Claire Mercer
@clairemercer.bsky.social
Professor of Human Geography, LSE, UK. Research on urban peripheries, housing and social class. Africa, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam.
Pinned
Claire Mercer
@clairemercer.bsky.social
· Nov 27
The Suburban Frontier by Claire Mercer - Paper
Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.
www.ucpress.edu
www.ucpress.edu/books/the-su...
New book published (and free to download) with #ucpress ‘The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Tanzania’
New book published (and free to download) with #ucpress ‘The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Tanzania’
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Taken together, these papers offer new ways of thinking with the concept of the frontier that encompasses revisions to established urban theory ('the rent gap'), new concepts from beyond urban studies ('articulation'), new materials (sand), and new geographies (the coast)
September 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Taken together, these papers offer new ways of thinking with the concept of the frontier that encompasses revisions to established urban theory ('the rent gap'), new concepts from beyond urban studies ('articulation'), new materials (sand), and new geographies (the coast)
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Niranjana R extends theories of agrarian urbanisation to the oceanic in order to critically reflect on representations of Chennai’s coastline as an urban frontier, arguing that fishing can be understood as an agrarian activity that disrupts rural/urban binaries
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Ecologies of alterity: rethinking the coastal frontier
The urban seashore is often seen as a natural frontier, its sands and seawater deemed an exceptional geography to be made productive through industrialization and urbanization. The coastline of Che...
www.tandfonline.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Niranjana R extends theories of agrarian urbanisation to the oceanic in order to critically reflect on representations of Chennai’s coastline as an urban frontier, arguing that fishing can be understood as an agrarian activity that disrupts rural/urban binaries
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Situating the case of Singapore within the global geographies of sand extraction, William Jamieson's paper identifies three 'granular frontiers' that demonstrate how sand constitutes a critical but understudied 'outside' of the capitalist urban process
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
Demarcating the granular frontier: planetary urbanization without an inside
In its age of global crisis, sand has acquired a conspicuous profile as an urban resource and undercover vector of statecraft. Amidst mounting reports of the disastrous effects of sand mining stoke...
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Situating the case of Singapore within the global geographies of sand extraction, William Jamieson's paper identifies three 'granular frontiers' that demonstrate how sand constitutes a critical but understudied 'outside' of the capitalist urban process
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Drawing on Staurt Hall to discuss agrarian urbanisation in Gurgaon, @termcern.bsky.social argues that the agrarian world operates as an 'articulating principle' that structures capitalist urban expansion 'without guarantees'
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
Urbanization without guarantees: articulation, rentier capitalism and occupancy on the agrarian urban frontier
This article engages with the work of Stuart Hall to examine conditions of agrarian city-making on India’s urban frontier. The article draws on Hall’s writings on articulation and marxist method to...
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Drawing on Staurt Hall to discuss agrarian urbanisation in Gurgaon, @termcern.bsky.social argues that the agrarian world operates as an 'articulating principle' that structures capitalist urban expansion 'without guarantees'
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
Reposted by Claire Mercer
In their contribution, @angrygeographer.bsky.social and Michael Janoschka rethink rent gap theory through an ethnographic case study of frontiers of resource extraction and extended urbanisation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
Rethinking rent gaps from the Amazon: urban contestation and extractive frontiers in Ecuador
Contemporary postcolonial urban geographies aim to challenge dominant knowledge production by providing a more in-depth understanding of the frontiers of capital reproduction. This article explores...
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
In their contribution, @angrygeographer.bsky.social and Michael Janoschka rethink rent gap theory through an ethnographic case study of frontiers of resource extraction and extended urbanisation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
doi.org/10.1080/0272...
Reposted by Claire Mercer
'New Urban Frontiers'
This @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue edited by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social has now been published online: www.tandfonline.com/toc/rurb20/4...
A thread on the papers 👇
This @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue edited by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social has now been published online: www.tandfonline.com/toc/rurb20/4...
A thread on the papers 👇
Urban Geography
New Urban Frontiers. Volume 46, Issue 8 of Urban Geography
www.tandfonline.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:04 PM
'New Urban Frontiers'
This @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue edited by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social has now been published online: www.tandfonline.com/toc/rurb20/4...
A thread on the papers 👇
This @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue edited by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social has now been published online: www.tandfonline.com/toc/rurb20/4...
A thread on the papers 👇
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Colonial urbanism cast African neighborhoods as chaotic, unplanned, and undesirable. In postcolonial Dar es Salaam, that legacy still shapes who builds, who belongs, and what the middle class fears the city becoming. africasacountry.com/2025/09/who-...
Who deserves the city?
Colonial urbanism cast African neighborhoods as chaotic, unplanned, and undesirable. In postcolonial Dar es Salaam, that legacy still shapes who builds, who belongs, and what the middle class fears th...
africasacountry.com
September 15, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Colonial urbanism cast African neighborhoods as chaotic, unplanned, and undesirable. In postcolonial Dar es Salaam, that legacy still shapes who builds, who belongs, and what the middle class fears the city becoming. africasacountry.com/2025/09/who-...
Reposted by Claire Mercer
'New urban frontiers'
This essay by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social is the introduction to a forthcoming @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue
We argue that the frontier is a powerful conceptual lens that can generate new insights into the urban
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
This essay by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social is the introduction to a forthcoming @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue
We argue that the frontier is a powerful conceptual lens that can generate new insights into the urban
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New urban frontiers
The frontier is undergoing a resurgence as a productive spatial trope in urban geographical research. This article provides a critical overview of this “frontier moment” and contextualizes it withi...
www.tandfonline.com
August 26, 2025 at 8:47 AM
'New urban frontiers'
This essay by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social is the introduction to a forthcoming @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue
We argue that the frontier is a powerful conceptual lens that can generate new insights into the urban
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
This essay by me and @clairemercer.bsky.social is the introduction to a forthcoming @urbangeography.bsky.social special issue
We argue that the frontier is a powerful conceptual lens that can generate new insights into the urban
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Claire Mercer
June 9, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Claire Mercer
📣 USF International Fellowships 2025 - apply now!
This fully-funded program offers 3-9 month sabbatical research visits for urban scholars from the Global South.
Read more & apply here: urbanstudiesfoundation.org/funding/inte...
Deadline 16th July 2025
This fully-funded program offers 3-9 month sabbatical research visits for urban scholars from the Global South.
Read more & apply here: urbanstudiesfoundation.org/funding/inte...
Deadline 16th July 2025
April 15, 2025 at 11:42 AM
📣 USF International Fellowships 2025 - apply now!
This fully-funded program offers 3-9 month sabbatical research visits for urban scholars from the Global South.
Read more & apply here: urbanstudiesfoundation.org/funding/inte...
Deadline 16th July 2025
This fully-funded program offers 3-9 month sabbatical research visits for urban scholars from the Global South.
Read more & apply here: urbanstudiesfoundation.org/funding/inte...
Deadline 16th July 2025
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Claire Mercer, author of THE SUBURBAN FRONTIER, writes about how the suburb and the middle classes construct each other through her research in Tanzania: www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/h...
#AAG2025
#AAG2025
House-building in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Author Claire Mercer talks about her new book and how the suburb and the middle classes construct each other.
www.ucpress.edu
March 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Claire Mercer, author of THE SUBURBAN FRONTIER, writes about how the suburb and the middle classes construct each other through her research in Tanzania: www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/h...
#AAG2025
#AAG2025
Looking forward to this book forum organized by the Duke Africa Initiative on 26 Mar with @cgastrow.bsky.social and @shakirahh.bsky.social
March 19, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Looking forward to this book forum organized by the Duke Africa Initiative on 26 Mar with @cgastrow.bsky.social and @shakirahh.bsky.social
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Honored and thankful to be awarded the 2025 ISA Peace section Best Global South Scholar Book Award.
@isanet.bsky.social
www.isanet.org/News/ID/6582...
@isanet.bsky.social
www.isanet.org/News/ID/6582...
2024-2025 Award Recipients
body { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 20px; padding: 20px; background-color: #f4f4f4; } .containe...
www.isanet.org
March 5, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Honored and thankful to be awarded the 2025 ISA Peace section Best Global South Scholar Book Award.
@isanet.bsky.social
www.isanet.org/News/ID/6582...
@isanet.bsky.social
www.isanet.org/News/ID/6582...
Join us for the Sylvia Chant lecture 2025 - Prof Jo Sharp will reflect on empowerment and international development over 25 years drawing on her research in Egypt and Tanzania.
LSE Monday 31st March 6.30pm
Details 👇🏻
@profjosharp.bsky.social
LSE Monday 31st March 6.30pm
Details 👇🏻
@profjosharp.bsky.social
Agents of change? The challenges of understanding empowerment through international development
6.30pm Mon 31 Mar | Jo Sharp | Free public event at LSE
www.lse.ac.uk
March 11, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Join us for the Sylvia Chant lecture 2025 - Prof Jo Sharp will reflect on empowerment and international development over 25 years drawing on her research in Egypt and Tanzania.
LSE Monday 31st March 6.30pm
Details 👇🏻
@profjosharp.bsky.social
LSE Monday 31st March 6.30pm
Details 👇🏻
@profjosharp.bsky.social
Come and join us at LSE!
Job ad for Asst Prof in Urban Environmental Geography
jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Job ad for Asst Prof in Urban Environmental Geography
jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Assistant Professor in Urban Environmental Geography
Assistant Professor in Urban Environmental Geography,
,
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span>As an equal opportunities employer strongly committed to diversity and inclusion, we encourage app...
jobs.lse.ac.uk
February 27, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Come and join us at LSE!
Job ad for Asst Prof in Urban Environmental Geography
jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Job ad for Asst Prof in Urban Environmental Geography
jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
www.lse.ac.uk/geography-an...
See below for our line-up of speakers in the Human Geography Seminar Series Winter Term 2025
See below for our line-up of speakers in the Human Geography Seminar Series Winter Term 2025
Human Geography
Attend Urbanisation, Planning & Development Seminars in the Department of Geography and Environment, LSE.
www.lse.ac.uk
January 22, 2025 at 3:22 PM
www.lse.ac.uk/geography-an...
See below for our line-up of speakers in the Human Geography Seminar Series Winter Term 2025
See below for our line-up of speakers in the Human Geography Seminar Series Winter Term 2025
Reposted by Claire Mercer
We are now accepting applications for the next round of USF Seminar Series Awards funding! 🏙️ The deadline is 17th February 2025, and you can read more about the call on our website. 📢 Please share 📢 www.urbanstudiesfoundation.org/funding/semi...
October 30, 2024 at 3:21 PM
We are now accepting applications for the next round of USF Seminar Series Awards funding! 🏙️ The deadline is 17th February 2025, and you can read more about the call on our website. 📢 Please share 📢 www.urbanstudiesfoundation.org/funding/semi...
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Two permanent Assistant Professorships in Human Geography at Durham! With expertise in geographies of nature, climate change, & just and sustainable futures...
durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Assistant Professor in Human Geography (GEOG_01 %26 02)
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
durham.taleo.net
November 28, 2024 at 8:23 PM
Two permanent Assistant Professorships in Human Geography at Durham! With expertise in geographies of nature, climate change, & just and sustainable futures...
durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Milton Santos: the Dar es-Salaam years and their impact on one of the most important spatial thinkers. Some histories were yet to be written. Superb stuff in @antipodeonline.bsky.social
#geosky
#africapolsky
#socialtheory
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#geosky
#africapolsky
#socialtheory
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
South–South Theoretical Dialogues: The Tanzanian Experience (1974–76) in Milton Santos’ Spatial Theory
The Brazilian geographer Milton Santos is known for his sophisticated theorisation of geographical space. Less well known, however, is the role that Milton Santos’ experience at the University of Dar...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 27, 2024 at 3:30 PM
Milton Santos: the Dar es-Salaam years and their impact on one of the most important spatial thinkers. Some histories were yet to be written. Superb stuff in @antipodeonline.bsky.social
#geosky
#africapolsky
#socialtheory
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#geosky
#africapolsky
#socialtheory
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Claire Mercer
My book is out! The Aesthetics of Belonging explores how urban aesthetics shape experiences and practices of political belonging:
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
The Aesthetics of Belonging | Claudia Gastrow | University of North Carolina Press
After centuries of colonial rule, the end of Angola's three-decade civil war in 2002 provided an irresistible opportunity for the government to reimagine the...
uncpress.org
November 21, 2024 at 3:16 AM
My book is out! The Aesthetics of Belonging explores how urban aesthetics shape experiences and practices of political belonging:
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
www.ucpress.edu/books/the-su...
New book published (and free to download) with #ucpress ‘The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Tanzania’
New book published (and free to download) with #ucpress ‘The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Tanzania’
The Suburban Frontier by Claire Mercer - Paper
Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.
www.ucpress.edu
November 27, 2024 at 12:38 PM
www.ucpress.edu/books/the-su...
New book published (and free to download) with #ucpress ‘The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Tanzania’
New book published (and free to download) with #ucpress ‘The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Tanzania’
Reposted by Claire Mercer
The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Dar es Salaam
Hybrid book launch, 26th Nov, 18.30
Details here 👇🏻
Hybrid book launch, 26th Nov, 18.30
Details here 👇🏻
The rise of Africa's suburban middle classes
6.30pm Tue 26 Nov | Deborah James, Claire Mercer, Susan Parnell, Ola Uduku | Free public event at LSE
www.lse.ac.uk
November 19, 2024 at 11:21 AM
The suburban frontier: middle class construction in Dar es Salaam
Hybrid book launch, 26th Nov, 18.30
Details here 👇🏻
Hybrid book launch, 26th Nov, 18.30
Details here 👇🏻
Reposted by Claire Mercer
I mad a starter pack for African Studies. Let me know who else should be in here!
November 12, 2024 at 9:28 AM
I mad a starter pack for African Studies. Let me know who else should be in here!
Reposted by Claire Mercer
Reposted by Claire Mercer
November 21, 2024 at 8:27 AM