vs. Transboundary Management of Fisheries in the Upper Zambezi River Floodplains. The Canadian Geographer . 51(3), 280302.

Campbell, L. M., N. Gray, Z. Meletis , J.G. Abbott , & J. Silver. 2006. Gatekeepers and keymasters: dynamic relationships of access in geographical field work. The Geographical Review 96 (1): 97121.

Murphy, C. & Abbott, J.G . 2006. A description and preliminary assessment of participatory development policies and application in Namibia. Tanzania Journal of Development Studies 6(1): 4756.

Chakravorty, S. and S. Lall. 2007. Made in India: The Economic Geography and Political Economy of Industrialization. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Chakravorty, S. 2006. Fragments of Inequality: Social, Spatial, and Evolutionary Analyses of Income Distribution. New York: Routledge.

Chakravorty, S., J. Koo, and S. Lall. 2005. “Do Localization Economies Matter in Cluster Formation? Questioning the Conventional Wisdom with Data from Indian Metropolises.” Environment and Planning A 37:331-53.

Lall, S. and S. Chakravorty. 2005. “Industrial Location and Spatial Inequality: Theory and Evidence from India.” Review of Development Economics 9:47-68. Rreprinted in Spatial Disparities in Human Development: Perspectives from Asia. Eds. R. Kanbur and A. Venables. Tokyo: United Nations University Press. 2006.

Chakravorty, S. 2005. “From Colonial City to Global City? The Far-From-Complete Spatial Transformation of Calcutta,” in The Urban Geography Reader , N. R. Fyfe and J. T. Kenny (Eds.), London and New York: Routledge. Pp. 84-92. Reprinted from a chapter with the same name in Globalizing Cities: A New Spatial Order? P. Marcuse and R. van Kempen (Eds.), Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 56-77.

Roman Cybriwsky, 2005. ‘Tokyo's Third Rebuilding: New Twists on Old Patterns,' in Jennifer Robertson (ed.), A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan (London: Blackwell,), pp. 218-30

Roman Cybriwsky with L. R. Ford, 2001. ‘Jakarta', Cities: The International Journal of Policy and Planning, 18,3 (199- 210)

Roman Cybriwsky ‘Changing Patterns of Urban Public Space: Observations and Assessments from the Tokyo and New York Metropolitan Areas,' Cities: The International Journal of Policy and Planning, 16, 4, (223-31)

Roman Cybriwsky, 1998. Tokyo: The Shogun's City at the 21 st Century , London and New York: John Wiley and Sons

L Farthing, J Arbona and B Kohl (2006) “The Cities that Neoliberalism Built: Exploring Urbanization in La Paz-El Alto,” Harvard International Review, web edition, available at http://hir.harvard.edu/articles/1433/, May

B Kohl and L Farthing (2006) Impasse in Bolivia: Neoliberal Hegemony and Popular Resistance , Zed Press, London (2007 Spanish edition with additional material, Bumerán boliviano , Editores Plural, La Paz)

B Kohl (2006) “Challenges to Neoliberal Hegemony in Bolivia,” Antipode , 38(2), 304-326

B Kohl (2004) “Privatization and Regulation: A cautionary tale from Bolivia,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research , 28(4), 893-908