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Whose City Benchmarks? The Role of the Critical Urbanist in Comparative Urban Measuring
Author(s) -
Acuto Michele,
Pejic Daniel,
Briggs Jessie
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of urban and regional research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1468-2427
pISSN - 0309-1317
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2427.12979
Subject(s) - benchmarking , urbanism , warrant , criticism , reflexivity , sociology , urban studies , position (finance) , metropolitan area , public relations , political science , social science , business , marketing , law , architecture , history , finance , archaeology
By way of rejoinder to the commentaries on our intervention by a selection of urban scholars, we expand the discussion on the nature of scholarly engagement with comparative city benchmarking and the practitioners and interests that underpin it beyond academia. While the short‐termist, competitive and data‐driven assumptions that suffuse benchmarking activity warrant clear and well‐informed criticism, we argue that there is a place for critical and self‐reflexive scholarly engagement with benchmarking practices. We respond to the responses by stressing that this position has the potential to improve the value of benchmarks as one of the many tools with which to pursue a more equitable global urbanism.