Presentation
Stephen Marr is Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies in the Department of Global Political Studies and an Affiliated Researcher with the Institute for Urban Research.
Prior to coming to Malmö, I taught at Monmouth University, Haverford College, and Linnaeus University. I have held research affiliations at the University of Gothenburg's Centre for Globalization and Development, the University of Toronto's Cites Centre, the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
I received my PhD in Political Science from the University of Florida in 2008, specializing in Comparative Politics, Political Theory and African Studies. My dissertation examined the relationship between formal, state-led urban planning techniques and the everyday uses of space in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana.
My current research emphasizes approaches to comparative urban studies that seek to elevate African-focused urban theory and African urban dynamics at the center of contemporary urban scholarship. To do so, my comparative approach explores cross-regional urban comparisons by emplacing post-industrial cities (primarily Detroit) in conversation with African cities. My work coheres a wide a variety of themes including urban justice and inequality, the politics and dynamics of grassroots mobilization and community-led sustainable development, do-it-yourself urbanism, adaptation to climate change in cities, and transportation justice in unequal cities. My research has been supported by Formas, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, STINT, and the Institute for Urban Research at Malmö University.
My most recent book (co-edited with Patience Mususa), DIY Urbanism in African Cities: Politics and Practice (Bloomsbury, 2023) is available Open Access and can be downloaded here: https://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1801929&dswid=-4733.
