Watch the full video of the workshop (above), where Philip Harrison discusses ongoing comparative work on cities in BRICS, a grouping of countries that account for nearly 40% of the world’s total urban population.

There is enormous diversity in BRICS countries in almost all categories, including scale, economic performance, levels and rates of urbanisation, income and governance. This diversity raises questions over the meaning and purpose of comparison between the countries, argues Harrison.

In this presentation, Harrison looks at the far-reaching political and/or economic transformations experienced by all BRICS countries over the last few decades, as well as the differences in the national and local management of these processes.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here. More information about the talk can be found on the event page.