Constance

Carr

As an urban geographer, my primary interest is understanding how (sub)urban spaces produced, socially constructed, governed, contested, sustained, and  how they change. Much of my post-doctoral work has focussed on urban sustainable development practices, focussing on such issues as: planning contradictions in urban regions under growth pressure; emerging suburban or post-suburban spaces and the respective dilemmas therein; governance structures in small states; dilemmas in infrastructure provision (housing vs transport); and the degree to which urban sustainability endorses social exclusion.

Currently, I am immersed into two projects that address contemporary urban problems underpinned by post-political, market-led development, and the condition that cities are increasingly corporatized. First, is a qualitative investigation of digital cities and urban governance. There is a minefield of lessons to be learned from current ‘digital turn’ in geography concerning emerging political 'economies of scope', imperatives of prediction and extraction, and new modes of social stratifications and accumulation. The second project addresses the problem of housing. Options for accommodation outside private ownership models are fewer and far between, while commuter distances are increasing for certain less-advantaged cohorts. Setting this problem in the context of current conceptual urban studies scholarship, this project aims to shed light on the urban worlds of housing that could exist beyond the rather narrow imperative of market solutions.

Current musings on these issues can be read at Urbanization Unbound (https://urbanunbound.blogspot.com).