Debate, interaction, exchange: City & Regional Planning PhD students participate in global conferences 

Nine doctoral students participated in a workshop this summer in Brazil at the University of São Paulo, organized by the university's Center for Metropolitan Studies and Center for the Study of Violence in conjunction with Berkeley's Department of City & Regional Planning. The forum brought together students and postdocs from Brazil and Berkeley for two days of presentations, discussions, debate, and exchange.

The conversations centered around four themes: beyond the Southern turn in urban studies; mobilities: new circulation of people, things, techniques, and policies; new formations of inequality and violence; and new methods and lenses in comparative urban studies. 

"Our students prepared for this workshop throughout the entire school year," says Professor Teresa Caldeira, Carmel P. Friesen Chair in Urban Studies, who co-organized the event on behalf of the department. "It was wonderful to see them interact intensively with their Brazilian colleagues — this was an excellent experience for all of them."

City & Regional Planning doctoral students and alums also participated in more than 10 panels at the International Conference of Research Committee 21 (RC21) on Sociology of Urban and Regional Development of the International Sociological Association. Held in Santiago, Chile, the conference was organized around the theme "The politics and spaces of encounters: advancing dialogues between and within the Global North and the Global South." The goal was to foster debates about how power dynamics and urban spaces influence conflicts, solidarities, cohesion, corruption, violence, inequalities, and segregation from intersectional and gender perspectives as well as their broader implications for cities and urban life.