Urban Radar

In this episode Beth and Tom are joined by Dr Lotte Hargrave from the University of Manchester to discuss whether psephology - the study of elections and voting behaviour - can predict the next Prime Minister of the UK. 
All eyes are turned on the town of Makerfield in Greater Manchester, where Andy Burnham is making a play to win the constituency and head south - back to Westminster, and (probably) a leadership contest to replace Keir Starmer as UK PM. 
With Lotte we discuss whether we can predict the results of the election, the potential outcomes of a win for Burnham for the Greater Manchester mayoralty and why hyperlocal factors suggest it is all still to play for. 
Go to 27:56 for this discussion.
Also on our radar:
Whether the UK needs to introduce maximum indoor temperatures for workplaces as urban heat rises
Rising concern about Ebola in African cities in the shadow of global aid cuts
Activism and urban organising for domestic workers
How urbanization is driving the global sand crisis 
The many faces and contradictions of datacentre resistance
Housing and the World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan  
Guest:
Dr Lotte Hargrave is a Lecturer in Quantitative Political Science at the University of Manchester and a contracted psephologist for the BBC Elections Programme. Her research focuses on political behaviour, public opinion, gender and stereotyping in politics, and electoral politics. Before joining Manchester, she was Head of Data Science at the polling company Deltapoll. Website: Dr Lotte Hargrave
From our archives:
Interview with Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram (Episode 6)
The Manchester Model - with Adam Leaver and Rich Goulding (Episode 2)
Read more:
sand — RareEarth_KateDawson
AI Data Centers Are The New Plantations Unless We Build Them Differently - Honolulu Civil Beat
Building Climate Resilient Housing - World Cities Report
Late deciders, higher turnout - The Conversation
Political favourability ratings, May 2026

Hosts:
Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.  His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 
Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)
Email feedback to: [email protected]
You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast
Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode - recorded on location in Kampala, Uganda during an African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC) workshop in late April - we delve into questions of how urban communities in informal settlements can build power through their own forms of knowledge and data collection, and how two-way exchanges between cities can strengthen this process. 
For the main discussion, Tom was there in person with two of the research programme’s ‘City Manager’s - Jack Makau (City Manager for Nairobi) and Temilade Sesan (City Manager for Lagos). The discussion is first introduced by Beth and Tom who set the scene and provide some background, and following the main conversation they also offer concluding reflections. 
In this episode, we explore: 
How can community-led data collection and analysis help to shift the levers of urban power?
What role can action research play in changing the attitudes of governments towards the urban poor?
How can we move from individual to collective solutions through community action and transnational learning?
Along the way, we consider how co-produced urban research with communities changes the kinds of questions we ask as researchers; the challenges of bringing government to the table to take community priorities seriously; and the role of civil society organizations and universities as intermediaries in this process.

Those interested in the issues and processes discussed here can delve further into the history through our discussion with Diana Mitlin in Episode 12 on 'Urban Informality and Translocal Learning'.
Jack Makau is Associate director of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Kenya, and ACRC City Manager for Nairobi. In the course of his decades of work with SDI, he has worked to support communities collect data in over 400 informal settlements in cities across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Ghana, and Bukina Faso.
DR. Temilade Sesan is a Lecturer and Researcher at the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL), University of Ibadan, Nigeria - and the ACRC City Manager for Lagos. Her research examines the socioeconomic dimensions of the food-energy-waste nexus in Africa, especially as they intersect with issues of the environment, gender, health and urban planning. 

Hosts:
Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.  His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 
Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)
Email feedback to: [email protected]
You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast
Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

In this episode, Beth and Tom are joined by Ryan Bellinson, researcher/civil servant living in Portland, Oregon, US, to discuss how residents and community groups can mobilise their power to resist democratic backsliding.
From Minneapolis to Portland federal immigration enforcement agents have been deploying hostile tactics to identify and seek to deport migrants, even those of legal status. Meanwhile federal programmes of support from housing to environmental protection are being slashed in part to finance massive increases in defence spending. The asymmetry between authoritarian and progressive forces is increasing. In this context, what powers and levers remain for grassroots groups and public bodies to push back?
Go straight to 33:13 for this conversation. 
First, on the radar, they discuss:
Whether implementing Palantir's federal data platform in Sheffield could exacerbate health inequalities 
What the Hillsborough Law has in common with ritualistic dunking in Trento, Italy
Food security in the context of the closure of the straits of Hormuz
Whether 'adopting' cities marks a new approach to post-war aid & reconstruction in Mykolaiv, Ukraine
Pope versus Trump: appeals to authority and the role of religion in African cities
Real estate in and around New York - what the media does and doesn't cover 
Guests:
Ryan Bellinson is a former PhD student of the University of Sheffield and is now Community Innovation Strategist at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He also co-leads the new Governing Together programme, working with Dark Matter Labs, and is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Cities, Climate and Innovation at University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.
Read more:
Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People
Nation of Neighbours
Religious Urbanisation
Public Banking Project
Hosts:
Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.  His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 
Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)
Email feedback to: [email protected]
You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast
Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

Come with us to Johannesburg and Dhaka in this month's feature. Visit the markets and stalls of Jeppe, in inner city Johannesburg, a dynamic ecosystem of informal traders, sometimes called Africa’s shopping Mecca. Head with us to Korail, an informal settlement of 300,000 dwellers, sometimes called Bangladesh’s largest slum.
In this double book talk, we are joined by two critically-acclaimed authors. With Tanya Zack we discuss her book The Chaos Precinct: Johannesburg as a Port City, a narrative of how migrant Ethiopians have shaped this trading post in the inner city. With Tanzil Shafique we explore his book City of Desire: An Urban Biography of the Largest Slum in Bangladesh which challenges what and how we know the different desires of settlement-dwellers. 
Together we consider:
how global-local dynamics shape and are shaped by different urban places around the world 
how formal and informal spaces in cities are managed, policed and regulated
the epistemic politics and positions of doing urban research
Guests
Tanya Zack is a South African urban planner and writer whose work has focused on urban regeneration, contemporary migration, informal work, urban policy and affordable housing. Her writing in Wake Up This Is Joburg (Duke University Press, 2022) has been lauded for being amongst the freshest and most original material on an African city. It was included in the longlist of the 2024 Sunday Times/Exclusive Books Literary Awards. The products of her professional practice in Johannesburg's inner city, including an inner-city transformation policy, and a study of cross border shopping, are recognised as ground-
breaking interventions. 
Tanzil is Senior Lecturer of Urban Design at the Sheffield School of Architecture and Associate of the Urban Institute. Tanzil’s research looks at southern urbanism, pluriversal architectural practice and informal planning, mainly focusing on the ongoing adaptation and transformation due to climate change led by the local citizens. He is currently leading a dweller-led urban wetland restoration stewardship project in Dhaka and co-convenes the Platform for Just Housing (Najjyo Abashon Moncho or NAM), which works towards housing and climate justice with local activists and citizens.

Hosts:
Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.  His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 
Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)
Email feedback to: [email protected]
You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast
Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.

This month, Tom and Beth are joined by Hannah Sender, University of Sheffield, and Mariam Bazzi, Beirut Urban Lab to discuss how propertied families in small towns in Lebanon have responded to violence and displacement over the past years (Go to 35:04 for guests). 
When left with no savings, and little help to repair and reconstruct after military interventions, property becomes a moral relationship, as much as a personal asset: what ought housing to be used for, when urbicide becomes a core goal of warfare?
Also on our radar:
Infrastructural causes of flooding in Nairobi
What Cubans in Miami reveal about how diaspora shape urban politics 
Banksy's loss of anonymity in an era of surveillance capitalism
Data centre politics in the French local elections
Scam centres in Cambodia
Habermas, an unrecognised urbanist?
Guests:
Hannah Sender is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield. Her current research examines land and housing relations in Lebanon. 
Mariam Bazzi is a researcher at the Beirut Urban Lab, working on cultural heritage destruction and reconstruction in Palestine and Lebanon. Previous work included tracking the urbicide in Gaza.
And More:
Compound capitalism - Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li, Mark Bo
Capitalism and conflict at the margins - Xu Peng, Jonathan Goodhand, Patrick Meehan, Naomi Yonder
Habermas and the City - Tommaso Vitale
The Sheffield Declaration (see also episode 4)
Planning and crisis - Mona Fawaz (see also episode 10)
Hosts:
Tom Goodfellow is Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.  His research focuses on the political economy of urban development and change in Africa, particularly the politics of urban land and transportation, conflicts around infrastructure and housing, and urban institutional change. (linkedin.com/in/tom-goodfellow-0b418441) 
Beth Perry is Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the relationships between urban expertise, governance and justice, underpinned by a commitment to co-producing collective intelligence across multiple scales to address complex urban challenges. She has worked in cities in Africa, Europe and the UK. (linkedin.com/in/itsbethperry)
Email feedback to: [email protected]
You can also follow us on instagram: @urbanradarpodcast
Thanks to the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester for providing time, resources and equipment to support this podcast.