Southeast Asia Discussion Series: Enclave Urbanism and Transnational Zones

SEAC is hosting a Southeast Asia Discussion Series seminar chaired by SEAC Director Prof. Hyun Bang Shin on 28th January 2020. Dr. Jana M. Kleibert (Acting Head of Department Dinamics of Economic Spaces, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space and Humboldt University of Berlin) will be speaking on enclave urbanism and transnational zones in Southeast Asia.

This event relates to SEAC's #urbanisation theme.

Southeast Asian cities have experienced the rise of urban enclaves that combine residential, work and leisure functions within integrated mega-projects. The talk draws on examples from the Philippines to theorise transnational urban zones as places where the mobilities of capital and labour intersect. Moreover, it explores how another dimension, international higher education, similarly provides cause for enclave urbanism in the form of so-called ‘education cities’. Based on a qualitative case study on EduCity in Iskandar, Malaysia, the talk explores the logics and contradictions underlying the construction of transnational urban education zones.

Dr Jana M. Keibert is an economic geographer interested in understanding the changing geographies of globalisation. She is acting Head of the Department “Dynamics of Economic Spaces” at the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) and leads the "Constructing Transnational Spaces of Higher Education" (TRANSEDU) research group at the IRS and the Humboldt University of Berlin. Together with her team, she investigates the material and discursive construction of European offshore campuses around the world. Her research interests connect economic, urban and development geography and focuses on contemporary processes of globalisation, the emergence of global production networks and their socio-spatial expressions. She received her PhD from the University of Amsterdam.