The Ashby Prize is awarded to the most innovative papers published in the journal in a calendar year, and Miguel Kanai received it for his paper ‘Peri-urban promises of connectivity: Linking project-led polycentrism to the infrastructure scramble’ which he co-wrote with Seth Schindler (University of Manchester).
The paper discusses the implications that the 2008 global recession had for urban and regional development. International investments in connective infrastructures of low- and middle-income countries grew noticeably, and new or upgraded roadways, railways and energy grids had a particular significant impact on erstwhile peripheral regions. The paper shows how this infrastructure scramble is filled with connectivity promises, many of which go unfulfilled. Adverse environmental and social impacts can be productively understood as forms of precarious urbanisation, the first step to begin producing more sustainable and inclusive geographies in an interconnected world.
Miguel previously received the Ashby Prize in 2014 for his work on the urbanisation of the Brazilian Amazon. On receiving the prize for a second time, Miguel said:
"I'm truly honoured that a journal such as Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space that has led the field for so many decades continues to consider my work worthy of recognition with the Ashby Prize to most innovative published research. Beyond the boost that this award means for the internationally comparative research programme that I am currently carrying out with Seth Schindler, I hope this recognition brings attention to the research possibilities in the field of infrastructure, territory and society, and becomes an incentive for urban geographers to engage more broadly with peri-urban transformations and territorial development questions where their insights can make important contributions, both theoretically and in the realm of policy".
Founded in 1969, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space is a pluralist and heterodox journal of economic research, principally concerned with questions of urban and regional restructuring, globalization, inequality, and uneven development.
Miguel and Seth’s paper will be open access for one year and can be found, along with previous prize winning articles, at the following URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/page/epn/collections/ashby-prize-winners