We at the Urban Studies Foundation (USF) are delighted to reveal the recipients of our 2025 Seminar Series Awards! This year, we are celebrating a diverse and innovative cohort of projects poised to make significant advances in urban scholarship. These awards highlight the USF’s commitment to fostering critical dialogue, supporting groundbreaking and collaborative research, and addressing the urgent and complex challenges facing cities worldwide.
The 2025 Seminar Series Awards encompass a remarkable geographical breadth, with initiatives spanning across Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, South Asia, West Asia, and beyond. This global reach reflects USF’s mission to nurture urban scholarship that is both locally grounded and globally connected, promoting cross-regional learning and inclusive knowledge exchange. Aligned with USF strategic goals, the grant activities also prioritise early-career scholars, champion experimental and interdisciplinary approaches, and build transnational networks that can enable sustained collaboration. Central to this is a focus on epistemic justice—recognising and addressing imbalances in whose knowledge counts in urban research and policy.
This round of the Seminar Series Awards will support a wide range of topics around the world. Event programmes address a variety of themes in urban studies—from understanding the everyday environmental adaptations of youth in South Asia, to exploring the responsible integration of AI in urban governance, and examining the nuanced politics of state-building across Africa and Eastern Europe. Other grantholders will also investigate policy learning in Southeast Asian cities, champion alternative urban futures through experimental approaches, and re-envisage healthy and sustainable transitions in post-industrial landscapes. Crucially, these projects do not shy away from difficult realities. They confront the profound impact of spatial violence and urbicide in places such as Gaza and Ukraine, while simultaneously working to decentre urban knowledge by amplifying the voices of emerging scholars and marginalised groups.
Through these diverse initiatives and activities, the 2025 USF Seminar Series Awards aim to generate fresh insights, stimulate lasting collaboration, and support more inclusive and reflective urban research communities.
Here’s a closer look at the new Seminar Series Awards grants:
Mapping opportunities for healthy and sustainable urban transitions in post-industrial cities
This seminar series seeks to reframe the common portrayal of post-industrial cities—often seen as toxic, declining, and marginalised—by exploring their potential as foundations for healthy, inclusive, and sustainable urban futures. Through a focus on themes such as human mobility, healthy ageing, and place attachment, the series will critically interrogate what (post-)industrialisation means today and what a just urban transition entails across varied global contexts. By bringing together experiences and perspectives from both the Global South and Global North, the series aims to develop a collective, multidirectional vision for transforming industrial legacies into opportunities for equitable and resilient urban transformation.
Partner organisations: University of the West of Scotland (UK); Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (India); Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou (China)
Dates: Seminar 1 and Inauguration Event: September 2025 in Paisley, UK and Online; Seminar 2: 10 December 2025 in Roorkee, India and Online; Seminar 3: April 2026 in Guangzhou, China and Online;
Training Session 1: May 2026 Online; Training Session 2: December 2026 Online; and Community Mapping Workshop: April 2027 in Pasiley and Glasgow, UK.
Lead organisers: Dr Joseph Hongsheng Zhao, Division of Engineering, University of the West of Scotland; Dr Aviral Marwal, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee; Dr Qiumeng Li, Urban Governance and Design, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou (China)
Urban politics and negotiated stateness: comparative perspectives across Africa and eastern Europe
This seminar series is bringing together scholars from Africa and Eastern Europe to explore how state actors and political dynamics shape cities. The programme will provide a chance to rethink our understanding of state power, governance, and urban change by comparing experiences of urban development across these two often-overlooked regions. The series will develop innovative comparative methodologies and explore the fluid and negotiated nature of statehood across both regions, and how it shapes outcomes in urban development and governance.
Partner organisations: University College London (Department of Geography), London (UK); Tallinn University, Tallinn (Estonia); and Civic Academy for Africa’s Future (CiAAF), Cotonou (Benin)
Dates: September 2025 – Tallinn, Estonia; February 2026 – Cotonou, Benin; and June 2026 – London, UK
Lead organisers: Prof Jennifer Robinson (PI-UCL); Ms Varvara Karipidou (UCL); Mr Emmanuel Awohouedji (LSE); and Mr Wilfred Jana (UCL)
Coproducing a research agenda for responsible and transparent AI-capabilities for decision support in urban governance
This seminar series aims to spark an important conversation and transdisciplinary academic debate with both academics and urban governance practitioners. The goal of the series is to co-produce a research agenda for responsible and transparent AI capabilities that can genuinely help with decision-making in urban governance. It’s a crucial response to the rapid rise of big data, machine learning, and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and all the implications these technologies have for how we plan and manage our cities.
Partner organisations: University of Manchester (UK), University of Brasília (Brazil), and Suffolk University (USA)
Dates: November 2025 in Boston (USA), April 2026 in Brasília (Brazil) and July 2026 in Manchester (UK)
Lead organisers: Dr Nuno Pinto, University of Manchester; Prof Doriana Daroit, University of Brasília; and Prof Carlos Rufín, Suffolk University
Tensions in policy learning: grounding learning practices in urban Southeast Asia
This seminar series is taking a close look at how urban policy learning actually happens in Southeast Asia. This practice has become increasingly common as cities compete, geopolitics shift, societies become more polarised, and climate challenges grow. The series will explore how cities in Southeast Asia adapt foreign frameworks to their own unique socio-political conditions.
Partner organisations: Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Urban & Regional Planning (Thailand) and Indonesian International Islamic University, Faculty of Social Sciences (Indonesia)
Dates: November 2025, Virtual webinar; June 2026, Depok, Indonesia; and December 2026, Bangkok, Thailand
Lead organisers: Dr Napong Tao Rugkhapan, Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University; Dr Tan Wenn Er, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore; and Dr Priza Marendraputra, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Co-producing alternative urban futures through experimental urbanism
This seminar series aims to bring together researchers, activists, and practitioners from around the globe who are involved in experimental, collaborative, and future-oriented urban projects. The main goal here is to really unpack, document, analyse, and organise the various forms of “experimental urbanism” that have emerged as a response to, and a challenge against, mainstream planning and urban governance.
Partner organisations: Newcastle University, School of Architecture, Building and Planning, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK); Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK); Vrije University Brussels, The Brussels Centre for Urban Studies (Belgium); and University of Pretoria, Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (South Africa)
Dates: 15.09.2025 Newcastle, UK; 15.01.2026 Brussels, Belgium; 15.04.2026 Pretoria, South Africa and
15.06.2026 Online Zoom meeting
Lead organisers: Dr Georgiana Varna, Dr Michael Crilly, and Dr Karina Landman
Urbicide in Gaza: spatial violence, reconstruction, and resistance
This seminar series examines the destruction of Gaza through the lens of urbicide, which is the targeted erasure of cities and communities used as a tool of domination. While spatial control has long been part of the Israeli regime’s approach to Palestinian life, the intentional targeting of homes, infrastructure, and public spaces in Gaza since October 2023 signifies a severe escalation in a much longer history of fragmentation and displacement. The series looks at how this violence is not only physical but also structural, operating through planning policies, legal frameworks, and reconstruction efforts that marginalise Palestinian voices and weaken community life. Bringing together scholars, planners, and activists, the project asks how Gaza can recover in ways that support justice, memory, and liberation.
Partner organisations: Mada al-Carmel – The Arab Center for Applied Social Research (Haifa) and the Israeli Studies Department at Birzeit University.
Dates: January 2026 – Hybrid; Haifa & online; February 2026 – Hybrid, Birzeit University (Ramallah) & Online; March 2026 – Hybrid, Haifa & online; April 2026 – Hybrid, Birzeit University (Ramallah) & Online; May 2026 – Hybrid; Haifa & online; June 2026 – Hybrid; Haifa, Birzeit University (Ramallah) & online
Lead organisers: Dr. Himmat Zoubi, Mada al-Carmel – The Arab Center for Applied Social Research, Haifa and Dr. Areen Hawari, Mada al-Carmel – The Arab Center for Applied Social Research, Haifa.
Epistemes of non-dominant inhabitation: a seminar series for early-career and under-represented scholars to decentre urban knowledge
This seminar series highlights the incredible contributions of early-career and underrepresented scholars who explore diverse forms of urban inhabitation, moving beyond what we typically consider “normal” ways of dwelling. By delving deeply into the everyday lives of urban residents, the series aims to demonstrate how people living in cities are questioning and challenging mainstream ideas about how we should inhabit our urban spaces.
Partner organisations: University College London (Bartlett Development Planning Unit) (UK), TU Dortmund University (Department of Spatial Planning – International Planning Studies) (Germany), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali (India)
Dates: 14-16 January 2026 in London, United Kingdom; 13-17 April 2026 in Mohali, India; and 05-07 October 2026 in Dortmund, Germany
Lead organisers: Dr Paroj Banerjee, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London, Dr Ishita Chatterjee, O. P. Jindal Global University, and Dr Raffael Beier, TU Dortmund University, Germany
Ordinary ecologies of repair: youth, urbanity and environmental change in South Asia
This seminar series explores how young people in South Asian cities navigate environmental change in their daily lives. It’s about looking at their real-world experiences, rather than just top-down policies. The project will investigate how youth act as repairers, mediators, and even knowledge producers, shaping urban environments through their own ingenuity, care, and sheer will to survive.
Partner organisations: Interdisciplinary Centre for Study of Global Change, University of Minnesota, (USA); International Institute for Environment and Development, the Karachi Urban Lab (Pakistan); Indian Institute of Technology (IITH) (India); Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Bangladesh)
Dates: Oct 2025 – Mar 2026 Five online master classes; Feb 2026 – Apr 2026 City Round Tables and field visits in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Karachi and Dhaka; Jun 2026 – Online writing workshop; Nov 2026 -2026 Online release of knowledge products
Lead organisers: Anant Maringanti, Director, ICGC, UMN; Nausheen Anwar, Urban climate resilience lead and principal researcher, IIED; and Aalok Khandekar, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, IIT
Feminist and queer autonomous urban spaces under authoritarian neoliberalism: sharing knowledge and practices between the Mediterranean region and Latin America
This project aims to establish a truly international network of activist scholars deeply engaged with feminist and queer autonomous urban spaces in Latin America and the Mediterranean region. Through a series of events, participants will share their knowledge and practices, learning together how to navigate increasing violence, imagine new ways of being, and support one another. A key focus will be on mentoring PhD students and early career researchers in these vital areas.
Partner organisations: Dipartimento di Metodi e Modelli per l’Economia, il Territorio e la Finanza (MEMOTEF), Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy), National University of Tres de Febrero (Argentina), and Dipartimento di Culture e Società, Università di Palermo (Italy)
Dates: 1. First week of November 2025: multi-location hybrid research Symposium (2 half-days); 2. First week of February 2026: workshop in Buenos Aires (Argentina, 4 days); 3. Second week of September 2026: summer school in Palermo (Italy, 6 days); and 4. First week of February 2027: conference in Rome (Italy, 4 days)
Lead organisers: Cesare Di Feliciantonio, Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy; Magdalena Moreno, National University of Tres de Febrero, Argentina; and Gabriella Palermo, Università di Palermo, Italy
Land commodification and housing affordability under capitalist urbanisation. Global dynamics and local resistance in Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States
This seminar series examines how intensified financial capitalism and speculative real estate dynamics—often linked to illicit practices—are deepening housing precarity across global cities. At the same time, it explores how communities, social movements, and individuals resist and adapt to these conditions. By comparing cases from the U.S., U.K., and Peru, the series seeks to develop a conceptual framework that connects local resistance with global urban development dynamics. The goal is to challenge dominant models of property ownership and highlight collective territorial rights.
Partner organisations: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru PUCP (Peru) , Centro de Investigación en Teoría Urbana y Territorial URBES-LAB, Columbia University (United States), and University of Manchester (United Kingdom).
Dates: Research Workshop – hybrid: 15 – 17 October 2025 in Lima, Methods School (1st part) – online: 9 – 13 March 2026 in Lima, Methods School (2nd part) – in person: 12 -14 October 2026 (mornings) in Lima, Colloquium – hybrid: 12 -13 October 2026 (afternoons) in Lima, and International Research Conference – hybrid: 15 – 17 October 2026 in Lima
Lead organisers: Dr. Manuel Dammert-Guardia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru PUCP (Peru), Prof. Cecilia Wong, University of Manchester (UK), Dr. Hugo Sarmiento, Columbia University (US), and Dr. Jessica Pineda-Zumarán (Peru)
Urban geographies of carcerality: from Latin America to the Middle East
This seminar series is all about exploring the fascinating and often unsettling connections between geographies of carcerality in Latin America and the Middle East—two regions that are unfortunately seeing increasing urban violence, surveillance, and incarceration. The goal is to shed light on how global forces like capitalist accumulation and (post)colonial violence play out in our urban spaces.
Partner organisations: Host Institution: Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute of International Studies, Birzeit University (Palestine), The International Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Federal University of Sergipe (CEAI-UFS) (Brazil); and La Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Bogotá, (Colombia)
Dates: November 2025, Sergipe, Brazil; December 2025, Bogotá and Cúcuta, Colombia; and March 2026, Palestine
Lead organisers: Dr Basil Farraj (Birzeit University); Ms. Mai Al-Battat (Birzeit University); and Dr Hashem Abushama (University of Oxford)
Walls speak. Are you listening? A research agenda for urban surfaces
This seminar series examines how urban surfaces—such as walls, signs, and façades—serve as spaces of communication, governance, and political struggle. Bringing together the international Urban Surfaces Research Network, it unites scholars across disciplines to examine issues such as graffiti removal, street art, public signage, and advertising. Through workshops in Melbourne, Nicosia, and Uppsala, the project aims to establish a shared research agenda and highlight the significance of surfaces in shaping urban experiences, justice, and public expression.
Partner organisations: Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne; Department of Architecture, University of Cyprus; and Department of Human Geography, Uppsala University
Dates: November 2025 in Melbourne, Australia; May 2026 in Nicosia, Cyprus; and August 2026 in Uppsala, Sweden
Lead organisers: Dr Sabina Andron (University of Melbourne), Dr Konstantinos Avramidis (University of Cyprus) and Mr Tom Ward (Uppsala University)
Cities and urban research(ers) at war
This fourteen-week online lecture series will bring together scholars from war-affected cities to explore how armed conflict shapes urban life and space. Unlike studies that conflate urban militarisation with cities enduring active conflict, this series will focus on the physical destruction, ruination, and everyday survival strategies within cities at war. It will examine how planning, reconstruction, displacement, and commodification are formed by the continuum of times of war and times of peace. This includes aspects such as the erasure of knowledge, heritage, and memory, both through material destruction and the ideological rewriting of cities in post-conflict nation-building. The lecture series documented in an open-access publication, aiming to deepen our understanding of war on urban space from the perspective of scholars with lived experience of this subject.
Partner organisations: Off University (Germany), The Beirut Urban Lab at the American University of Beirut (Lebanon), HU Berlin, Department of Social Sciences (Germany), University of Rojava (Syria), and Diyarbakır Association for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets (Turkey)
Dates: Online Public Seminar “Cities at War” (15.10.2025 – 15.02.2026)
Lead organisers: Dr. Julia Strutz (Off University), Dr. Oksana Zaporozhets (Humboldt University Berlin), and Prof. Mona Fawaz (Beirut Urban Lab at AUB)
Phoenix-Nomenon of Kharkiv
The PHOENIX-NOMENON of Kharkiv roundtable series explores the de-urbanisation of Kharkiv, Ukraine, and examines how the city might revive its scientific, cultural, and architectural significance. With courage and determination in a context of ongoing warfare, the series aims to focus on three scenarios—decline, relocation, and split—using iconic institutions as case studies.
Partner organisations: School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Dates: Roundtable One 22 October 2025 at School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Roundtable Two 19 November 2025 at School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; and Roundtable Three 10 December 2025 at School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Lead organisers: Dr Dmytro Legeyda, Researcher at School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University (United Kingdom); Professor Ben Bridgens, Professor of Regenerative Architecture, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, United Kingdom); and Dr Alina Legeyda, Researcher, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University (United Kingdom).