On Peripheralization: Radical Perspectives on Urban Life in Territories of Extended Urbanisation

Abstract

This forthcoming special issue of Antipode aims to explore and expand the boundaries of urban geography by focusing on the processes of peripheralization, a phenomenon increasingly relevant in global urban studies. We seek to convene a “symposium” that not only challenges traditional methodologies and theoretical frameworks but also introduces radical and critical perspectives on urban development from the margins to the center. Today, urban research is increasingly confronted with processes of extended urbanization that unfold far beyond cities and agglomerations: novel patterns of urbanization are crystallizing in agricultural areas and in remote landscapes, challenging inherited conceptions of the urban as a bounded and dense settlement type (Monte-Mor 2005,2014; Brenner & Schmid 2015; Schmid & Topalovic 2023; Kaika et al. 2023). These processes are very unequal. While certain territories of extended urbanization experience strong economic growth (Arboleda, 2016; Topalovic, 2016; Katsikis, 2023; Liu, 2023), others are affected by processes of peripheralization, particularly less accessible and sparsely populated areas, mountainous and archipelagic regions, and territories with weak regional centralities (Diener et al. 2005; Couling, 2018; Markaki 2023). This special issue brings together groundbreaking and radical perspectives on the processes that peripheralize. Drawing material from a panel organized at RC21 Athens (Schmid & Markaki, 2022), which attracted significant interest and a substantial number of contributions, this issue strives to create a symposium-like environment. The contributions investigate processes of peripheralization in different scales and geographies and discuss both their socioeconomic and ecological implications, as well as the emancipatory potential in ex-centric territories in times of exception.