Sydney Environment Institute

Explore current innovations in geographical research and cutting edge trends in socio- spatial theory throughout this seminar series.

Geographers and the Environment with Alistair Sisson (Geosciences post-grad) 

Amanda Tattersall & Kurt Iveson

In a growing number of cities around the world, citizens are organising themselves into urban-scale alliances that seek to actively shape urban outcomes. These urban alliances draw together diverse interests from across civil society on the simple but challenging premise that citizens are stronger when they can act in coalition. In some cities, these urban alliances have relatively long histories of organisation, and can point to significant political impact in shaping urban outcomes. In other cities, urban alliances have formed but still struggle to gain traction. This talk will offer an orientation to these urban alliance-building efforts. It will outline the distinctiveness and significance of urban alliances as a model of citizen engagement in urban politics, briefly reflect on two examples of alliance building in Sydney and Hong Kong, and outline the need for further research into their global extent and impact.