Many thanks to Sarah Hansen for the piece:
John
Rennie Short,
an expert on globalization, urban and environmental issues, and political
geography, recently shared his research and perspective on current global
trends in several U.S. and international publications. Most recently, the
professor of public policy has commented on topics from shifting political
parties to the rapid growth of cities and their roles in society.
In
Christian Science Monitor, Short addressed recent seismic
shifts in global politics. In this spring’s French election, neither one of the
two traditionally-dominant parties’ presidential candidates advanced to the
second round of voting, demonstrating “a rupture of the traditional political
establishment,” Short said, and reflecting a larger trend in politics seen in
Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory.
Short
added that “we are in a new political era,” where leaders who hope to preserve
Western values must address voters’ very real “economic pain, their cultural
uncertainty, and their political anger at the system” and be “aware of the new sensibilities
that have been brought to the surface.”
On Radio Sputnik, Short discussed another course change in politics. The
Philippine president announced that the Filipino military would begin to occupy
certain islands in the South China Sea, an area to which China lays claim.
“This is very strange, because [President] Duterte had spent the last few
months encouraging closer ties with China,” Short said, adding that the
action was a “provocative move” that would label the Philippines an
unpredictable ally for China.
In Smithsonian Magazine, Short addressed a historical
issue in political geography, commenting on the construction of early maps of
North America, where trade priorities could supersede political considerations.
In these early maps, “the coastlines were accurate, but they weren’t as
concerned about the interiors,” says Short. The attitude was, “as long as you
keep bringing the beavers, we don’t care.”
Short
has also produced several new publications related to contemporary urbanism,
including A Research Agenda for Cities. This volume,
which he edited, features case studies from around the world addressing topics
such as gentrification, gender, creative economies, and sustainability.
In
a piece for the Elgar blog, Short says it’s crucial to research cities because “we
are living in an urban moment. The majority of people now lives in cities.
Cities are at the very heart of transformations of political economy, civil
society and governmentality. They are the setting for progressive politics and
the context for new human–nature relations.”
Short
also explores how cities can illuminate broader global shifts as “nodes in a
global network of flows of people, ideas and practices.” Cities are highly
fluid places, Short suggests, constantly “learning from each other and testing
policies, with the more successful ones diffused, adopted, and adapted around
the global network.”
In
Global Citizen, Short adds, “Technology is
transferrable, knowledge is transferrable, consultants move around, there’s a
global circulation.” That’s part of the reason he believes cities have a major
role to play in combating climate change, the focus of the Global Citizen piece.
The other reason is much more practical: “Emotionally you can think of the
polar bears and the warming Arctic, but when push comes to shove it still seems
a bit distant,” he says. “But the air quality in your city is definitely a real
issue,” and, he suggests, it can motivate cities to take action to curb
pollution.
Short
also addresses reasons that public transportation in U.S. cities lags far
behind our European counterparts on The Academic Minute. He suggests the relevant
factors include an American “love affair with the automobile,” suburban sprawl,
and a large-scale dismantling of privately-owned mass transportation companies
in the 1950s. However, he also sees younger Americans as more interested than
previous generations in accessing public transit options, and less interested
in owning cars, which he suggests could soon cause a sea change in U.S.
transportation trends and investments. The interview followed up on a previous
article Short wrote for The Conversation (“Why is the U.S. unwilling to pay for good public
transportation?”), which was republished by Business Insider, Quartz,
Slate, Newsweek, and others, and has been read nearly 300,000
times worldwide.
Reaching this kind of a broad public audience is a
commitment Short considers central to his work as university researcher and
educator. “Research and knowledge needs to be circulated widely and freely
available to as many people as possible. If it is just for a small privileged
elite it loses its moral center and social purpose,” he suggests. “Those of us
lucky to teach in the academy have the responsibility and obligation where,
when, and how we can to advance civic debates and enlightened discourse.”
