Transversal Seminars
Cities are back in town
The question of the city is back once again at the heart of the social sciences. The global dynamics of urbanisation and the growing role of cities in the production of wealth, but also of riots and poverty, mobility, the accumulation of technologies, the creation of inequalities and governance, are all elements that structure and interpenetrate the field. Contemporary questions on the transformation of cities and metropolitan centres recall the passionate debates of the early 20th century, in the era of the consolidation of nation states and industrial capitalism, and of the creation of new metropolitan ways of life, with their disruptive imaginary load.
Cities are simultaneously physical places where material constructions, technologies, public policies, and populations accumulate, and spaces of exchange, of circulation, of mobility, of transnationalisation. How should we approach the development of cities that are anchored in territories, but are at the same time at the heart of increasingly global dynamics of mobility?
The purpose of this programme is to initiate new research perspectives, to conduct systematic in-depth work on the Paris region, and to instigate a programme of comparison between cities in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa, around three major themes:
- The spatialisation of inequalities, segregation (economic, social, educational and ethnic), and their effects on the relations between social groups, welfare states and urban inequalities;
- Government, governance and democracy, urban policies, conflicts and activism;
- Socio-economics of cities, institutions and economic development.
These three themes will be interwoven with more innovative questions, which will revitalise approaches to the urban sphere:
- Social control, security, surveillance technology, public spaces;
- Mobility, movement, and immigration;
- Risks and technologies.
The series of Working Papers in the Cities and Territories programme allows ongoing research to be published in the form of provisional papers, and thereby contributes to the debates on urban issues. This regularly updated section is a vehicle for the dissemination of the work of the Cities and Territories group, and of the sociologists, political scientists and economists invited to the seminars run by the Cities programme.
We welcome proposals for contributions that give an up-to-date account of the literature or combine original empirical study of a concrete case with theoretical and/or methodological analysis.
Scientific directors
- Patrick Le Galès
- Marco Oberti
- assisted by Fatoumata Diallo et Côme Salvaire
Find out more
- Cities are back in town website
- The project
- Contact : Francesco Findeisen : francesco.findeisen@sciencespo.fr
Seminars
- Transforming Towards Sustainability In and Through Cities with Xuemei Bai, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, 11th May 2023
- Inhabiting Beirut’s Cycles of Boom and Bust with Mona Fawaz University of Beirut, 20th April 2023
- (Machine) Learning from Historical Maps: Land Use and Urbanisation, France c. 1760-2020 with Pierre-Philippe Combes (CNRS Professor at the Department of Economics of Sciences Po and Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research), 30th March 2023
- Présentation du livre 'Le capitalisme à main armée. Caïds et patrons à Karachi’ avec Laurent Gayer, Sciences Po, CERI, le 9 mars 2023
- Embracing change in infrastructure landscapes with Vanesa Castán Broto, University of Sheffield, 16th February 2023
- Présentation du livre ‘Sociétés urbaines – Au risque de la métropole’ with Agnès Deboulet, Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, le 26 janvier 2023
- Presentation of the book “Making the middle-class city. The politics of gentrifying Amsterdam” with Willem R. Boterman and Wouter van Gent, University of Amsterdam, 15th December 2022
- The Civic Life of Cities: Professional expertise and the organizational production of urban integration with Christof Brandtner, Stanford Civic Life of Cities Lab, 1st December 2022
- Présentation du livre ‘Leurs enfants dans la ville. Enquête auprès de parents à Paris et à Milan’ avec Clément Rivière, Université de Lille, 15 novembre 2022
- A Book Project: “Agents of Change: Legacies, Encounters, and Urban Development in Twentieth Century Kuwait” with Asseel Al-Ragam, Visiting Fellow at Sciences Po, CERI, Associate Professor of Architecture College of Architecture, Kuwait University, 20 October 2022
- Presentation of the book ‘Politics of Urban Planning: The Making and Unmaking of the Mumbai Development Plan 2014–2034’ with Luca Pattaroni (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Amita Bhide, (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) & Christine Lutringer, (the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), 29 September 2022
- Presentation of the book ‘They Eat Our Sweat. Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria’ with Daniel E. Agbiboa, Harvard University, 15 September 2022
To know more
Social Sciences in question: The leading epistemological and methodological controversies of our time
In partnership with the CERI
This seminar is focused on methods in social sciences. They found the validity of our research and of our findings. Yet they are rarely explicitely stated, few are the occasions to discuss them, and France in this respect seems often disconnected from the often heated debates they spark in universities abroad. The objective of this joint CEE - CERI seminar is to provide junior and senior researchers with a place to meet and exchange on these issues. A place where one can compare our research questions, our fieldwork, the concrete problems we encounter and the way to address them- in a nutschell, our methodological recipes- in the light of today’s major epistemological controversies.
Team
Seminars (2022-2023)
- Quels indicateurs pour mesurer le sexisme ?, Anja Durovic (Sciences Po Bordeaux-CED), le 17 avril 2023
- “The political impact of minority-religion symbols in the public space”, Pazit Ben Nun Bloom (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), 6th March 2023
- “Advantages and limitations of panel surveys”, Paul Marx (University of Duisburg-Essen), 13th February 2023
- Comment évaluer les politiques de mémoire ? La Shoah comme étude de cas, Sarah Gensburger (CNRS, ISP) et Sandrine Lefranc (Sciences Po, CEE, CNRS), le 12 décembre 2022
- Enquêter à la « Mondaine », Gwénaëlle Mainsant, IRISSO, Université Paris Dauphine, CNRS, le 24 octobre 2022
- How reliable and how valid are expert surveys? with Jan Rovny, Sciences Po, CEE, LIEPP, le 20 septembre 2022
MiDi, Migration and Diversity
The research collective brings together scientists from CERI, the CEE, the OSC, the Law School, the Department of History, the Department of Economics, CEVIPOF and LIEPP. The research that is done at Sciences Po on the subject covers very broad themes: migratory flows, right of asylum, borders, integration of immigrants, discrimination and inequality in the European and global contexts.
The MiDi research collective aims to unite researchers and boost current research. It makes scientific production more visible both inside, for the Sciences Po community, in particular students, and outside, for our institutional partners and to encourage cooperation in international projects. Thanks to this collective, Sciences Po is today a member of IMISCOE, a European federation of scientific institutions working on migration.
Events
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19th April 2023 The Politics of Immigration Beyond Liberal States. Morocco and Tunisia in Comparative Perspective with Katharina Natter, Université de Leiden
- 15th February 2023, The Evolution of Frontex through Invocations of ‘Migrant Crises’ with Maurice Stierl>, IMIS, Université d’Osnabrück
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22 December 2022 [Journée d’études doctorales] Villes et Migrations : regards croisés sur des interdépendances
Popar
This seminar focuses on the study of parliament, legislators, the representative phenomenon and politicians. It meets once every two months and is organized around two parts. The first is for presentations of work in progress, often thesis. The second organizes a collective discussion around a recent book on the model of a reading seminar.
Team
Seminars
- Un Parlement "Playmobil" ? Bilan de la législature 2017-2022 avec Mariama Darame, Le Monde ; Anne-Pascale Reboul, Agence France Presse ; Caroline Vigoureux, L’Opinion, 25 mars 2022
- La reconnaissance du génocide arménien par les parlements belge et français avec Jérôme Nossent, assistant-doctorant en science politique, Université de Liège, 7 janvier 2022
- L’obstruction parlementaire peut-elle disparaître ? avec Chloë Geynet-Dussauze, docteur en droit public qualifié aux fonctions de MCF et enseignant-chercheur contractuel à l'Université d'Aix-Marseille, 17 novembre 2021
Previous years
Key Themes