Planetary urbanization: A view from outside

Abstract

Neil Brenner, Christian Schmid and others aim to rejuvenate radical approaches to urbanization with their notion of 'planetary urbanization'. But while there is much to commend in this framework, it has met with strong critique from other radical urban studies scholars. In this commentary, I discuss the fact that although I initially set out to write an essay that would put queer urban studies into conversation with this new approach, I instead chose to stay on the outside of planetary urbanization along with many other scholars whose work is informed by queer, feminist, and critical race theoretical approaches.