Postcolonial Criticism and Urban Theory

This article discusses changing ideas of urban theory, including the increased attention toward the unequal conditions in which it is created by intellectuals. Such attention is intrinsic to postcolonial criticism of the dominant, Western form of knowledge of cities. The main thrust of the argument is that the study of cities of the Global South may enrich urban theory as a whole. This argument, in turn, is disputed on the grounds that it promotes a new, exceptional version of urban development as universal. Based upon the ideas of Ananya Roy, Jennifer Robinson, and other postcolonial urban theorists, the article poses the question of whether "non-Western" urban development is just an exotic variation of the universal model, or if it should be rethought as a fundamental dimension of historical inequality.