Abstracts Submission

The first year of the Covid-19 pandemic saw a convergence across global cities of large-scale, highly visible anti-state protests that received mainstream media attention and gathered swift momentum. Notable examples include the global iterations of the Black Lives Matter protests (re)triggered in 2020 by the murder of George Floyd by police; nationwide protests against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (2019–2020); the UK movements for Kill the Bill and feminist anti–police protests after Sarah Everard’s murder by a police officer (2020); Delhi’s Farmers Protest against corporatisation of agricultural markets (2020); anti-SARS protests in Nigerian cities against police violence (2020); and the ramping up of global environmental protests by Extinction Rebellion (since 2018).

These are just some of the recent protests embodied in visceral, spatially visible, and performative (Butler, 2011) ways that offer varied examples of how urban space is contested, (re)claimed, and embattled to enable a “politics of the streets” (Bayat, 2012). As the state and the courts are dictating the legality of protesting in public spaces globally, it becomes vital to understand an alternate means of occupying and reclaiming space in an age of “shrinking democracy” (Hou & Knierbein, 2017). Such times thus call for creative and contextual ways of staking claims over spaces and resisting ever-increasing spatial and technological surveillance, policing, and repression.

In this thematic issue we seek to mobilise narratives around intersectional rights to the city—as a space of assembly and protest—and infrastructural justice. We call for papers exploring ways of resisting, claiming, and staking urban space for protest against oppression and creative research methodologies of understanding such processes. Going beyond urban protests for urban space we seek to understand how the city itself can be mobilised as a platform for wider protests and solidarities.

References:

Bayat, A. (2012). Politics in the city‐inside‐out. City & Society, 24(2), 110–128.

Butler, J. (2011). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex. Routledge.

Hou, J., & Knierbein, S. (2017). City unsilenced: Urban resistance and public space in the age of shrinking democracy. Routledge.

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Urban Planning is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.

Segregation continues to shape cities across the world, producing visible and invisible borders that divide groups, neighborhoods, and everyday lives. These divides are felt in residential clustering, restricted access to green spaces or schools, and the ways people move—or are prevented from moving—through the city. At the same time, shared spaces and intersecting mobilities offer moments of integration, where encounters across difference can occur. Understanding the dynamics of segregation and integration, and how they are inscribed in the built environment and daily mobility systems, is crucial for building more just and inclusive urban futures.

Recent advances in geospatial technologies and data availability have transformed how these divides can be studied. From mobility traces and land use layers to social media footprints and sensor networks, digital datasets now make it possible to measure separation and connection at fine spatial and temporal scales. Yet despite this abundance of data, our knowledge of how infrastructures, urban design, and mobility systems entrench segregation—or foster integration—remains fragmented.

This thematic issue invites contributions that leverage geospatial data to interrogate segregation and integration in contemporary cities. We are particularly interested in studies that reveal how environments such as public amenities, transport systems, or physical barriers reinforce spatial divides, and how everyday mobilities either expose individuals to diversity or deepen isolation. Submissions that combine big data with qualitative or participatory insights are especially encouraged, as they bring the lived experience of segregation and integration into dialogue with geospatial analysis.

By bridging disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches, this thematic issue seeks to advance research on spatial justice. Its aim is not only to document where divides exist but to understand the mechanisms that sustain them and the conditions that allow them to be crossed.

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Urban Planning is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.

Transforming car-centric streets towards a more balanced mix of uses has become widely recognised as a key urban policy to achieve liveability and sustainability goals related to social cohesion, climate mitigation and adaptation, public health, and transportation. Particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, concepts such as complete streets, tactical urbanism, superblocks, and street experiments have become a mainstay of urban policy in cities worldwide.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the apparent desirability of these street transformations, they also raise the question of who benefits and who loses from them. Indeed, street transformations may create or strengthen existing socio-spatial inequalities, raise issues of inclusiveness and representation, or lead to unintended consequences such as green gentrification (Anguelovski et al., 2023; Nello-Deakin, 2024). Building upon previous efforts in this direction (Smeds et al., 2023) and a broader turn towards critical transport studies (Kębłowski et al., 2019), this thematic issue invites contributions exploring the implications of street transformations for urban equity and justice. Among other possible related themes, we encourage submissions addressing the following topics:

• Impacts of street transformations on urban mobility, public space, and broader urban dynamics (e.g., housing, commercial activity) from a socio-spatial equity perspective
• Conflicts regarding street transformation and competing uses of space
• Issues surrounding public participation and inclusiveness in street transformation processes
• Equity assessments of the existing status quo in urban streets
• Analyses of policies, legal regulations, and guidelines for urban equity at a street level (e.g., design manuals, traffic codes)

We welcome submissions in a variety of formats and methods, from empirical case studies to theoretical or viewpoint articles. Likewise, we welcome diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding and assessing urban equity and justice.

References:

Anguelovski, I., Honey-Rosés, J., & Marquet, O. (2023). Equity concerns in transformative planning: Barcelona’s Superblocks under scrutiny. Cities & Health, 7(6), 950–958. https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2023.2207929

Kębłowski, W., Van Criekingen, M., & Bassens, D. (2019). Moving past the sustainable perspectives on transport: An attempt to mobilise critical urban transport studies with the right to the city. Transport Policy, 81, 24–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2019.05.012

Nello-Deakin, S. (2024). “Winner” versus “loser” streets? Pedestrianisation and intra-neighbourhood equity. Journal of Urban Mobility, 5, 100074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urbmob.2024.100074

Smeds, E., Verlinghieri, E., Kocsis, J., Connolly, J. J. T., Polgár, A., Manaugh, K., Waygood, E. O. D., Castañeda, P., & Wargent, M. (2023). ‘Seeing like a citizen’: Rethinking city street transformations through the lens of epistemic justice. Planning Theory & Practice, 24(5), 697–729. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2023.2273664

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Urban Planning is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 90 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.

Mobility is not only a technical matter of infrastructure and logistics; it is also deeply embedded in the social fabric of cities. Patterns of mobility—who can move, how, when, and at what cost—are deeply political and often reproduce and reinforce existing inequalities. Although transport systems are typically framed as tools to facilitate access and improve urban quality of life, their planning and implementation frequently privilege certain groups while marginalizing others.

At a time when transitions to sustainable mobility are accelerating, new technologies and practices, such as information and communication technologies, emerging transport modes, digital platforms, and e-ticketing systems, are often exacerbating rather than reducing inequalities. Similarly, policy innovations that are not strictly technological, such as the “15-minute city” paradigm, may generate unintended drawbacks alongside their promises, particularly when applied without attention to diverse social realities.

This thematic issue seeks to explore the complex intersections between mobility and inequality from a global perspective. It will critically examine how mobility systems, whether through transport hardware (infrastructure, vehicles, digital platforms) or policy frameworks, shape everyday urban life and contribute to uneven distributions of accessibility and opportunity. Within this broader framework, the issue pays particular attention to the experiences of marginalized communities—including groups facing physical constraints (e.g., peripheral or poorly connected areas) as well as those affected by structural and intersectional inequalities related to class, gender, race, disability, or migration status. We are especially interested in how these communities negotiate, resist, or reimagine mobility in the face of exclusionary systems and structures.

By bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives that include urban planning, sociology, geography, political science, and environmental studies, this thematic issue aims to foster critical debates on the role of mobility in shaping equitable and inclusive cities. It seeks to provide both theoretical insights and policy-relevant knowledge to inform urban policy makers, planners, and community organizations. Ultimately, it aspires to connect scholars, practitioners, and communities across diverse geographies and experiences, creating a shared conversation on how mobility can become a force for social justice and collective well-being in urban contexts.

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Urban Planning is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 100 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.