Since June 2008, Dr. Sinéad Kelly has been engaged in a comparative research network of urban geographers investigating the ways in which similar types of neoliberal urban policies and tools are being implemented in cities with very different socio-economic characteristics and contexts. The network comprises academic staff and postgraduate researchers based at universities and institutes in Johannesburg, Toulouse, Paris, Dublin and Maynooth (see below) with the empirical research focusing on the three cities of Cape Town, Dublin and Johannesburg.

The impetus for this collaboration stemmed from organised sessions and discussions at an international conference on spatial justice (Justice et Injustices Spatiales {External site}) held at the University of Paris X-Nanterre in March 2008. A key strand of the research is to develop a comparative framework to facilitate the exploration of the various meanings and manifestations of urban regeneration and the ‘urban entrepreneurial model' in major and neoliberalising cities of the North and South.

A key site designated for regeneration: the Newtown Cultural Precinct, Newtown, Johannesburg, June 2009	Members of the collaborative research network at a planning meeting at the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), Johannesburg, June 2009.

The research network members are Dr. Marianne Morange (Université de Paris VII-Diderot); Dr. Sophie Didier (IFAS); Dr. Sinéad Kelly (NUI Maynooth); Dr. Andrew MacLaran, Paula Brudell, Katia Attuyer, (Trinity College Dublin); Dr. Teresa Dirsuweit, Faith Dube, Moses Metileni, Boitumelo Matlala, (University of the Witwatersrand); Dr. Elizabeth Peyroux (University of Toulouse) and Dr. Eloi Leymarie (Université de Paris XIII).

In June 2009, the research network met in South Africa. The first workshop involving members of the network together with academics from the University of Stellenbosch, comprised a series of seminars and field excursions in Cape Town and Johannesburg from 20th-28th June 2009. The intensive programme included a research symposium at the University of Stellenbosch, Western Cape and research workshops at the University of the Witwatersrand and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), Johannesburg. Key urban regeneration sites visited included The Waterfront, Sea Point and the City Improvement District (CID) in Cape Town and the Newtown Cultural Precinct, the Braamfontein Improvement District (BID) and the Central Improvement District (Central ID) in Johannesburg.

More recently, the network met in Dublin (November 15th-19th) engaging in an intensive programme of field work, seminars and research workshops. As part of the programme, field visits to key urban regeneration sites in inner Dublin were undertaken, including sites within the Liberties/Coombe Integrated Area Plan (IAP), the HARP (Historic Areas Rejuvenation Project) and Markets area of the north-west inner city, the north and south docklands and the housing regeneration sites of Fatima Mansions, Dolphin House and St. Michael's Estate. Guest speakers included Pat McDonnell (former Chief Planning Officer, Dublin City Council), Prof. P.J. Drudy (Centre for Urban & Regional Studies, TCD and former member of the Dublin Docklands Board), Cllr. John Gallagher (Councillor for The Liberties, Dublin), Charlie Hammond (The Coombe-Maryland Residents' Association), Dr. Philip Lawton (School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy, UCD), Dr. Rory Hearne (Regeneration Worker, Dolphin House), Eilis Comerford (Community Worker, St. Michael's Estate, Inchicore), Josephine Henry (Community Planner, Community Technical Aid) and Marie O'Brien (Spencer Dock Community).

On site in Cape Town's City Improvement District (CCID), June 2009	On site in Dublin's Grand Canal Dock, South Docks, November 2009

This research has been part funded by the Université de Paris XIII; the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), Johannesburg; and the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS), Dublin.