Toward change in the uneven geographies of urban knowledge production

Abstract

More than four-fifths of the global urban population live in the Global South and East. Most urban theories, however, originate in the Global North. Building on recent efforts to address this mismatch, this paper examines the geographies of urban knowledge production. It analyzes the institutional affiliations of contributions in 25 leading Anglophone journals (n = 14,582) and nine urban handbooks (n = 252). We show that 42% of the journal articles and 17% of the handbook chapters were authored outside the Global North. However, only 15% of the editor positions (handbooks: 10%) were held by scholars based outside the Global North. This indicates that Global Northern institutions still dominate knowledge gatekeeping, whereas authors are more diverse. Additionally, more empirical journals and those with fewer Northern board members tend to publish more non-Northern authors. Our findings underscore the need for greater epistemic diversity in gatekeeping positions and broader understandings of what counts as theory to better incorporate diverse urban knowledge. This study mapped the 25 largest Anglophone generalist urban studies and planning journals, nine generalist handbooks and interviews with journal editors. It found that although 42% of the knowledge produced in these outlets was from outside the Global North, only 15% of the editorial positions were held by scholars outside the Global North. The handbook-related data show a different distribution (17% for knowledge, 10% for editors).