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City Benchmarking, Globalized Urban Scholarship and the View from Above: Reflections on a Few Absences

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  • Enora Robin

Abstract

In this short response I address Acuto et al.’s proposition to engage with the political economy of city benchmarking and rankings in order to show that critical urban scholarship can do better than ‘limiting itself to criticism’. I argue that such engagement would require deeper reflexion on the political economy of critical urban scholarship itself and the style of research needed. I also discuss the extent to which this engagement with cities’ comparative imagination as performed through benchmarks, rankings and indices runs the risk of overlooking other forms of global comparative endeavours happening outside of international urban solutions forums.

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  • Enora Robin, 2021. "City Benchmarking, Globalized Urban Scholarship and the View from Above: Reflections on a Few Absences," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 378-380, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:45:y:2021:i:2:p:378-380
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.12976
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    1. Jenny McArthur & Enora Robin, 2019. "Victims of their own (definition of) success: Urban discourse and expert knowledge production in the Liveable City," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(9), pages 1711-1728, July.
    2. Michele Acuto & Daniel Pejic & Jessie Briggs, 2021. "Taking City Rankings Seriously: Engaging with Benchmarking Practices in Global Urbanism," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 363-377, March.
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    1. Michele Acuto & Daniel Pejic & Jessie Briggs, 2021. "Whose City Benchmarks? The Role of the Critical Urbanist in Comparative Urban Measuring," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 389-392, March.

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