This paper argues that varied perspectives on the multiple crises from the Global South and Global East are underrepresented in international urban studies publishing. In these regions, the crisis is exacerbated by the relative lack of data addressing urban issues. This absence underlines the importance of the international publishing system but justifies urgency to engage with a wider range of perspectives while also pointing towards a need to support local publishing structures.

In this forum contribution, I seek to reflect on conceptions of our current times of crises, engaging with reparatory-justice perspectives. These perspectives can add a strong sense of historical depth and a sense of entanglement between the global and the local. In alignment with Gurminder Bhambra's (2022) call for reparatory social science, I advocate for reparatory approaches in urban geography. 

In this intervention we ask, “what counts as crisis?” We query the adeptness of Eurocentric epistemologies that conceptualize crises through rupture. We turn to a framing of crisis that builds on continuity, honing in on the everyday violence that women experience. Our research in Cochabamba, Delhi, Georgetown, Ibadan, Ramallah, and Shanghai shows that one in every two women participants had experienced intimate partner violence. We also ask what crises mean for the methodologies we employ.

What could urban geographers continue to learn and unlearn from critical utopianism and emancipatory futurities? This contribution seeks to recover transformative academic practices and work towards didactics of speculative estrangement. Specifically, I propose to draw on science and speculative fiction literature to support the revision of established geographical imaginations and epistemologies in a higher-education context.

This essay shares a researcher's experience navigating the compounded crises of COVID-19 and the Myanmar coup during her PhD journey. The author reflects on the difficulties encountered in transitioning her fieldwork from Myanmar to Switzerland due to crises. Institutional double standards often exacerbate these challenges, especially for Global South researchers at northern institutions. Crisis experiences can serve as a critical starting point for promoting more just academic communities.

Contemporary debates are increasingly focused on dealing with crises that span many systems and sectors. These crises have transformed the process of doing research itself, impacting research funding, the type of research being done, and the subjects of research. Through this intervention, I argue for a need to invest in developing systems and processes that build resilience within Global South institutions to be able to deal with crises as they emerge.

The paper outlines the need for discussing and analysing the locations from which the research questions and concerns arise. Using these arguments, the paper postulates a more inclusive future for geography. Moving away from universal theory or global research, the paper argues for plurality and pluriversal (as opposed to universal) politics.