John Rennie Short

Bio: John Rennie Short is an academic researcher from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The author has contributed to research in topics: Globalization & Human geography. The author has an hindex of 31, co-authored 146 publications receiving 3565 citations. Previous affiliations of John Rennie Short include University of Reading & Durham University.

Globalization and the city

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Part I Going Global 3. The Global Discourse - A New Fantasy? 4. Globalization and the City Part II Economic Globalization and Urban Economies 5. A Globalized Economy with Uneven Effects - Are We All Global Now? 6. City Competition in a Global Economy 7. Urban Winners, Wannabes and Losers Part III Cultural Globalization and the Postmodern City 8. A Global Culture in Plural Forms 9. Global Metropolitanism - Similar Cityscape around the World 10. Global Consciousness versus 'My City-ness' 11. Part IV Political Globalization and the Urban Polity 12. A Global Polity BUT Still Powerful States 13. The Nation State and the City Region 14. Entrepreneurial Urban Politics 15. Conclusion

Reconstructing the Image of an Industrial City

Abstract: There is increasing competition between cities to attract investment. Older industrial cities have a particularly difficult time. It is in this context that there is an attempt to rewrite the meaning of the industrial city. Constructing a new, more positive picture includes the marketing of a new image, constructing a new environment, and reorienting a city's relatinship with its physical environment. The process involves many actors, from business leaders eager to stimulate investment to local citizens'groups seeking to reclaim community space. This paper examines these issues in Syracuse, New York, and documents the important changes in civic boosterism, the construction of a new inconography of the downtown, and the evolving discourse on environmental pollution.

From world cities to gateway cities: Extending the boundaries of globalization theory

Abstract: The focus on world cities has narrowed our understanding of the globalization/city relationship and ignores the processes of globalization occurring in almost all cities. By developing the notion of gateway cities, the authors seek to widen globalization research. They provide a list of topics that can be explored using this gateway city notion, including reglobalization, rescaling, representation, spectacle and urban regimes. These themes are used in theorized case studies of Barcelona, Beijing, Havana, Prague, Seattle, Sioux Falls and Sydney.

Imagined Country: Environment, Culture and Society

Abstract: This volume explores the relationship between siciety and the physical world through representation - the artistic re-creation of the physical world - which reflects interpretation.

The Production of Space

Abstract: ‘The Production of Space’, in: Frans Jacobi, Imagine, Space Poetry, Copenhagen, 1996, unpaginated.

Will the Real Smart City Please Stand Up?: Intelligent, progressive or entrepreneurial?

Abstract: Debates about the future of urban development in many Western countries have been increasingly influenced by discussions of smart cities. Yet despite numerous examples of this ‘urban labelling’ phenomenon, we know surprisingly little about so‐called smart cities, particularly in terms of what the label ideologically reveals as well as hides. Due to its lack of definitional precision, not to mention an underlying self‐congratulatory tendency, the main thrust of this article is to provide a preliminary critical polemic against some of the more rhetorical aspects of smart cities. The primary focus is on the labelling process adopted by some designated smart cities, with a view to problematizing a range of elements that supposedly characterize this new urban form, as well as question some of the underlying assumptions/contradictions hidden within the concept. To aid this critique, the article explores to what extent labelled smart cities can be understood as a high‐tech variation of the ‘entrepreneurial city’...

Getting Personal: Reflexivity, Positionality, and Feminist Research∗

Abstract: Feminist and poststructural challenges to objectivist social science demand greater reflection by the researcher with the aim of producing more inclusive methods sensitive to the power relations in fieldwork. Following a discussion of contrasting approaches to these power relations, I present a reflexive examination of a research project on sexual identities. My reflections highlight some of the key ethical questions that face researchers conducting fieldwork, especially with regard to the relationship between the researcher and those being researched. My discussion of these dilemmas reflect the situated and partial nature of our understanding of “others.” I argue that the researcher's positionality and biography directly affect fieldwork and that fieldwork is a dialogical process which is structured by the researcher and the participants.