Call for Papers | Urbanization Beyond the City

We are inviting proposals for a workshop exploring how ideas of urbanization extend beyond the traditional boundaries of the city—and how these concepts emerge, evolve, and travel across regions. Southeast Asia (SEA) has been, and remains, fertile ground for research that unsettles any neat dichotomy of city versus non-city, and association of urbanization only with the former. This has given rise to work on the urban beyond the city, most famously “desakota” (McGee, 1991). What other concepts, terms or ideas emerge from the region alongside (or perhaps in the shadow of) desakota? Where specifically have these terms emerged from and where (beyond as well as within the region) have they travelled to? How does Southeast Asia relate to the wider traffic in ideas around burgeoning literatures on planetary urbanization and planetary ruralization? These are the overarching questions that frame this urban/rural studies workshop on the making and mobility of concepts from Southeast Asia. We are especially interested in work examining: 1. SEA as a region of historical and ongoing efforts to conceptualize urbanization beyond the city or the rural in the city 2. How concepts derived from SEA have been taken up and developed in other regional contexts 3. Ways in which concepts from elsewhere are, in turn, drawn upon to conceptualize the urban beyond the city in SEA 4. Approaches to studying conceptualization from SEA in comparison or relation to elsewhere 5. Appraisal of conceptual resources and frontiers with respect to urbanization beyond the city, and future prospects >>> Workshop dates: 24–25 September 2026 >>> Location: AS8, Level 4, Seminar Room 04-04 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260 National University of Singapore @ KRC   >>> DEADLINE: 29 MAY 2026 Selected participants will be invited to submit draft papers ahead of the workshop, with opportunities for further development towards publication. Funding support and accommodation may be available for overseas participants. We welcome interdisciplinary perspectives and innovative approaches to rethinking urbanization beyond the city. >>>More details available via the workshop page