Best Article Prize

2023

The editors are pleased to announce that two of the shortlisted papers have been selected as joint winners of the Urban Studies Best Article for 2023. Our congratulations to the authors: Anthony Miro Born, for The long shadow of territorial stigma: Upward social mobility and the symbolic baggage of the old neighbourhood; and Japhy Wilson, for Apocalyptic urban surrealism in the city at the end of the world.

The long shadow of territorial stigma: Upward social mobility and the symbolic baggage of the old neighbourhood
Anthony Miro Born
Urban Studies 60(3): 537–553.

Apocalyptic urban surrealism in the city at the end of the world
Japhy Wilson
Urban Studies 60(4): 718–733.

 

Shortlisted articles

Seven other articles were shortlisted by the editors:

‘My neighbourhood is fuzzy, not hard and fast’: Individual and contextual associations with perceived residential neighbourhood boundaries among ageing Americans
Jessica Finlay, Joy Jang, Michael Esposito, Leslie McClure, Suzanne Judd and Philippa Clarke
Urban Studies 60(1): 85–108.

Citizen security and urban commuting in Latin America
José Ignacio Giménez-Nadal, Lucía Echeverría and Alberto Molina
Urban Studies 60(13): 2585–2611.

Capital’s welfare dependency: Market failure, stalled regeneration and state subsidy in Glasgow and Edinburgh
Neil Gray and Hamish Kallin
Urban Studies 60(6): 1031–1047.

Towards a modest imaginary? Sanitation in Kampala beyond the modern infrastructure ideal
Mary Lawhon, Gloria Nsangi Nakyagaba and Timos Karpouzoglou
Urban Studies 60(1): 146–165.

Impacts of political fragmentation on inclusive economic resilience: Examining American metropolitan areas after the Great Recession
Soomi Lee and Shu Wang
Urban Studies 60(1): 26–45.

Using natural language processing to construct a National Zoning and Land Use Database
Matthew Mleczko and Matthew Desmond
Urban Studies 60(13): 2564–2584.

Income polarisation, expenditure and the Australian urban middle class
Ilan Wiesel, Julia de Bruyn, Jordy Meekes and Sangeetha Chandrashekeran
Urban Studies 60(14): 2779–2798.

 

The full announcement can be found here.

 

 

 

2022

The editors are pleased to announce that Dr Stephanie Wakefield, Life University, is the winner of the Urban Studies Best Article 2022 for her article, "Critical urban theory in the Anthropocene".

Critical urban theory in the Anthropocene
Stephanie Wakefield
Urban Studies 59(5): 917–936.

 

Shortlisted articles

Seven other articles were shortlisted by the editors:

The impact of immediate urban environments on people’s momentary happiness
Lingling Su, Suhong Zhou, Mei-Po Kwan, Yanwei Chai, and Xue Zhang
Urban Studies 59(1): 140–160.

On the long-run solution to aggregate housing systems
Geoffrey Meen, Alexander Mihailov, and Yehui Wang
Urban Studies 59(1): 178–196.

The (de)territorialised appeal of international schools in China: Forging brands, boundaries and inter-belonging in segregated urban space
Lily Kong, Orlando Woods, and Hong Zhu
Urban Studies 59(1): 242–258.

Of political entrepreneurs: Assembling community and social capital in Hyderabad’s informal settlements 
Indivar Jonnalagadda
Urban Studies 59(4): 717–733.

Mapping and making gangland: A legacy of redlining and enjoining gang neighbourhoods in Los Angeles 
Stefano Bloch and Susan A. Phillips
Urban Studies 59(4): 750–770.

The contingency of neighbourhood diversity: Variation of social context using mobile phone application data
Wenfei Xu
Urban Studies 59(4): 851–869.

Governing investors and developers: Analysing the role of risk allocation in urban development
Frances Brill
Urban Studies 59(7): 1499–1517.

 

The full announcement can be found here.

 

 

 

2021

The editors are pleased to announce that there are two joint winners of the Urban Studies Best Article 2021. They wish to congratulate Gerhard Bruyns, Christopher Higgins and Darren Nel for the article "Urban volumetrics: From vertical to volumetric urbanisation and its extensions to empirical morphological analysis"; and Romit Chowdhury for "The social life of transport infrastructures: Masculinities and everyday mobilities in Kolkata".

 

Urban volumetrics: From vertical to volumetric urbanisation and its extensions to empirical morphological analysis
Gerhard Bruyns, Christopher Higgins and Darren Nel
Urban Studies 58(5): 922-940.
 

The social life of transport infrastructures: Masculinities and everyday mobilities in Kolkata
Romit Chowdhury
Urban Studies 58(1): 73-89.

 

The editors also wish to congratulate Murtah Shannon, Kei Otsuki, Annelies Zoomers and Mayke Kaag for their article, "On whose land is the city to be built? Farmers, donors and the urban land question in Beira city, Mozambique", which is the runner-up for the 2021 award.

On whose land is the city to be built? Farmers, donors and the urban land question in Beira city, Mozambique
Murtah Shannon, Kei Otsuki, Annelies Zoomers and Mayke Kaag
Urban Studies 58(4): 733-749.

 

Shortlisted articles

The financialisation of housing land supply in England
Quintin Bradley
Urban Studies 58(2): 389-404.

Emerging problematics of deregulating the urban: The case of permitted development in England
Jessica Ferm, Ben Clifford, Patricia Canelas and Nicola Livingstone
Urban Studies 58(10): 2040-2058.

Rebalancing the rhetoric: A normative analysis of enforcement in street homelessness policy
Sarah Johnsen, Beth Watts and Suzanne Fitzpatrick
Urban Studies 58(2): 355-371.

A regional growth ecology, a great wall of capital and a metropolitan housing market
David Ley
Urban Studies 58(2): 297-315.

Enclaving: Spatial detachment as an aesthetics of imagination in an urban sub-Saharan African context
Morten Nielsen, Jason Sumich and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen
Urban Studies 58(5): 881-902.

Shrinking cities: Implications for planning cultures?
Karina Pallagst, René Fleschurz, Svenja Nothof and Tetsuji Uemura
Urban Studies 58(1): 164-181.

Mapping gentrification and displacement pressure: An exploration of four distinct methodologies
Benjamin Preis, Aarthi Janakiraman, Alex Bob and Justin Steil
Urban Studies 58(2): 405-424.

Neighbourhoods, networks and unemployment: The role of neighbourhood disadvantage and local networks in taking up work
Leen Vandecasteele and Anette Eva Fasang
Urban Studies 58(4): 696-714.

 

The full announcement can be found here.

 

 

 

2020

The editors are pleased to announce that Dr Mary Lawhon, University of Edinburgh, and Professor Yaffa Truelove, University of Colorado Boulder, are the winners of the Urban Studies Best Article 2020 for their article, "Disambiguating the southern urban critique: Propositions, pathways and possibilities for a more global urban studies".

Disambiguating the southern urban critique: Propositions, pathways and possibilities for a more global urban studies
Mary Lawhon and Yaffa Truelove
Urban Studies 57(1): 3-20.

 

Shortlisted articles

Cementing Africa: Cement flows and city-making along the West African corridor (Accra, Lomé, Cotonou, Lagos)
Armelle Choplin
Urban Studies 57(9): 1977–1993.

Private and public schools: A spatial analysis of social segregation in France
Pierre Courtioux and Tristan-Pierre Maury
Urban Studies 57(4): 865–882.

Mobility among older adults: Deconstructing the effects of motility and movement on wellbeing
Timothée Cuignet, Camille Perchoux, Geoffrey Caruso, Olivier Klein, Sylvain Klein, Basile Chaix, Yan Kestens and Philippe Gerber
Urban Studies 57(2): 383–401.

Urbanisation processes and new towns in contemporary China: A critical understanding from a decentred view.
Francesca Governa and Angelo Sampieri
Urban Studies 57(2): 366–382.

Exploring the theories, determinants and policy options of street vending: A demand-side approach.
Eghosa O Igudia
Urban Studies 57(1): 56–74.

Anchoring capital in place: The grounded impact of international wealth chains on housing markets in London.
Rex McKenzie and Rowland Atkinson
Urban Studies 57(1): 21–38.

Urban sustainability and counter-sustainability: Spatial contradictions and conflicts in policy and governance in the Freiburg and Calgary metropolitan regions.
Byron Miller and Samuel Mössner
Urban Studies 57(11): 2241–2262.

Compact cities and economic productivity in Mexico.
Paavo Monkkonen, Jorge Montejano, Erick Guerra and Camilo Caudillo
Urban Studies 57(10): 2080–2097.

Private government, property rights and uncertain neighbourhood externalities: Evidence from gated communities.
Geoffrey K Turnbull and Velma Zahirovic-Herbert
Urban Studies 57(4): 711–730.

The obesity epidemic and metropolitan-scale built environment: Examining the health effects of polycentric development.
Jiawen Yang and Peiling Zhou
Urban Studies 57(1): 39–55.

 

The full announcement can be found here.

 

 

 

2019

The editors are pleased to announce that Professor Rachel Pain, Newcastle University, is the winner of the Urban Studies Best Article 2019 for her article, "Chronic urban trauma: The slow violence of housing dispossession".

Chronic urban trauma: The slow violence of housing dispossession
Rachel Pain
Urban Studies 56(2): 385-400.

 

Shortlisted articles

Informal and ubiquitous: Colonias, premature subdivisions and other unplanned suburbs on America’s urban fringe
Noah J Durst
Urban Studies 56(4): 722-740.

Encounters with the centaur state: Advanced urban marginality and the practices and ethics of welfare sanctions regimes
John Flint
Urban Studies 56(1): 249-265.

Medium-term cycles and housing: Is regional integration different?
David Gray
Urban Studies 56(9): 1786-1800.

Jakarta’s great land transformation: Hybrid neoliberalisation and informality
Suryono Herlambang, Helga Leitner, Liong Ju Tjung, Eric Sheppard, Dimitar Anguelov
Urban Studies 56(4): 627-648.

Inter-generational housing inequalities: ‘Baby Boomers’ versus the ‘Millennials’
Jennifer Hoolachan, Kim McKee
Urban Studies 56(1): 210-225.

Neighbourhood effects in cross-Atlantic perspective: A longitudinal analysis of impacts on intergenerational mobility in the USA and Germany
Junia Howell
Urban Studies 56(2): 434-451.

Imaginations of post-suburbia: Suburban change and imaginative practices in Auckland, New Zealand
Cameron Johnson, Tom Baker, Francis L Collins
Urban Studies 56(5): 1042–1060.

The analysis of residential sorting trends: Measuring disparities in socio-spatial mobility
Tal Modai-Snir, Pnina Plaut
Urban Studies 56(2): 288-300.

Land in urban debates: Unpacking the grab–development dichotomy
Femke van Noorloos, Christien Klaufus, Griet Steel
Urban Studies 56(5): 855-867.

Global expertise, local convincing power: Management consultants and preserving the entrepreneurial city
Anne Vogelpohl
Urban Studies 56(1): 97-114.

 

The full announcement can be found here.

 

 

 

2018

Six articles were shortlisted by the editors from those published in print copy in 2018.

The editors are pleased to announce that three of the shortlisted papers have been selected as joint winners of the Urban Studies Best Article for 2018:

 

Thinking through heterogeneous infrastructure configurations
Lawhon M, Nilsson D, Silver J, Ernstson H and Lwasa S
Urban Studies 55(4): 720–732.

 

Lingering neighbourhood effects: A framework to account for residential histories and temporal dynamics
Miltenburg EM and van der Meer TWG
Urban Studies 55(1): 151-174.

 

Mind the gaps! A research agenda for urban interstices
Phelps NA and Silva C
Urban Studies 55(6): 1203-1222.

 

Shortlisted articles

Does accessibility matter? Understanding the effect of job accessibility on labour market outcomes
Jin J and Paulsen K
Urban Studies 55(1): 91–115.

The urban metabolism of airline passengers: Scaling and sustainability
Neal ZP
Urban Studies 55(1): 212-225.

Controlled environments: An urban research agenda on microclimatic enclosure
Marvin S and Rutherford J
Urban Studies 55(6): 1143–1162.

 

The full announcement can be found here.

 

 

 

2017

The editors are pleased to announce that Dr Evert Meijers, Delft University of Technology, and Dr Martijn Burger, Erasmus University Rotterdam, are the winners of the Urban Studies Best Article 2018 for their article, Stretching the concept of ‘borrowed size’.

Stretching the concept of ‘borrowed size’
Meijers EJ and Burger MJ
Urban Studies 54(1): 269–291.

 

Shortlisted articles

Living together in multi-ethnic cities: People of migrant background, their interethnic friendships and the neighbourhood
Pratsinakis M, Hatziprokopiou P, Labrianidis L and Vogiatzis N
Urban Studies 54(1): 102–118.

Public transportation and the idiocy of urban life
Attoh K 
Urban Studies 54(1): 196–213.

The China model withering? Institutional roots of China’s local developmentalism
Su F and Tao R 
Urban Studies 54(1): 230–250.

Competitive urbanism and the limits to smart city innovation: The UK Future Cities initiative
Taylor Buck N and While A 
Urban Studies 54(2): 501–519.

Migrant infrastructure: Transaction economies in Birmingham and Leicester, UK
Hall S, King J and Finlay R
Urban Studies 54(6): 1311–1327.

Understanding the gap between reality and expectation: Local social engagement and ethnic concentration
Tselios V, McCann P and van Dijk J 
Urban Studies 54(11): 2592–2612.

Selling the family silver? Institutional entrepreneurship and asset disposal in the English housing association sector
Morrison N 
Urban Studies 54(12): 2856–2873.

 

 

 

2016

The editors are pleased to announce that Professor Michael Storper, London School of Economics, and Professor Allen Scott, University of California at Los Angeles, are the winners of the Urban Studies Best Article 2016 for their article, ‘Current debates in urban theory: A critical assessment’.

Current debates in urban theory: A critical assessment
Storper M and Scott AJ
Urban Studies 53(6): 1114–1136
 

Shortlisted articles

Transnational gentrification: Globalisation and neighbourhood change in Panama’s Casco Antiguo
Sigler T and Wachsmuth D
Urban Studies 53(4): 705-722

Is the ‘Central German Metropolitan Region’ spatially integrated? An empirical assessment of commuting relation
Kauffmann A
Urban Studies 53(9): 1853–1868

Governmentalities in everyday practices: The dynamic of urban neighbourhood governance in China
Wan X
Urban Studies 53(11): 2330–2346
 

Walking with the ghosts of the past: Unearthing the value of residents’ urban nostalgias
Adams D and Larkham P
Urban Studies 53(10): 2004–2022
 

 

2015

The editors are pleased to announce that Dr Tim Bunnell of the National University of Singapore is the winner of the Urban Studies Best Article for 2015 for his article, “Antecedent cities and inter-referencing effects: learning from and extending beyond critiques of neoliberalisation”.  

The politics of sustainable development opposition: State legislative efforts to stop the United Nation’s Agenda 21 in the United States.
Frick KT, Weinzimmer D and Waddell P  
Urban Studies 52(2): 209-232 

‘I’m local and foreign’: Belonging, the city and the case for denizenship.
Rosbrook-Thompson J 
Urban Studies 52(9): 1615–1630

Antecedent cities and inter-referencing effects: learning from and extending beyond critiques of neoliberalisation.
Bunnell T 
Urban Studies 52(11): 1983–2000

The ‘lamentable sight’ of homelessness and the society of the spectacle.
Gerrard J and Farrugia D
Urban Studies 52(12): 2219–2233

Theorising Chinese urbanisation: A multi-layered perspective.
Gu C, Kesteloot C and Cook IG 
Urban Studies 52(14): 2564–2580
 

Antecedent cities and inter-referencing effects: learning from and extending beyond critiques of neoliberalisation.
Tim Bunnell
Urban Studies 52(11): 1983-2000.
 

 

 

2014

Dr Charlotte Lemanski of the University of Cambridge is the winner of the Urban Studies Best Article for 2014 for her article, “Hybrid gentrification in South Africa: Theorising across southern and northern cities” which was published in the November 2014 issue, Volume 51(14), pp. 2943-2960. She discusses her article in the video below.  

Hybrid gentrification in South Africa: Theorising across southern and northern cities.
Charlotte Lemanski
Urban Studies 51(14): 2943-2960.

 

The runner-up for the 2014 award was Timothy Moss (Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning) for his article, "Socio-technical Change and the Politics of Urban Infrastructure: Managing Energy in Berlin between Dictatorship and Democracy". 

Dr. Timothy Moss: "Socio-technical Change and the Politics of Urban Infrastructure" from Leibniz IRS on Vimeo.

Socio-technical Change and the Politics of Urban Infrastructure: Managing Energy in Berlin between Dictatorship and Democracy
Timothy Moss
Urban Studies 51(7): 1432-1448.

 

 

 

2013

Urban Neoliberalism with Islamic Characteristics

Ozan Karaman, winner of the Urban Studies Best Article 2013, discusses his article, "Urban Neoliberalism with Islamic Characteristics".  

Urban Neoliberalism with Islamic Characteristics
Ozan Karaman
Urban Studies 50(16): 3412-3427.
 

 

 

2012

Robert Boyd, winner of the Urban Studies Best Article 2012, discusses his article, "The 'Black Metropolis' Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of Northern and Southern Cities in the United States in the Early 20th Century".  

The 'Black Metropolis' Revisited: A Comparative Analysis of Northern and Southern Cities in the United States in the Early 20th Century
Robert Boyd
Urban Studies 49(4): 845-860.