The essay competition ran from 2002 – 2015. It invited young authors to submit essays on Urban and Regional themes. Prizes included £1000 and £100 in Wiley-Blackwell titles. Some of the winning essays were published in the IJURR Journal but this was not a guarantee. It was coordinated by Professor Eduardo Marques (University of Sao Paulo) and Professor Enzo Mingione (University of Milano Bicocca). Essays were reviewed by members of the wider IJURR family. The competition was discontinued due to falling application numbers.

BEST ESSAY ON URBAN AND REGIONAL THEMES BY YOUNG AUTHORS

2015

The 2015 FURS Essay Competition received 25 applicants from 15 countries – Taiwan, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Uganda and USA.

In the two first phases of evaluations, reviews were provided by: Agata Lisiak (Humboldt Universität, Germany); Alberta Andreotti (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy); Chris Pickvance (University of Kent, UK); Edmond Preteceille (Sciences Po Paris, France); Eduardo Marques, (USP, Brazil); Enzo Mingione (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy); Fulong Wu (UCL, UK); Gautan Bahn (IIHS Bangalore, India); Jan Dujvendak (UVA, The Nederlands); Jeremy Seekings (University of Cape Town, South Africa); Lícia Valladares (Université Lille, France) and Sonia Arbacci (UCL, UK). In the third and final phase, reports were provided by Paula Meth (University of Sheffield, UK); Simon Parker (University of York, UK) and Tim Butler (Kings College, UK).

First prizes:

  • Space for citizenship: The liminal politics of undocumented activism, by Thomas Swerts, University of Antwerp, Belgium. Published in IJURR: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2427.12480
  • Social mix through daily practices and connections: the relevance of place for networks and social capital of upwardly mobile Turkish-Germans, by Christine Barwick, Sciences Po Paris, France (German nationality)

Third Prize:

    • Building a new hometown of Chinese kung fu: Rethinking locality and Shaolin martial arts education, by Xuan Dong, Department of Education, East China Normal University (Chinese nationality)

The two first prize winners shared £1000.

2012

First Prize:

  • Designing for Mobile Activities. WiFi Hotspots and Users as Inspiration for the Creative Programming of Place, by Michael Robert Doyle, USA.

The author received a prize of £1,000 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

Second Prizes:

  • China’s Displaced Peasants under Urban Expansion, by Yueming Zhang, China.

  • Youth and the neighborhood effect in southern European cities: a note on some outstanding issues, by Ana Cano, Spain.

Each author received a prize of £500 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

Third Prize :

  • The politics of urban life: Equality, order and exclusion in Bogota’s lively public spaces, by Juan Pablo Galvis, Colombia.

The author received a prize of £250 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

The other finalists are:

  • “The Zona Rosa is for everyone”: Class analysis of a nightlife district in Bogota, Colombia, by Sebastian Felipe Villamizar-Santamaria, Colombia.
  • Chronicle of a School Fence. Social Dynamics in a Problematic Neighborhood of Bucharest, by Ioana Alexandra Florea, Romania.
  • Disincentives to connect the poor to water supply: the case of Jakarta, Indonesia, by Simran Sing, India.
  • A geography of economic activity in the state of São Paulo, For a regionalization based on technology and knowledge, by Alexandre Abdal, Carlos Torres-Freire, Victor Callil, Brazil.

These authors received a prize of £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

2010

First Prize:

  • Running head: Then I’ll Huff, and I’ll Puff, and I’ll…: A Natural Experiment on Property Titling, Housing Improvement and the Psychology of Tenure Security,  by Jean Louis Van Gelder, The Netherlands/Belgium. 

The author received a prize of £1,000 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.
This paper was published in IJURR Vol 37.2, March 2013. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2012.01157.x

Second Prizes:

  • The Governing of Urban Marginality in Western Europe,  by Justus Uitermark, Netherlands.
  • The Challenges of South American Intermediate Cities in a Context of Global Urbanization, by Juan Carlos Santa Cruz Grau, Chile.

Each author received a prize of £500 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

Third Prize:

  • Migrants as Entreprenerus. Local Economic Development, Rescaling and Migration in Southeast Turkey, by Ayse Seda Yuksel, Turkey.
    The author received a prize of £250 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

The other finalist was:

  • International exchanges, urban strategies and political aspects between Spain and Argentina (1976-1993), by Guillermo Jajamovich, Argentina.
    The author received a prize of £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

2008
First Prize:

  • Planning for Diversity; Planning for Equity: Race, Culture and Capacities in US Cities, by Suzanne Hague, USA.
    The author received a prize of £1,000.

Second Prizes:

  • Fiscal Responsibility or Perversity? How Fiscal Reforms in Brazil Imperil Slum Upgrading in São Paulo, by Gabriella Carolini, USA. 
  • Rethinking the Creative City: the Role of Complexity in the Urban Creative Economy, by Roberta Comunian, Italy.
  • Multilevel Urban Governance Analysis: Challenges, Obstacles and potentialities, by Nico Giersig, Germany.
  • Residential segregation and access to urban infrastructure in the Municipality of São Paulo, by Renata Mirandola Bichir, Brazil.

Each author received a prize of £500 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

Third prizes:

  • Metropolitan restructuring in Montreal: space, identity and political attitudes, by Mariona Tomas, Spain. 
  • Tests for Reestruturacao da Paisagem do Corredor Ferroviario Suburbano, by Marcus César Martins da Cruz, Brazil. 

Each author received a prize of £250 plus £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

The other finalists were:

  • Can We say a Word, Too? Negotiating Milwaukee’s Sowntown Development, by Sandra Zupan, Croatia.
  • Urban/Regional Governance, Chinese Style – A Perspective of Asymmetric Decentralization , by Chien Shiuh Shen, Taiwan.

Each author received a prize of £100 worth of Wiley-Blackwell titles.

 

2006

68 essays were submitted by the deadline of 31st May 2006, of which 12 written in English by native English speaking authors (category 1);26 written in English by non-native English speaking authors (category 2); and 30 written in Portuguese (13) – Spanish (11) – French (3) – Italian (2) and German (1) (category 3).

 We received essays from 27 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Peru, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, USA, Venezuela.

First Prize:

  • The Lost Community ? Public Housing and Social Capital in Santiago de Chile, 1985-2001, by Manuel Tironi Rodò, Chile.

The author received a prize of £1,000. His paper was published in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research after revisions suggested by the referees: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00893.x

Second Prizes:

  • Planning for Nomads at the Urban Periphery: Paradox or Possibility?, by Wendy Tao, USA.
  • Institutions and local growth coalitions in China’s urban land reform: the case of Hangzhou high technology zone, by Zhu Qian, China.
  • To Cidade dos Catadores de Papeis. Discover the perspectives of two paper tasters in the city of Belo Horizonte – Brazil, by Rodolfo Nazareth Fonseca, Brazil.

The authors received a prize of £500 plus £100 worth of Blackwell titles.

Third prizes:

  • Site-specificity vs. Globalisation.The works of Richard Serra and Frank Gehry in the light of creative city marketing, by Bettina Springer, Germany.
  • L’Ecologia del Piano. L’Actor-Network Theory nell’interpretazione della Carta di Rete ecologica della città di Roma, by Roberto Marcelli, Italy.

The authors received a prize of £250 plus £100 worth of Blackwell titles.

The other finalist was:

  • ‘Liveability’, revanchism and the development of a new hegemony on urban development in Antwerp, Belgium, by Maarten Petrus Loopmans, Belgium.

The author received a prize of £200 worth of Blackwell titles.

 

2004

111 essays were submitted by the deadline of 31st May 2004, of which 8 written in English by native English speaking authors (category 1) ;56 written in English by non-native English speaking authors (category 2); and 47 written in Portuguese (26) – Spanish (10) – French (5) – Italian (4) and German (2) (category 3).

The final results were as follows:

 First Prize:

  • Towards a nomadic geography – Rethinking space and identity for the potential of progressive politics in the  contemporary city , by Kenny Cupers, Belgium.

The author received a prize of £1,000. His paper was published in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research after revisions suggested by the referees: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2005.00619.x

Second Prizes:

  • Spatial Formations: Low-riders, Police, and Urban Space , by Ben Chappell, USA.
  • Gender; Social Capital and Political Participation in the Neighborhood, by Emmanuelle le Texier, France.
  • Wien, a Global City? Neue Daten fur die Global City Forschung , by Robert Musil, Austria.

The authors received a prize of £500 plus £100 worth of Blackwell titles.

Third prizes:

  • Restricted urban experiences: Class, consumption and domesticity in South China , by Ip Iam Chong, Hong Kong, Nationality: Portuguese.
  • Cidades ‘Italianas’ ou a Complex(c)idade em Italo Calvino , by Silvio José Conceicao, Brazil.

The authors received a prize of £250 plus £100 worth of Blackwell titles.

The other finalist was:

  • Working life and urban space: The case of the 1907 tenant strike in the city of Buenos Aires , by Mariana Soledad Gomez, Marcelo Summo, Gustavo Quintana, Argentina.

The authors received a prize of £200 worth of Blackwell titles.

2002

There were 72 entries, 8 reached the final round of selection. 

First Prizes

  • “Weltoffenheit schafft jobs”: Turkish entrepreneurship and multiculturalism in Berlin, by Antoine Pecoud, Switzerland. 
  • Gouvernement politique et gouvernance: Plans stratégiques et reconstruction d’une compétence politique à Turin (Political government and governance: Strategical plan and reconstruction of a political skill in Turin), by Gilles Pinson, France.

The authors each received £500 plus £125 of Blackwell titles. The essays were published in IJURR, Volume 26, Issue 3 (September 2002).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2427.00395

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2427.00394

 

Third Prize

  • Padrões da Ação do Estado na Infra-Estrutura Urbana em São Paulo, 1978/98 (Urban Infrastructure State-Action Patterns in Sao Paulo, 1978/98), by Eduardo Caesar Marques and Renata Mirandola Birchir, Brazil.

These authors shared the prize of £100 worth of Blackwell titles. 

Other Finalists: 

  • 4th: The Privatisation of an Old Idea: The Gated Community and the Recreation of Suburbia, by Joost Zonneveld, The Netherlands.
  • 5th: Mixed City-Separated Citizens: Ethnicization and the Production Space in the City of Lydda-Lod, by Haim Yacobi, Israel. 
  • 6th: Le politiche di fiducia, limiti e possibilità dei patti territoriali (The Policies of Trust, Limits and Possibilities of the Territorial Pacts), by Filippo Barbera, Italy. 
  • 7th: Ingresos estatutarios y concentración de empresas en los servicios urbanos de autobuses. El caso de Buenos Aires. (Statutory Income and Firms Concentration in the Urban Bus Services. The Case of Buenos Aires), by Andrea Inés Gutiérrez, Argentina. 
  • 8th: Voids: The Re-Presentation of Tradition in the Urban Landscape of Singapore, by Li Lian Chee, Malaysia. 
top