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Dear Critters,
Please see our CFP below, noting the revised abstract deadline of  
February 9th, and circulate within your networks if applicable.  
Apologies for cross-postings.

RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, University of Exeter, 2-4  
September 2015
http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Annual+international+conference.htm

Call for Papers: Urbanization, Cityness, and the Site Multiple –  
Urban Political Ecology Beyond Methodological Cityism
(Sponsored by the Urban Geography Research Group)

Conveners:
Ingrid Behrsin (Geography Graduate Group, University of California,  
Davis)
Creighton Connolly (School of Environment, Education & Development,  
University of Manchester)

According to Angelo and Wachsmuth (2014), Urban Political Ecology  
(UPE) started with two main projects through which it aimed to  
contribute to urban theory.  First, it sought to put forth a theory of  
urbanization that attends to “the dynamic internal relationships  
between humans and nature that produce socio-natural entanglements”  
manifest in cities (Heynen et al. 2006, 7). Yet, Angelo and Wachsmuth  
(2014, 5) assert, UPE has to-date fallen flat of its second ambition,  
namely to interrogate “urbanization as a set of processes that are  
not reducible to the city.”  Crucially, the authors argue, UPE  
research has tended to be methodologically tied to ‘the city’ as  
discrete, bounded site, rather than focused on urbanization as a more  
dynamic process.  This session intends to both critically evaluate and  
engage with Angelo and Wachsmuth’s provocative call for Urban  
Political Ecology to move beyond ‘methodological cityism’ and  
parallel ventures in urban theory that aim to investigate or teach  
urbanization processes.  For example, heuristics such as ‘the site  
multiple’ (Lepawsky et al. 2014) and ‘cityness’ (Simone 2010)  
have emerged as productive concepts with the potential to push urban  
research beyond methodological cityism and  
‘metrocentricity’ (Bunnell and Maringanti 2010). We thus invite  
contributions that adopt an Urban Political Ecology approach to  
engage, empirically and methodologically, with urbanization beyond the  
limits of the city or metropolitan region.

Please email abstracts of no more than 250 words to Ingrid Behrsin ([log in to unmask] 
) and Creighton Connolly ([log in to unmask]) by  
February 9th for consideration.

References:
·      Angelo, H., and D. Wachsmuth. 2014. “Urbanizing Urban  
Political Ecology: A Critique of Methodological Cityism.”  
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.
·      Bunnell, T., and A. Maringanti. 2010. “Practising Urban and  
Regional Research Beyond Metrocentricity” International Journal of  
Urban and Regional Research. 34(2): 415-20
·      Heynen, N., M. Kaika, and E. Swyngedouw. 2006. “Urban  
Political Ecology: Politicizing the Production of Urban Nature.” In  
In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of  
Urban Metabolism, edited by Nick Heynen, Maria Kaika, and Erik  
Swyngedouw, 1–20. Questioning Cities Series. London ; New York:  
Routledge.
·      Lepawsky, J., Akese, G., Billah, M., Connolly, C. and McNabb,  
C. 2014. "Composing Urban Orders from Rubbish Electronics: Cityness  
and the Site Multiple." International Journal of Urban and Regional  
Research.
·      Simone, A.M.. 2010. City life from Jakarta to Dakar: movements  
at the crossroads. Routledge, New York, NY.
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Creighton Connolly
PhD candidate, Geography
Marie Curie Fellow
School of Environment, Education and Development
The University of Manchester, UK
www.politicalecology.eu