Centre for Urban Studies

Photographer: onbekend

prof. dr. J.B.F. (Jan) Nijman


  • Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
    GPIO : Urban Geographies
  • Visiting address
    REC BC
    Nieuwe Achtergracht 166  Room number: B4.19
  • Postal address:
    Postbus  15629
    1001 NC  Amsterdam
  • J.B.F.Nijman@uva.nl
    T: 0205254081

About

Jan Nijman is a Professor of Urban Studies and the founding Director of the Centre. He spent more than two decades of his professional career in the United States and has over 15 years of research experience in India. His expertise is in urban theory and comparative urbanism with special interests in Amsterdam, Miami, and Mumbai.

The author of five books and more than a hundred other scholarly publications, his current research projects focus on suburbanization and metropolitan transformations in North America; the historical origins and future prospects of Amsterdam’s 400-year old designed Canal District; and the place and role of slums in modern Indian cities. 

Nijman’s research has been funded by various grants from the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He was a recipient of the Nystrom Award for best doctoral dissertation in Geography in the United States (1991) and the J.B. Jackson book award from the Association of American Geographers (2011). He is a former Guggenheim Fellow (2003).

At the University of Amsterdam, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Cities in Time & Space and Social Challenges of the City and contributes to various other courses including Advanced Urban Studies, Introduction to Human Geography, Home and Housing in International Perspective and the India Lecture Series.

Nijman was a member of the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society from 2001 to 2011 and presently he is the Chair of the Society’s Global Exploration Fund in Europe.

Interviews

Popular media

Books

 

  • Miami: Mistress of the Americas . University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

 

 

  • The World Today. Concepts and Regions in Geography. Wiley, 2013 (with H.J. de Blij and P.O. Muller).

 

 

  • Geography: Realms, Regions and Concepts. Wiley, 2014 (with H.J. de Blij and P.O. Muller).

 

 

More information

Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21st Century

Jan Nijman is part of a team of 50 researchers and 18 partner organizations, involved in this seven-year research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada's Major Collaborative Research Initiative program. Housed at the City Institute at York University (CITY) , this is the first major research project to take stock of suburban developments around the world and attempt to alter the dialogue around suburban life.

This research project aims to analyze recent forms of urbanization and emerging forms of (sub)urbanism as well as the dilemmas of aging suburbanity. It broadly focuses on the governance of suburbanization, that is, efforts to guide and regulate its development. It involves state, market and civil society actors and implies democratic deliberation and social conflict. Examination of Canadian suburbanization and suburbanism will serve as a basis and comparative "control" case to understand suburbanization in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Selected Publications Since 2006

J. Nijman (2014). “India’s urban future: Views from the slum.” American Behavioral Scientist (in press).

J. Nijman & T. Clery (2014).  “Rethinking suburbia: A case study of metropolitan Miami.” Environment & Planning A (in press).

J. Nijman & M. Shin (2014). “Megacities” In: Paul Knox (ed.) Atlas of Cities. Mapping the Origins, Development, and Impacts of Urbanization. Princeton University Press (in press).

J. Nijman & T. Clery (2014). “The United States: Suburban imaginaries and metropolitan realities.” In: P. Hamel & R. Keil (eds.), Suburban Governance: A Global View. University of Toronto Press, (in press).

J. Nijman (2013). “The American suburb as utopian constellation.” In: Roger Keil (ed.), Suburban Constellations. Jovis Publishers, Berlin, pp. 159-167.

J. Nijman (2013). “India in the urban revolution.” The Indian Anthropologist  42/2: 1-17.

J. Nijman (2013). “Cities – Mumbai.” In: China, India, and East and Southeast Asia: Assessing Sustainability. Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability.

J. Nijman (2012). “India’s urban challenge.” Eurasian Geography and Economics 53/1: 7-20.

J. Nijman (2012). “Mumbai as a global city. A theoretical essay.” In: B. Derudder, M. Hoyler, P.J. Taylor & F. Witlox (eds.), International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities. Edward Elgar.

J. Nijman (2012). “A study of space in Mumbai’s slums.” Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 101: 4-17.

J. Nijman, (2011). Miami: Mistress of the Americas. University of Pennsylvania Press. Winner of the J.B. Jackson Book Prize of the Association of American Geographers, 2012.

J. Nijman (2008). “Against the odds: Slum rehabilitation in neoliberal Mumbai.” Cities 25: 75-87.

J. Nijman (2007). “Comparative Urbanism.” Urban Geography vol. 28: 1-6.

J. Nijman (2007). “Place-particularity and deep analogies: A comparative historical essay about Miami’s emergence as a world city.” Urban Geography vol. 28 (2007): 92-107.

J. Nijman (2007). “Locals, exiles, and cosmopolitans. A theoretical argument about identity and place in Miami.” Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie vol. 98: 167-178.

J. Nijman (2006). “Mumbai’s mysterious middle class.” International Journal for Urban and Regional Research vol. 30: 758-775.

R. Grant & J. Nijman (2006). “The rescaling of uneven development in Ghana and India.” In: W. Moseley, D. Lanegran & K. Pandit (eds.), The Introductory Reader in Human Geography. London: Blackwell, 2006. Pp. 297-308. [Reprinted from TESG 2004].

R. Grant & J. Nijman (2006). “Globalization and the corporate geography of cities in the less-developed world.”  In: N. Brenner & R. Keil (eds.), The Global Cities Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 224-237. [Reprinted from The Annals of the AAG 2002].

J. Nijman (2005). “Cultural globalization and the identity of place: The reconstruction of Amsterdam.” In: N. Fyfe & J.T. Kenny (eds.), The Urban Geography Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 93-102. [Reprinted from Ecumene 1999].

 

2016

  • Musterd, S., & Nijman, J. (2016). The social sustainability of European cities: The importance of local government. In V. Mamadouh, & A. V. Wageningen (Eds.), Urban Europe: Fifty Tales of the City (pp. 219-226). AUP. DOI: 10.26530/OAPEN_623610  [details] 

2015

  • Musterd, S., & Nijman, J. (2015). De sociale duurzaamheid van Europese steden: het belang van lokale overheden. In V. Mamadouh, & A. van Wageningen (Eds.), EU@Amsterdam: een stedelijke raad (pp. 217-224-27). Amsterdam: AUP. [details] 
  • Nijman, J. (2015). India’s urban future: views from the slum. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(3), 406-423. DOI: 10.1177/0002764214550304  [details] 
  • Nijman, J. (2015). Naissance d’une ville mondiale. Problèmes d’Amérique Latine , 96-97, 19-37. DOI: 10.3917/pal.096.0019  [details] 
  • Nijman, J. (2015). North American suburbia in flux. Environment and Planning A, 47(1), 3-9. DOI: 10.1068/a4701ge  [details] 
  • Nijman, J. (2015). The theoretical imperative of comparative urbanism: a commentary on 'Cities beyond compare?' by Jamie Peck. Regional Studies, 49(1), 183-186. DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2014.978989  [details] 
  • Nijman, J., & Clery, T. (2015). Rethinking suburbia: a case study of metropolitan Miami. Environment and Planning A, 47(1), 69-88. DOI: 10.1068/a46281  [details] 
  • Nijman, J., & Clery, T. (2015). The United States: Suburban imaginaries and metropolitan realities. In P. Hamel, & R. Keil (Eds.), Suburban governance: a global view (pp. 57-79). (Global suburbanisms). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [details] 

2014

  • Nijman, J., & Shin, M. (2014). The megacity. In P. Knox (Ed.), Atlas of cities (pp. 140-157). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [details] 
  • Nijman, J., & Shin, M. (2014). The transnational city. In P. Knox (Ed.), Atlas of cities (pp. 176-193). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [details] 
  • de Blij, H. J., Muller, P. O., & Nijman, J. (2014). Geography: realms, regions, and concepts. 16th ed. New York: Wiley. [details] 

2012

  • Nijman, J. (2012). India in the urban revolution. The Indian Anthropologist , 42(2), 1-17. [details] 
  • Nijman, J. (2012). India’s urban challenge. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 53(1), 7-20. DOI: 10.2747/1539-7216.53.1.7  [details] 

2011

  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2011). Miami: Mistress of the Americas. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

2010

2008

  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2008). Against the odds: Slum rehabilitation in neoliberal Mumbai. Cities : The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, 25, 75-87.

2016

  • Nijman, J., Muller, P. O., & de Blij, H. J. (2016). The World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography. (7 ed.) Wiley. [details] 

2015

  • Musterd, S., & Nijman, J. (2015). Economische vitaliteit en sociale duurzaamheid: bestuurlijke uitdagingen voor de stad. In Goed openbaar bestuur in stad & stedelijke regio: impressie symposium, essays en onderzoeksrapport (pp. 10-17). Den Haag: Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties. [details] 

2013

  • de Blij, H. J., Muller, P. O., & Nijman, J. (2013). The world today: concepts and regions in geography. - 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. [details] 

2012

  • Nijman, J. (2012). Mumbai as a global city: a theoretical essay. In B. Derudder, M. Hoyler, P. J. Taylor, & F. Witlox (Eds.), International handbook of globalization and world cities (pp. 447-454). Cheltenham [etc.]: Edward Elgar. [details] 
  • Nijman, J. (2012). Mumbai, India. In J. Liu, S. Pellissery, & J. Campbell (Eds.), Berkshire encyclopedia of sustainability. - Vol. 7: China, India, and East and Southeast Asia: assessing sustainability (pp. 255-258). Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group. [details] 

2011

  • de Blij, H. J., Muller, P. O., & Nijman, J. B. F. (2011). Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. 15th Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

2015

  • Musterd, S., & Nijman, J. (2015). Economische vitaliteit en sociale duurzaamheid: bestuurlijke uitdagingen voor de stad. Den Haag: Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken. [details] 

2013

  • Nijman, J. (2013). The American suburb as utopian constellation. In R. Keil (Ed.), Suburban constellations: governance, land and infrastructure in the 21st century (pp. 161-169). Berlin: Jovis Publishers. [details] 

2012

  • Nijman, J. (2012). Urban Perspectives of the World. (Oratiereeks). Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam. [details] 

Award

  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2016). Talentbeurs 2016-2020 (€220,000).
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2012). J.B. Jackson Book Prize, Association of American Geographers, 2012 (for Miami: Mistress of the Americas).
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2011). Winner of the J.B. Jackson Book Prize of the Association of American Geographers (2012) for: "Miami: Mistress of the Americas".

Scientific position

  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2012). Chair of the Global Exploration Fund (Europe), National Geographic Society.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2012). Director of the Centre for Urban Studies, Research Priority Area of the University of Amsterdam.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2012). Lead Researcher of North America Cluster, Major Collaborative Research Initiative on Global Suburbanisms, SSHRC, Canada.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2011). Director of the Centre for Urban Studies, Research Priority Area of the University of Amsterdam.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2011). Chair of the Global Exploration Fund (Europe), National Geographic Society.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (2011). Lead Researcher of North America Cluster, Major Collaborative Research Initiative on Global Suburbanisms, SSHRC, Canada.

Talk / presentation

  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (10-11-2016). Urbanization and development in the global south: The case of India, School for City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute for Technology, Atlanta.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (7-6-2016). Positioning urban China: A comparative essay, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (20-10-2011). Elusive subtropical urbanism, The Kampong, National Botanical Tropical Garden, Coconut Grove Florida.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (15-10-2011). World city theory: A view from Mumbai, L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (13-9-2011). Miami: Mistress of the Americas, Books and Books, Coral Gables Florida.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (10-8-2011). The urban revolution in China and India, University of Utah, Utah.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (15-2-2011). Miami, World City of the Americas, CEO Club, Coral Gables Florida.
  • Nijman, J. B. F. (invited speaker) (1-2-2011). Identity and Place in a Global City: Miami’s Neighborhoods, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University.

Others

  • Nijman, J. B. F. (visiting researcher) (2015 - 2016). University of Pretoria (visiting an external institution).
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