Guest editors: Hug March (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), Katie Meehan (King's College London).
European Urban and Regional Studies
Guest editors: Hug March (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), Katie Meehan (King’s College London)
This European Urban and Regional Studies (EURS) Special Issue, accompanied by a journal sponsored workshop hosted at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona, aims to explore how urban political ecology (UPE) can enrich our understanding of heat as a critical and intensifying dimension of life under climate change in European cities. We seek contributions that engage deeply with political ecology as an analytical and conceptual framework, while focusing on the European region -currently the fastest-warming continent and one of the most urbanized. We are particularly interested in how heat, as a diffuse, multi-scalar, and often invisible force, reshapes urban life -from the scale of the body and the home to infrastructures and governance systems. What does a political ecology perspective add to our understanding of heat in cities, and how should political ecology itself evolve to account for heat?
We invite papers that interrogate how heat transforms urban metabolisms, beyond classical focal areas of UPE on water or energy flows and infrastructures, and the role that extreme heat under climate change (including both heatwaves and chronic heat) as a force that compounds and pressurizes existing flows of energy, water, as a new or potentially disruptive force in terms of social ties, labour and social reproduction. Heat challenges the capacities of the body and the presumed safety of the home, revealing new vulnerabilities and prompting critical reflection on the resilience of domestic space and its role in climate adaptation. While mainstream and dominant responses to urban heat tend to rely on public space interventions or technofixes like air conditioning, this Special Issue calls for a more critical, situated, and justice-oriented consideration and approach. We aim to foster geographic diversity beyond existing networks and welcome contributions that push the boundaries of UPE theory and practice.
If you are interested in submitting an abstract for consideration, please see information here.
Deadline for abstract submission is 1 October 2025.