Junior Researcher ‘The Cultural Politics of Mobility Transitions in London and Barcelona’
We are looking for a junior researcher to conduct qualitative research for the Knowledge Frontiers project (British Academy, UK) entitled ‘Towards post-growth cities: the cultural politics of mobility transitions in London and Barcelona’, which examines contestations of progressive green urban mobility initiatives, which we cautiously consider to be potential post-growth mobilities initiatives, i.e. aimed at curbing the propensity towards endless economic growth in cities, in a socio-ecologically just and equitable way. We focus more specifically on a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) in Islington, London and a superblock in Eixample, Barcelona as case studies, that have been the object of contestation and countermobilization. We will examine these contestations from an explicitly cultural lens, combining, as per the requirements of the grant, social science and humanities theories and methodologies. More specifically, we aim to draw on urban history, affect (and non-representational) theories and literatures around sociocultural imaginaries, while relying on archives, participant observation, interviews and document analysis for data collection purposes. With this interdisciplinary, cultural political framework, we aim to contribute to and enrich the emerging field of post-growth planning and mobilities.
In particular, the research assistant will conduct empirical in the context of Barcelona, and in particular around a contested superblock in the neighbourhood of Eixample. The research assistant will also assist in co-write academic articles for the project.
Importantly, while the position is officially for 0.21FTE, roughly one working day per week, this time will be spread rather unequally over the two years, with more intense 20 days of fieldwork in Barcelona, most likely in March/April and July/August 2025 (exact dates TBD), and less work allocated the rest of the time.
You will be part of a team that involves an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the London School of Economics (LSE Cities), the University of Vigo and the University of Amsterdam.
What you are going to do
- contribute to literature review on post-growth urban planning and mobilities as well as on urban cultural politics (the overall heuristic framework is elaborated by the core research team);
- prepare, set up and conduct fieldwork in Eixample, Barcelona, including for example:
- set up, schedule and conducting participant observation at local planning and activist meetings;
- discourse analysis of online discussion forums;
- set up, schedule and conduct semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders, identified through snowballing techniques, i.e. local groups involving residents, business owners, policymakers, and planners.
- conduct around 20 days of fieldwork (probably 2*10 days) in Eixample, Barcelona;
- contribute to experimental participatory workshop in London and Barcelona (taking place in months 16-18, 3 days in each city);
- assist with dissemination of results on social media, academic conferences, policy brief;
- co-write academic journal articles with the core research team.
