Southern urbanism as a negotiation of past, present, and future

Abstract

The ‘Global South’ notion has been a source of critical investigation for the past decades, referring to numerous interpretations, and providing complementary perspectives on alternative urban dynamics. The southern narrative presents stories of cities, which experience time compression that manifests expedited, multilayered spatio-temporal changes. These cities combine past local heritage, culture and knowledge that are transplanted and often normalised under the concepts of colonial pasts and post-modern urban planning. These struggles require questioning agency, engagement and funding within dominant policy frameworks. This special issue examines cities negotiating past concepts at present, while seeking legitimacy and striving for alternative, resilient futures amid societal, political, economic and environmental crises. The purpose is to provide pluriversal knowledge, an approach recognising the inseparability of humanity and other forms of life. The articles in this issue explore these questions under three themes: alternative understandings of colonial pasts; examining everyday urbanism and community perspectives and exploring climate crisis responses.