In the first episode of our new Progressing Planning series of podcasts focused on issues of housing affordability, we are joined by Dr Callum Ward, an LSE Fellow in Urban Planning and Geography. In his research Callum deploys urban political theory, to help better understand contemporary economic and political processes as they affect cities and citizens. This has led Callum to explore numerous areas including land financialisation, urban governance and the local state.
Callum discusses his recently published a paper on Antwerp’s planning politics in a context of neo-liberal urban governance and aggressive land-financialisation. He further shares his unusual route into the field and his upcoming work surrounding the cladding scandal that has engulfed the UK since the 2017 Grenfell Tower Tragedy.
Callum joined LSE and the Department of Geography and Environment in 2021. Prior to this Callum has worked as a research fellow at York University, Toronto and at the Bartlett School of Planning at UCL. Callum holds a PhD in Geography from KU Leuven where his work contributed to the development of the concept of ‘assetisation’ and a MA in Political Economy from the University of Manchester.
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Ward, Callum, (2021) ‘Land Financialisation, Planning Informalisation and Gentrification as Statecraft in Antwerp’ Urban Studies 07-29.
Ward, Callum, and Erik Swyngedouw (2018) “Neoliberalisation from the Ground Up: Insurgent Capital, Regional Struggle, and the Assetisation of Land.” Antipode 50.4, 1077-097.
Christophers, Brett (2020) Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy and Who Pays For It? (London: Verso).
