Contexts and contestations of crisis urbanism

This commentary discusses Ross Beveridge, Roger Keil and Maryam Lashkari's theoretical development of ‘crisis urbanism’ that they regard as a concept, method and process. By drawing from diverse literature, they present a comprehensive theorisation that calls for understanding the poly- and permacrisis that are linked with the urban way of life. In this commentary, I raise questions about taking the abstraction of ‘crisis urbanism’ to different urban contexts where global crises unfold in place-specific ways. I, furthermore, emphasize how the crisis talk is inseparable from other dominant discourses of hope, care and radicality that diversify political agencies in cities today.