Geography

Conjunctural urban geographies: Modes, methods, and meso-level concepts

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Urban geographers have recently been developing “conjunctural analysis.” This paper contributes to this emerging project in two ways. First, it argues that the existing literature has overlooked a critically important theoretical distinction—between normative and rationalist analysis. Second, we develop three meso-level concepts—plasticity, composites, temporalities—to provide concrete guidance on doing conjunctural analysis. We use the example of U.S. municipal finance to illustrate the intellectual returns of this schema, arguing that this example also demonstrates the approach’s wider applicability. Through pairing these concepts with prospective methodologies, we move the conjunctural analytic beyond its currently nascent state.

Publication Title

Progress in Human Geography

Publication Date

2024

ISSN

0309-1325

DOI

10.1177/03091325241251839

Keywords

conjunctural, critical, meso-level, rational, urban geography

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