Urban Radar
Urban Radar is a podcast series brought to you by Professors Tom Goodfellow and Beth Perry, which reflects on current events and emerging trends through the lens of cities and urban life. Drawing on the unique range of urban expertise in the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester, we place urban dynamics at the centre of contemporary global affairs.
Feedback:
Email: urbanradarpod@gmail.com
Instagram: @urbanradarpodcast
Credits:
Podcast production, presentation & editing: Tom Goodfellow & Beth Perry
Post-production editing & marketing: Polly Clifton
Production support: Jack Clayton
Distribution, promotion & marketing: Vicky Simpson
Music: Horizon (music by Tom Goodfellow, produced by Alan Thomson); Falling Down (music by Tom Goodfellow, performed by the Dice, produced by Alan Thomson); Ghosts (music by the Dice; produced by Alan Thompson); Kilimanjaro (music by Tom Goodfellow, produced by Alan Thompson).
Supported by the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester.
Episodes
21 episodes
19. THE NEW URBAN GEOPOLITICS: Inside Caracas + urban Greenland, + embassies and disinformation in London, + neighbourhood governance and more
In this first episode of Series 2 of Urban Radar, Beth and Tom start to tackle some of the many ways in which the current moment of geopolitical turmoil is filtering down into in cities and towns across the world. We make the most o...
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Season 2
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Episode 19
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53:51
Series 2 Urban Radar: Trailer
Urban Radar is a podcast series which reflects on current events and emerging trends through the lens of cities and urban life. Launched in 2025, Urban Radar hit the UK social science podcast charts, and was among...
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Season 2
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4:29
18: WRAP UP, REFLECTION & REVEAL (+ Care and the city, +Aussie social media ban, +urban themes of the year and much more...)
This month, we (Beth and Tom) are podding alone, using the final episode of the year to reflect on some of the big themes we’ve discussed in 2025 as well as on the process of making Urban Radar. We start with our monthly radar for Decembe...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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50:07
17: CHILD LABOUR AND DISINFORMATION (+immigration policy, +COP30 in Belem, +ticket touts, +urban statistics and more…)
In this episode we are joined by Professor Julia Moses to consider the working lives and rights of children, and then Dr Dani Madrid-Morales to discuss disinformation and how it plays out across urban and rural areas. Reflecting on World Childr...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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1:15:59
16: CHINA, THE GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE RACE AND ITS URBAN IMPACTS - A panel with Jon Silver, Zhengli Huang and Linda Westman
In this feature, Tom and Beth discuss the Global Infrastructure Race with colleagues from the Urban Institute (UI), recorded live as part of the UI’s 10 year anniversary celebrations. Drawin...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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1:16:51
15: GREEN RESURGENCE & GAZA RECONSTRUCTION (+Brexit, +rats, +Louvre heist, +AI Friend and more)
Released to coincide with World Cities Day on 31 October, this episode sees Beth and Tom first joined by Prof. Matthew Flinders (26:09) to discuss what the rise in fortunes of the Green Party, UK, under Zack Polanski, means for progressive poli...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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1:20:37
14: HUMANITY'S URBAN FUTURE - A conversation with AbdouMaliq Simone and Ash Amin
In this month’s feature Tom and Beth are joined by two leading scholars of the urban condition - Ash Amin and AbdouMaliq Simone - to reflect on questions of inclusion and belonging in the search for the 'good city'. Building on their collaborat...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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1:03:15
13: CONFLICT & URBAN TERRITORY - FROM UK HOMELESSNESS TO UPRISING IN NEPAL (+West Bank settlements, +witchcraft, +cars and more)
This month we are joined by Dr Sam Burgum & Professor Simon Rushton to dive into what the new UK Minister for Homelessness should have on their agenda (27:50) and how we can understand the wider socio-economic issues shaping the recent Gen ...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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1:19:46
12: URBAN INFORMALITY AND TRANSLOCAL LEARNING - A conversation with Melanie Lombard and Diana Mitlin
In this month's episode Tom and Beth discuss the value of translocal learning to address poverty and inequality for women in low income communities in India, Southern Africa, Kenya and the UK. Joined by guests Melanie Lombard and Di...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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56:58
11: SCHOOLING AND SURVIVING IN ENGLAND AND SUDAN (+policing/protests, +flags/fakes, +mining and cities on the move)
This month we are joined by Drs Christina Tatham & Cathy Wilcock for a post-summer bumper episode. First in England, many children are starting school for the first time, including those with English as a second language, agains...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:21:21
10: URBAN LABS IN TIMES OF CONFLICT AND POST-TRUTH - A conversation with Mona Fawaz & Nausheen Anwar
In this month’s feature, Beth and Tom are joined by Professors Nausheen Anwar and Mona Fawaz, Directors of the Karachi Urban Lab and Beirut Urban Lab respectively. This feature is a live recording of an in-person eve...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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54:23
9: URBAN POLITICS OF TRUTH AND WEALTH (+ AI data centres, +extreme heat and more)
In this episode we are joined by Dr Katie Pruszynski and Professor Rowland Atkinson to explore how political and wealth elites are reshaping cities from New York to London and beyond. We dive into Zohran Mamdani's journey to becoming the Democr...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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1:12:36
8: CYBORG RIGHTS & THE CITY? A conversation on tech & urbanism with Simon Marvin & Allan McCay
In this month's special feature, Tom and Beth are joined by Simon Marvin and Allan McCay to discuss how advances in neurotechnology - specifically Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) - are changing the way we think about urban infrastructures and ...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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47:21
7: HOUSING SAFETY, TRANS RIGHTS & THE CITY (+ Bunkers, AI protest & more)
In this month’s episode, we are joined by Jenny Preece to dive into the issue of building safety in the context of the recent anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire (22:33). Next, we consider trans rights in the context of Pride month and the i...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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59:51
6: POWERING THE NORTH - A conversation with Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram
In this first stand-alone feature, Tom and Beth introduce an uncut conversation with Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram - the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region in the North of England, recorded at Sheffield's
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:07:28
5: POWER & THE POPE (+ Gaza urbicide, gambling cities & more)
In this month’s Radar, we dive into the issue of community power - the energy kind! - with Dr Jayne Carrick (22:28), before discussing how a new pope (or an AI confession box!) will alter relations between religion, faith and the city with Dr K...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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54:20
4: BATS, BUILDINGS & BIG IDEAS (+ local action on water, + the urban impacts of tariff wars, and more...)
In this month's bumper episode we are joined by Malcolm Tait, Kiera Chapman and Hugh Ellis for a feature (45:13) on the UK government's planning reforms, how we can save nature and whether we need more utopian thinking to engage citizens in pla...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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1:12:26
3: CITIES & AUTHORITARIANISM (+ addressing urban air pollution, + cities and the UK asylum crisis, and more)
This month’s special feature focuses on the rise of authoritarianism in cities (34:48). What are the strategies and tactics that authoritarian regimes might use to control their capital cities? Beth and Tom are joined by David Jackman to ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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56:36
2: MANCHESTER'S DEVELOPMENT MODEL (+ German elections, + UK local government reform, and more)
In this month's feature (21:09), Tom & Beth turn their attention to Manchester’s model of property-led development. As the UK government pins hopes on enabling greater private sector investment to boost economic growth, can the 'Manchester ...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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40:26
1: CITIES & CLIMATE CHANGE (+ human rights for mountains, + foreign aid cuts and more)
On this month's Urban Radar, Beth & Tom zoom in on:Why recognising the rights of a New Zealand mountain is an urban issue Conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and its impacts on the city of Goma<...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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53:43