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Cities and Economic Democracy: Experiments in Comparative Perspective
About This Symposium
Amidst widespread democratic backsliding, cities have emerged as key sites for challenging inequality and the erosion of democratic participation. This symposium assembles scholars focused on the distinctive possibilities of cities as sites for generating economic and democratic alternatives. Convened for a day of inquiry into cities’ possibilities, participants will examine the resources, publics and soft powers that position cities at the forefront of economic and democratic change.
Speakers and Panelists
Keynote Speaker: Ross Beveridge, University of Glasgow
Panelist: Nik Theodore, University of Illinois Chicago
Panelist: Stacey Sutton, University of Illinois Chicago
Panelist: Carolina Sarmiento, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Panelist: Anke Pinkert, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Panelist: Irene Farah, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Time and Location
April 16, 2026
📍Levis Faculty Center Room 300
🕐 From 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Schedule
1:00-1:30 Welcome and introduction: (Manuel Rota, UIUC and Marc Doussard, UIUC)
1:30-2:30 Keynote Address: When Democracy Appears: People-Rule in Urban Life (Ross Beveridge, University of Glasgow)
1:30: Address
2:10: Q&A
2:30-2:45: Coffee Break
2:45-3:45: Panel 1 (David Wilson, Moderator)
2:45: Memories of Unrest: Urban Space and Democratic Possibilities in the East German City of Leipzig (Anke Pinkert, UIUC)
3:05: Associational Control and the Persistence of Subnational Authoritarianism: Street Vending Organizations in Mexico City (Irene Farah, UIUC)
3:25: Q&A
3:45-4:00: Coffee Break
4:00-5:30: Panel 2 (Moderator- TBA)
4:00: Municipalism, Institutional Scaffolding, and Cooperative Ecosystems (Stacey Sutton, UIC)
4:20: Democracy as Defense: Collective Power and Politics-Making in Immigrant Worker Organizing (Carolina Sarmiento, UW-Madison)
4:40: From Precarity to Power: Worker‑Driven Regulation of Day‑Labor Markets (Nik Theodore, UIC)
5:00: Q&A
Sponsors and Co-Sponsors
This symposium is supported by the 2025-2028 Jean Monnet Center of Excellence grant
Department of Urban and Regional Planning – Co-sponsor
Center for Advanced Study (CAS) – Co-sponsor