Launched in 2025, Urban Radar hit the UK social science podcast charts, and was amongst the top 5% of new podcast entrants (according to one major streaming platform!). It reached listeners in every continent, over 80 countries and 700 cities. Series 1 included 18 episodes, with 40 guests, including leading urban studies theorists and thinkers, early career scholars and PhD students.
Series 2 of Urban Radar will continue to place urban dynamics at the centre of contemporary global affairs. Hosted by Professor Tom Goodfellow and Professor Beth Perry, guests will be drawn from across the University of Sheffield and the University of Manchester in a new transpennine collaboration.
In this trailer, Tom and Beth reflect on the first year of recording Urban Radar and share what's coming up in 2026.
Here's the link for Series 2 trailer - you can follow on your favourite streaming platform so you don't miss out.
If you missed any of the Series 1 episodes, you can download them all below or on all major streaming platforms
Cities and Climate Change (18/02/25): what role do cities and local governments have in addressing climate change? How do formal and informal systems at local, national and international levels support or hinder low carbon action? (With Vanesa Castan Broto and David Dodman)
plus Mount #Taranaki, conflict in #DRC/#Goma, cuts to #USAID, #schools in the community, #waste-tipping in #Litchfield
Manchester's Development Model (06/03/25): as the UK government pins hopes on enabling greater private sector investment to boost economic growth, can the 'Manchester model' deliver the expected outcomes? (With Adam Leaver and Rich Goulding). What are the urban dimensions of the German elections and what's going on with English local government reform? (With Madeleine Pill)
plus #fatbergs, #sinkholes, #AI and urban culture, #UK aid cuts and the #geography of #defence spending
Cities and Authoritarianism: (26/03/25): What are the strategies and tactics that authoritarian regimes might use to control their capital cities? (With David Jackman). How effective are local interventions to address air pollution? (With Miguel Kanai). How can cities provide sanctuary to refugees and asylum seekers? (With Hannah Lewis)
plus #war in the Horn of #Africa, #facialscanning in #Sheffield, #student protests in #Serbia, #urban #infrastructure challenges in #Johannesburg
Bats, Buildings and Big Ideas: (29/04/25): In the context of the UK government's reforms, what are the big challenges for planning for nature and for citizen engagement? (With Malcolm Tait, Kiera Chapman and Hugh Ellis). And what are the local implications of the UK's water crisis (with Liz Sharp) and US tariffs (with Antonio Navas)
plus #Myanmar's earthquake, #graffiti in the city, #GenZ's communication, #embassy closures
Power and the Pope: (29/05/25): In face of the global energy crisis what is the role of community energy in Sheffield? (With Jayne Carrick) What might the death of the pope mean for the role of religion, faith and spirituality in urban communities? (With Krzysztof Nawratek)
plus the UK's #immigration White Paper and #international students, #race, #space and white #South #African 'refugees', #urbicide in #Gaza, the geography of #gambling, #decentralisation of UK #government #departments
Powering the North: (16/06/25): What do English Mayors think is needed to balance power and resources between regions in England more fairly? (With Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City-Region)
Housing Safety, Trans Rights & the City (27/06/25): How has research on the Grenfell Tower fire helped us understand the broader building safety and cladding crisis in England? (With Jenny Preece) How can cities be more inclusive for trans- and gender non-conforming people? (With SJ Cooper-Knock)
plus #bunkers and subterranean exclusion, #festivals, #touristification, #urban stigma and Los Angeles, #AI propaganda, #vape fires
Cyborg Rights & the City? (15/07/25): How are advances in neurotechnology changing the way we think about urban infrastructures and human-technology relations? (With Simon Marvin and Allan McCay)
Urban Politics of Truth and Wealth (29/07/25): What does the rise of Zohran Mamdani tell us about the potential of cities to challenge the MAGA movement in US politics? (With Katie Pruszynski) Why is a wealth tax a critical urban issue? (With Rowland Atkinson)
plus #pubs and young people, #AI data centres, #pickpocketing, #Ukrainian cities rebuilt, #extreme heat, #celebrity urban development
Urban Labs in Times of Conflict & Post-Truth (19/08/25): In the context of continued regional conflict in the Middle East and hostilities between India and Pakistan, how do urban research labs see their role in relation to the production of data and evidence? (With Mona Fawaz and Nausheen Anwar).
Schooling & Surviving in England & Sudan (04/09/25): How important are multilingual spaces for play and belonging in superdiverse urban communities? (With Christina Tatham) How are Sudanese communities and diasporas playing roles to sustain urban lives in the face of war? (With Cathy Wilcock)
plus #labubus, #policing, #mining, #Washington DC, #flags, #roundabouts, #cities without a territory
Urban Informality & Translocal Learning: (23/09/25): What can we learn from informal processes and practices in African cities to address social injustice and poverty here in the UK? (With Melanie Lombard and Diana Mitlin)
Conflict & Urban Territory (29/09/25): What does research tell us priorities should be for the new Minister for Homelessness in the UK? (With Sam Burgum) What do Gen Z uprisings in Nepal tell us about the intergenerational and urban-rural dimensions of conflict and peace? (With Simon Rushton)
plus, #US-UK tech partnership, #outposts in the West Bank, #witchcraft, #YourParty and new municipalism, #cars and the city, #local reporting and media
Humanity's Urban Future (20/10/25): If humanity's future is increasingly urban, are ideas of the 'good city' still relevant? (With AbdouMaliq Simone and Ash Amin)
Green Resurgence & Gaza Reconstruction (31/10/25): What does the sudden rise of the Green party under Zack Polanksi mean for progressive politics in UK cities? (With Matthew Flinders) What does the history of refugee camps in the Gaza Strip tell us about the role of international humanitarian aid in complex urban environments? (With Said Zaaneen)
plus, #Brexit, #rats and multispecies urban life, #urbanisation of space, #cable cars and Gen Z protests in Madagascar, #the Louvre heist, #AI friends in the New York subway
China, the Global Infrastructure Race & Its Urban Impacts (13/11/25): What is the global infrastructure race and how can we understand its diverse economic and geopolitical manifestations? (With Jonathan Silver, Linda Westman and Zhengli Huang)
Child Labour & Disinformation (28/11/25): What can research on workers' rights tell us about the relations between child labour and urban centres over time? (With Julia Moses) What are the geopolitical and spatial dimensions of disinformation and how might we be able to combat this locally? (With Dani Madrid-Morales)
plus, #Denmark-UK immigration connections, #ticket touts, #urban protest in Tanzania, #COP30 in Belem, #World Urbanization Report, #multiple deprivation in the UK
Wrap-up, reflection and reveal (16/12/25): The year in review.
plus, #care and the city, #subtervising and brandalism, #trial by jury, #US National Security Strategy, #Australian social media ban, #Syrian cities one year on
Feedback? email urbanradarpod@gmail.com