Journal articles by Kerwin Datu
Scienze Regionali, 2017
Although one of the core questions in the study of multinational enterprises (MNEs) has been typi... more Although one of the core questions in the study of multinational enterprises (MNEs) has been typically that of where their different operations take place, the spatial dimension of MNE investments and functions is still relatively underexplored in the literature. This paper investigates the networks formed by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by applying network analysis techniques drawn from the world city network literature. Data are extracted from the FDi Markets database to describe and analyse the geography of FDI flows among a set of 3,500 cities and towns within the European Union (EU) Member States and their neighbourhood. The paper identifies hierarchical patterns of relations between different types of locations, and gains a finer-scaled appreciation of sectoral and functional specialisations of different regions within Europe.
Book chapters by Kerwin Datu
Acuto, M. and Steele, W. (eds) Global City Challenges: debating a concept, improving the practice, 2013
"[...] the discourses surrounding the architecture of global cities [are] often as spectacular as... more "[...] the discourses surrounding the architecture of global cities [are] often as spectacular as the architecture itself, resounding with terms like the 'Bilbao effect', the 'icon' and the 'starchitect'. Architectural works and architectural criticism are both highly polemical and normative, obscuring a scholarly understanding of why the architecture of the global city emerges in this way. Such an explanation must be traced to the specificities of the consumption, the production and the market-making of architectural services in the context of globalization. Datu's chapter, then, notes how architecture is shaped by how it is consumed by global city constituencies, by how it is produced by professionals coordinating across global distances and how all such groups must make markets meet at the global scale [...]"
Working papers by Kerwin Datu
There is a reluctance in much recent critical theory on the relationship between architecture and... more There is a reluctance in much recent critical theory on the relationship between architecture and capitalism to engage with the mundanities of this relationship, as opposed to its more heroic extremities in the world of "starchitects" and "icons" where capitalism is often conflated with globalisation. A number of ethnographies from the perspetive of users and their everyday experiences of buildings have demonstrated the strength of the ethnographic approach. Thus there is valuable work to be done in pursuing ethnographic study of the relationship of architecture and capitalism by examining the everyday practice of both. This paper uses the example of the recent apartment boom in the greater Sydney area to identify the interactions between the two sets of practitioners who personify these relationships with the intention of arriving at a level of description upon which some theoretical possibilities can be generated.
Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography, Jul 4, 2016
Although one of the core questions in the study of multinational enterprises (MNEs) has been typi... more Although one of the core questions in the study of multinational enterprises (MNEs) has been typically that of where their different operations take place, the spatial dimension of MNE investments and functions is still relatively underexplored in the literature. This paper investigates the networks formed by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by applying network analysis techniques drawn from the world city network literature. Data is extracted from the fDi Markets database to describe and analyse the geography of FDI flows between a set of 3,500 cities and towns within the European Union (EU) Member States and their neighbourhood. The paper identifies hierarchical patterns of relations between different types of locations, and gains a finer-scaled appreciation of sectoral and functional specialisations of different regions within Europe.
With an eye to a recent debate on whether an economically derived " grand unified theory " of cit... more With an eye to a recent debate on whether an economically derived " grand unified theory " of cities can sufficiently address the radical extremities of urban politics (Scott & Storper, 2015; Mould, 2015), this article proposes that, within cities, economic development and discrimination can be products of the same phenomenon, namely the formation of networks inherent to the process of urban agglomeration, and the inevitable differentiation of groups within those networks. Between these groups arise differences in status leading ultimately to the construction of a set of social and legal institutions here named the " discriminatory city ". These institutions mark out groups whose rights shall be arbitrarily undermined, making them expedient targets for displacement in later periods of development, regardless of whether the discriminatory intergroup relations that created those institutions still exist. Urban agglomeration can thus be the sole sufficient condition for the emergence of discrimination and displacement within cities. In addition, through the visibility of urban environments, the city creates new, inherently urban forms of discrimination based not only on the personal attributes of individuals, but also on attributes of the environments with which individuals are associated, including discrimination based on location, building typology and formality of settlement.
This study of migrants’ settlement into the London area as captured by the latest, 2011 census ad... more This study of migrants’ settlement into the London area as captured by the latest, 2011 census adopts two approaches to demonstrate a nuanced concentric pattern in the location of migrants from different parts of the world. First, the differentiation of migrants into stylised categories of “rich-country” and “poor-country” migrants reveals distinct patterns of settlement for each; and second, an examination at the scale of the metropolitan region shows that these patterns operate differently inside and outside the Green Belt for both categories of migrants, demonstrating the importance of analysing migrants’ settlement patterns at this scale. The most important change in settlement patterns to have taken place in the ten years since the earlier, 2001 census is the role taken up by a number of commuter town centres outside the Green Belt in receiving recent arrivals of “poor-country” migrants, with implications for the infrastructure and labour economies of these districts.
Book reviews by Kerwin Datu
Geographical Research, 2018
John Harrison and Michael Hoyler’s edited volume Doing Global Urban Research asks how empirical r... more John Harrison and Michael Hoyler’s edited volume Doing Global Urban Research asks how empirical research can be done on subjects that are both urban and global. The emphasis is on the “global”—how do the methods and practices of empirical urban research change once the subject takes on a global dimension?
Magazine articles by Kerwin Datu
Architecture Bulletin, 2019
The question is: should we abolish spot rezoning? And the answer is: yes. The public of NSW is su... more The question is: should we abolish spot rezoning? And the answer is: yes. The public of NSW is suffering from shell shock, from a construction boom it was not braced for, and which has left its cities disfigured. Architects shrink from some of the connections but for much of the wider public the products of the boom are easily associated with a range of social scapegoats: excessive immigration, foreign investors, gentrifying hipsters, destruction of local history. We have to admit that the public trust in the evolution of the built environment is broken, and the thing that has broken that trust is spot rezoning. To restore democratic faith in NSW cities, we should abolish spot rezoning.
Architecture Bulletin, 2019
Architecture Bulletin, 2018
To galvanise support, the urban development community must promote not only universal housing and... more To galvanise support, the urban development community must promote not only universal housing and services, but also universal employment and disposable income.
Report chapters by Kerwin Datu
The only way that the Lagos metropolitan region can accommodate the millions of new residents exp... more The only way that the Lagos metropolitan region can accommodate the millions of new residents expected in the coming years away from floodprone land is to plan for expansion towards the north of the region - in other words, into Ogun State. The political ramifications of this realisation are explored, including the possibility of merging Lagos and Ogun States or creating financially and politically independent agencies to connect them.
Talks by Kerwin Datu
L'intégralité du débat « Métropole, modèle indépassable de développement urbain ? » avec Kerwin D... more L'intégralité du débat « Métropole, modèle indépassable de développement urbain ? » avec Kerwin Datu et Thierry Paquot. Un événement organisé le 8 décembre au Théâtre des Amandiers de Nanterre par la Région Île-de-France et le journal Libération dans le cadre du Forum "Île-de-France : quelle région en 2030 ?".
A talk made to the Young Planners Forum of the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners Lagos Chapter o... more A talk made to the Young Planners Forum of the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners Lagos Chapter on 31 July 2012.
Drawing on research into the global city network and the geography of businesses in Lagos, this talk attempts to shift local discourses on what Lagos should "look like" in order to become a global city to how it should reach out to other cities in the region economically. It also comments on what Lagos' high level of inequality "looks like" to the outside world, and on how communities such as Makoko should be considered as assets rather than liabilities for how Lagos is seen from the outside, especially given the ongoing existence of informal settlements even in the world's wealthiest global cities.
Online posts by Kerwin Datu
Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses a new phenomenon emerged amongst migrants into the London regi... more Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses a new phenomenon emerged amongst migrants into the London region, which is that migrants are now spilling out into a number of towns outside the Green Belt. This creates new opportunities for a dynamic polycentric regional economy, but will also create new infrastructural and environmental stresses for which we must now be prepared.
Online book reviews by Kerwin Datu
Death of a Suburban Dream explores the history of Compton from its founding in the late nineteent... more Death of a Suburban Dream explores the history of Compton from its founding in the late nineteenth century to the present, taking on three critical issues which have shaped the Los Angeles suburb: the history of race and educational equity, the relationship between schools and place, and the complicated intersection of schooling and municipal economies.
In mid-twentieth century France, the term " social space " – the idea that spatial form and socia... more In mid-twentieth century France, the term " social space " – the idea that spatial form and social life are inextricably linked – emerged in a variety of social science disciplines. Taken up by the French New Left, it also came to inform the practice of urban planning. In The View from Above, Jeanne Haffner traces the evolution of the science of social space from the interwar period to the 1970s, illuminating in particular the role of aerial photography in this new way of conceptualizing socio-spatial relations.
This book seeks to provide a detailed exploration of the relationships between individual archite... more This book seeks to provide a detailed exploration of the relationships between individual architects, educators, artists and designers that laid the foundation and shaped the approach to designing new school buildings in postwar Britain. It explores the life and work of Mary Medd, one of the most important modernist architects of the 20th century. Kerwin Datu finds that this biography falls short in some places but is historically valuable when we compare Medd's ideas with the current state of British education.
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Journal articles by Kerwin Datu
Book chapters by Kerwin Datu
Working papers by Kerwin Datu
Book reviews by Kerwin Datu
Magazine articles by Kerwin Datu
Report chapters by Kerwin Datu
Talks by Kerwin Datu
Drawing on research into the global city network and the geography of businesses in Lagos, this talk attempts to shift local discourses on what Lagos should "look like" in order to become a global city to how it should reach out to other cities in the region economically. It also comments on what Lagos' high level of inequality "looks like" to the outside world, and on how communities such as Makoko should be considered as assets rather than liabilities for how Lagos is seen from the outside, especially given the ongoing existence of informal settlements even in the world's wealthiest global cities.
Online posts by Kerwin Datu
Online book reviews by Kerwin Datu
Drawing on research into the global city network and the geography of businesses in Lagos, this talk attempts to shift local discourses on what Lagos should "look like" in order to become a global city to how it should reach out to other cities in the region economically. It also comments on what Lagos' high level of inequality "looks like" to the outside world, and on how communities such as Makoko should be considered as assets rather than liabilities for how Lagos is seen from the outside, especially given the ongoing existence of informal settlements even in the world's wealthiest global cities.