Call for Book Chapters: Urban Metabolism – The Social Life of Infrastructure in the Global South

Vernon Press invites book chapter proposals for a forthcoming edited volume on “Urban Metabolism – The Social Life of Infrastructure in the Global South” edited by Lefranc Joseph.

Edited volume

In cities across the Global South, infrastructure tells stories of citizenship, survival, and innovation. Where water pipes end, political boundaries begin. Where electricity grids fail, community networks emerge. In an era of climate crisis and rapid digitalization, these cities are not sites of failure but laboratories of urban futures. This edited volume, Urban Metabolism: The Social Life of Infrastructure in the Global South, seeks to transform how we understand urban metabolism by revealing infrastructure as a powerful interdisciplinary lens through which social and political life is shaped.

While traditional urban metabolism studies focus on technical resource flows—water consumed, energy used, waste produced—this volume foregrounds the social, cultural, and political dimensions of infrastructure. We examine how pipes, wires, roads, and drains create citizens and non-citizens, determine health and illness, and establish patterns of inclusion and exclusion that define urban life.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed infrastructure inequalities worldwide, while climate change multiplies existing vulnerabilities. Simultaneously, rapid urbanization in the Global South demands new frameworks that move beyond Northern-centric theories. This volume positions African, Asian, Latin American, and Caribbean cities as sites of theoretical innovation, where communities transform infrastructural constraints into sophisticated survival strategies and alternative urban futures.

We invite contributions from scholars, practitioners, and activists across disciplines, including sociology, urban studies, geography, architecture, anthropology, public health, urban planning, engineering, and related fields. We particularly encourage submissions from researchers and practitioners whose work challenges conventional urban and infrastructure studies.

Possible topics

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Infrastructure as social and political relations

• Metabolic justice and urban inequalities

• Hybrid metabolisms: formal and informal infrastructural systems

• Breakdown as revelation: infrastructural failure and urban resilience

• Circulatory citizenship: mobility, access, and urban rights

• Indigenous knowledge systems and urban infrastructure

• Climate change adaptation and infrastructural inequality

• Digitalization and new forms of urban inclusion/exclusion

• Comparative case studies from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean

• Gendered dimensions of infrastructural access and exclusion

• Urban informality, livelihoods, and infrastructural creativity

Submission Guidelines

Please submit your chapter proposal as a single Word file to Dr. Lefranc Joseph at lefranc.joseph@charesso.org by August 15, 2025, including:

• Abstract (maximum 500 words) outlining your chapter's main argument, theoretical framework, and empirical focus

• Author biography (approximately 150 words) highlighting relevant expertise and current affiliation

• Five keywords capturing your contribution’s key themes

• Complete contact information, including email and institutional affiliation

Important Dates

• Proposal submission deadline: August 15, 2025

• Acceptance notifications: September 15, 2025

• Full chapter submission: February 1, 2026

• Expected publication: Late 2026

Chapter Specifications

• Length: 6,000–8,000 words (inclusive of references, tables, and figures)

• Format: Original contributions not under consideration elsewhere; Chicago 17th edition (author-date) citation style

• Review: All chapters will undergo peer review

For inquiries about the volume, potential fit of topics, or accessibility accommodations, please contact Dr. Lefranc Joseph at lefranc.joseph@charesso.org.