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Cities are more and more embedded in information flows, and their policies are increasingly called assessment frameworks to understand the impact of the systems of knowledge underpinning local government. Encouraging a more systemic view on the data politics of the urban age, this paper investigates the information ecosystem in which local governments are embedded. Seeking to go beyond the ‘smart city’ paradigm into a more overt discussion of the structures of information-driven urban governance, it offers a preliminary assessment across ten case studies (Barcelona, Bogotá, Chicago, London, Medellín, Melbourne, Mexico City, Mumbai, Seoul and Warsaw). It illustrates how both internal and external actors to local government are deeply involved throughout information mobilization processes, though in different capacities and to different extents, and how the impact of many of these actors is still not commonly assessed and/or leveraged by cities. Seeking to encourage more systematic analysis the governance of knowledge collection, dissemination, analysis, and use in cities, the paper advocates for an ‘ecosystem’ view of the emerging ‘informed cities’ paradigm.

The crises that cities face-such as climate change, pandemics, economic downturn, and racism-are tightly interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. This paper addresses compound urban crises as a unique type of problem, in which discrete solutions that tackle each crisis independently are insufficient. Few scholarly debates address compound urban crises and there is, to date, a lack of interdisciplinary insights to inform urban governance responses. Combining ideas from complex adaptive systems and critical urban studies, we develop a set of boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, and unbounding) to understand the complexities of compound urban crises from an interdisciplinary perspective. We employ these concepts to set a research agenda on compound urban crises, highlighting multiple interconnections between urban politics and global dynamics. We conclude by suggesting how these entry points provide a theoretical anchor to develop practical insights to inform and reform urban governance.

Rapid urbanisation and global environmental transformations require rethinking the material and social configurations of cities. The concept of ‘transitions’ has gained traction to guide such processes of infrastructure change towards net-zero, resilient societies both in academic and policy conversations. In this paper, we examine what notions of change are deployed in these debates. Specifically, we argue that transition theory conceptualises change as triggered by intentional actions and innovations by emphasising the functional drivers leading change. While deliberate actions cause changes, not all change follows strategic intent. Instead, transitions also depend on contingent relations between social actors and material objects, which cannot always be planned or anticipated. The concept of ‘urban infrastructure landscape’ helps reveal the non-strategic aspects of transitions. The example of improved cookstoves in Maputo, Mozambique, demonstrates the change envisaged in current energy policy and the changes on the ground.

Rapid urbanisation and global environmental transformations require rethinking the material and social configurations of cities. The concept of ‘transitions’ has gained traction to guide such processes of infrastructure change towards net-zero, resilient societies both in academic and policy conversations. In this paper, we examine what notions of change are deployed in these debates. Specifically, we argue that transition theory conceptualises change as triggered by intentional actions and innovations by emphasising the functional drivers leading change. While deliberate actions cause changes, not all change follows strategic intent. Instead, transitions also depend on contingent relations between social actors and material objects, which cannot always be planned or anticipated. The concept of ‘urban infrastructure landscape’ helps reveal the non-strategic aspects of transitions. The example of improved cookstoves in Maputo, Mozambique, demonstrates the change envisaged in current energy policy and the changes on the ground.

The crises that cities face-such as climate change, pandemics, economic downturn, and racism-are tightly interlinked and cannot be addressed in isolation. This paper addresses compound urban crises as a unique type of problem, in which discrete solutions that tackle each crisis independently are insufficient. Few scholarly debates address compound urban crises and there is, to date, a lack of interdisciplinary insights to inform urban governance responses. Combining ideas from complex adaptive systems and critical urban studies, we develop a set of boundary concepts (unsettlement, unevenness, and unbounding) to understand the complexities of compound urban crises from an interdisciplinary perspective. We employ these concepts to set a research agenda on compound urban crises, highlighting multiple interconnections between urban politics and global dynamics. We conclude by suggesting how these entry points provide a theoretical anchor to develop practical insights to inform and reform urban governance.

The growing interest in urban night-time economies and night-time transport policies presents an important context in which to examine how mobility justice is conceived and operationalised in policy-making. Literature on transport exclusion and transport justice documents the disadvantages experienced by different social groups and advances theoretical frameworks for distributive justice and transport accessibility. However, this literature has rarely considered the politics of whether and how mobility difference is recognised and planned for in transport policy, including issues of deliberative justice (participation) and epistemic justice (knowledge production). To address these research gaps, this paper engages with Sheller's (2018) theorisation of mobility justice and critically analyses the construction of mobile subjects in policy discourse on night-time mobility. We analyse policy documents part of night-time policy for Greater London to examine the extent to which the differentiated night-time mobilities across social categories (gender, age, ethnicity, income, etc.) are recognised – in other words, how the ‘politics of difference’ play out in transport policy-making. Findings show that the discursive construction of mobile subjects in London's night-time policy distinguishes between workers, consumers, and transport users, yet, these broad categories poorly account for differentiated mobility needs and practices. Publicly available data on differentiated night-time mobilities in London does not inform current policy discourse, obscuring disadvantages experienced by different groups of people moving through the city at night, and thus limits the capacity of existing policy interventions to address mobility injustices. These findings reaffirm the need for transport research to move beyond distributive justice and accessibility analysis, towards exploring the potential of thinking about distributive and epistemic justice for challenging the status quo of trans, QC 20230825

The sustainable mobility paradigm has dominated the urban transport research agenda for more than a decade. This paradigm focuses on the environmental impacts of travel and the imperative for climate change mitigation, however the specific outcomes of transport in terms of trip type and purpose are not robustly conceptualised, with limited intellectual foundations to understand the ethical considerations of transport service provision. This paper critically considers transport strategies recently developed for London's Night Time Economy, including policy discourse and technical approaches that shape of transport services provision at night. The case study evaluates the spatiotemporal dimensions of equity. Analysis of policy discourses revealed how night time transport are conceived as an instrumental means to grow the 'Night Time Economy', drawing from the conventional wisdom linking accessibility improvements with economic expansion. This strategy viewed 'London at night'€™ as a vehicle for economic development, focusing on the consumption-side of the economy and improving individuals’ access to entertainment and recreation. Policy discourse recognised the existence of night-time workers in sectors outside arts and recreation, however, attempts to broaden the 'Night Time Economy' agenda to accommodate the travel needs of night-time workers were lost through the narrow selection of accessibility metrics used in transport planning practice. This case demonstrates a missed opportunity to improve transport equity across spatial and temporal dimensions, as night-time workers face severe accessibility barriers, often relying on low-frequency bus services that have inadequate service coverage across Greater London. Scrutinising socio-spatial and temporal dimensions of transport provision can advance more systematic critical perspectives on transport equity by integrating a variety of distributional issues and linking more closely to the practical barriers faced by nigh, QC 20230825

Over the past decade, cities across Europe and the US have begun to take the notion of a ‘24- hour city’ more seriously. Having recognised the economic value of night-time activities, cities such as Amsterdam and London have appointed night-time mayors to help foster the Night- Time Economy (NTE). This short research report unpacks current understandings of the NTE in London, highlighting the discrepancies between NTE as framed in policy strategies and the real nature of the NTE. It seeks to understand to what extent planning for night-time transport caters to those working in the sectors that make up the most of the NTE (health and social care services, transport and logistics), identifying blind spots in London’s current approach to night-time transport. Whilst this research project is in its early stages, this report aims to provide new methodological insights on how spatial data analysis can be leveraged to map the transport needs of night-time workers, in order to inform the design of more inclusive transport policy. More broadly, the report highlights that more inclusive framings of night-time strategies are possible if the NTE is viewed from the perspective of labour and the transport demand generated by workers, rather than from the perspective of consumption and the leisure-based economy alone; in addition to investing in the extension of rail services to operate at night, policy development should include investigating options to improve night bus services further, such as express night buses to serve major night-time employment areas; access to transport needs to be understood and modelled not just in terms of access to consumption, the London Central Activities Zone or day-time destinations, but crucially include access to employment as a cornerstone., QC 20230825

QC 20230901

Over the past decade, cities across Europe and the US have begun to take the notion of a ‘24- hour city’ more seriously. Having recognised the economic value of night-time activities, cities such as Amsterdam and London have appointed night-time mayors to help foster the Night- Time Economy (NTE). This short research report unpacks current understandings of the NTE in London, highlighting the discrepancies between NTE as framed in policy strategies and the real nature of the NTE. It seeks to understand to what extent planning for night-time transport caters to those working in the sectors that make up the most of the NTE (health and social care services, transport and logistics), identifying blind spots in London’s current approach to night-time transport. Whilst this research project is in its early stages, this report aims to provide new methodological insights on how spatial data analysis can be leveraged to map the transport needs of night-time workers, in order to inform the design of more inclusive transport policy. More broadly, the report highlights that more inclusive framings of night-time strategies are possible if the NTE is viewed from the perspective of labour and the transport demand generated by workers, rather than from the perspective of consumption and the leisure-based economy alone; in addition to investing in the extension of rail services to operate at night, policy development should include investigating options to improve night bus services further, such as express night buses to serve major night-time employment areas; access to transport needs to be understood and modelled not just in terms of access to consumption, the London Central Activities Zone or day-time destinations, but crucially include access to employment as a cornerstone., QC 20230825

Over the past decade, cities across Europe and the US have begun to take the notion of a ‘24- hour city’ more seriously. Having recognised the economic value of night-time activities, cities such as Amsterdam and London have appointed night-time mayors to help foster the Night- Time Economy (NTE). This short research report unpacks current understandings of the NTE in London, highlighting the discrepancies between NTE as framed in policy strategies and the real nature of the NTE. It seeks to understand to what extent planning for night-time transport caters to those working in the sectors that make up the most of the NTE (health and social care services, transport and logistics), identifying blind spots in London’s current approach to night-time transport. Whilst this research project is in its early stages, this report aims to provide new methodological insights on how spatial data analysis can be leveraged to map the transport needs of night-time workers, in order to inform the design of more inclusive transport policy. More broadly, the report highlights that more inclusive framings of night-time strategies are possible if the NTE is viewed from the perspective of labour and the transport demand generated by workers, rather than from the perspective of consumption and the leisure-based economy alone; in addition to investing in the extension of rail services to operate at night, policy development should include investigating options to improve night bus services further, such as express night buses to serve major night-time employment areas; access to transport needs to be understood and modelled not just in terms of access to consumption, the London Central Activities Zone or day-time destinations, but crucially include access to employment as a cornerstone., QC 20230825

Over the past decade, cities across Europe and the US have begun to take the notion of a ‘24- hour city’ more seriously. Having recognised the economic value of night-time activities, cities such as Amsterdam and London have appointed night-time mayors to help foster the Night- Time Economy (NTE). This short research report unpacks current understandings of the NTE in London, highlighting the discrepancies between NTE as framed in policy strategies and the real nature of the NTE. It seeks to understand to what extent planning for night-time transport caters to those working in the sectors that make up the most of the NTE (health and social care services, transport and logistics), identifying blind spots in London’s current approach to night-time transport. Whilst this research project is in its early stages, this report aims to provide new methodological insights on how spatial data analysis can be leveraged to map the transport needs of night-time workers, in order to inform the design of more inclusive transport policy. More broadly, the report highlights that more inclusive framings of night-time strategies are possible if the NTE is viewed from the perspective of labour and the transport demand generated by workers, rather than from the perspective of consumption and the leisure-based economy alone; in addition to investing in the extension of rail services to operate at night, policy development should include investigating options to improve night bus services further, such as express night buses to serve major night-time employment areas; access to transport needs to be understood and modelled not just in terms of access to consumption, the London Central Activities Zone or day-time destinations, but crucially include access to employment as a cornerstone., QC 20230825

Over the past decade, cities across Europe and the US have begun to take the notion of a ‘24- hour city’ more seriously. Having recognised the economic value of night-time activities, cities such as Amsterdam and London have appointed night-time mayors to help foster the Night- Time Economy (NTE). This short research report unpacks current understandings of the NTE in London, highlighting the discrepancies between NTE as framed in policy strategies and the real nature of the NTE. It seeks to understand to what extent planning for night-time transport caters to those working in the sectors that make up the most of the NTE (health and social care services, transport and logistics), identifying blind spots in London’s current approach to night-time transport. Whilst this research project is in its early stages, this report aims to provide new methodological insights on how spatial data analysis can be leveraged to map the transport needs of night-time workers, in order to inform the design of more inclusive transport policy. More broadly, the report highlights that more inclusive framings of night-time strategies are possible if the NTE is viewed from the perspective of labour and the transport demand generated by workers, rather than from the perspective of consumption and the leisure-based economy alone; in addition to investing in the extension of rail services to operate at night, policy development should include investigating options to improve night bus services further, such as express night buses to serve major night-time employment areas; access to transport needs to be understood and modelled not just in terms of access to consumption, the London Central Activities Zone or day-time destinations, but crucially include access to employment as a cornerstone., QC 20230825

This paper investigates urban governance empirically by applying social network analysis methods to data gathered through structured interviews in London and New York. We explore how decisions are made in complex institutional environments inhabited by various types of actors. Owing to the time-consuming data collection and treatment processes, the research zooms in on transport. The comparative approach enabled the detection of different structural features in the governance networks shaping transport strategies in both cities. The perceived relative power, influence, dependence and/or affinity between the actors involved is discussed based on network attributes. The evidence suggests that transport governance in London is more centralised (and, arguably, more technocratic and integrated), in the sense that a few prestigious entities are clearly more prominent. In New York the institutional environment is typified by many checks and balances (and, arguably, more democratic and fragmented), where central actors are less obvious.