Dr Juan Miguel Kanai

School of Geography and Planning

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography

Miguel Kanai profile photo
Profile picture of Miguel Kanai profile photo
miguel.kanai@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 7940
C5a, Geography and Planning Building

Full contact details

Dr Juan Miguel Kanai
School of Geography and Planning
C5a
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
Profile

J. Miguel Kanai is an urban geographer. His work engages the urbanisation of the world under contemporary globalised capitalism. He is specifically concerned with the consequences of intensified inter-territorial competition and the various entrepreneurial strategies adopted by cities and regions in the global South as these are pressured to achieve economic upgrading and provide world-class infrastructure amidst unmet social needs and political contentiousness.

His previously published work includes multiple peer-reviewed articles in international geography and interdisciplinary journals taking stock of the consequences and motivations of culture-led regeneration schemes in Buenos Aires, Argentina as well as the rise of eco-entrepreneurialism in the Brazilian state of Amazonas and the urban and regional implications of Manaus rise as a city with global aspirations. He has also published collaborative work questioning urban entrepreneurial strategies in the United States and Morocco, and is currently engaged in a bibliometric project taking stock of the cosmopolitan turn in urban globalization research since the turn of the twenty-first century.

Before moving to the University of Sheffield, he taught at the University of Miami (2008-2015) and was a research officer at the London School of Economics affiliated with the Urban Age project (2005-2006). His teaching experience also includes short-term appointments in planning departments at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Southern California as well as international experience lecturing at the Federal University of Amazonas (Brazil) and Henan University (Peoples Republic of China). He holds a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles (2008).

His paper Paving (through) Amazonia: neoliberal urbanism and the reperipheralization of Roraima (Environment and Planning A) co-authored with the late Rafael da Silva Oliveira received an Ashby Prize in 2014.

Research interests
  • Neoliberal Urbanism
  • City-regional Politics and Regional Development in the Global South
  • The Urbanisation of the world
  • The Cosmopolitan Turn in Urban Globalisation Research
     
Publications

Books

  • Mar穩n JJ, L籀pez-Lizarazo LM, Ruiz-Galvan A, Bishop ML, D穩az-Arevalo JM, Kanai JM, Lombard M, Rushton S, Shesterinina A, Staples H & Turton HL (2023) Participating in peace: violence, development and dialogue in Colombia. Bristol University Press.

Journal articles

  • Blanco J & Kanai JM (2025) Neoliberalization, infrastructure-led development and the questioning of the State: Pointers for the analysis of the Argentina Grande Public Works Plan. Revista De Geografia Norte Grande(92).
  • Kanai JM, Fabio V, Mir獺s M & Gastiarena L (2024) . Sustainability, 16(16).
  • Kumar A, Butcher S, Hammett D, Barragan-Contreras S, Burns V, Chesworth O, Cooper G, Kanai JM, Mottram H, Poveda S & Richardson P (2024) . International Development Planning Review, 46(2), 227-242.
  • Wild T, Baptista M, Wilker J, Kanai JM, Giusti M, Henderson H, Rotbart D, Amaya Espinel J-D, Hernandez Garcia J, Thomasz O & Kozak D (2024) . Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 91.
  • Schindler S, Kanai JM & Diaz Bay J (2023) . Urban Studies.
  • Barrera V, L籀pez C獺rdenas MB, Staples H & Kanai M (2022) . Political Geography, 98.
  • Redondo Berm繳dez MDC, Kanai JM, Astbury J, Fabio V & Jorgensen A (2022) . Sustainability, 14(7).
  • Kanai JM & Schindler S (2022) . Urban Studies, 59(8), 1597-1617.
  • Schindler S & Kanai JM (2021) . Regional Studies, 55(1), 40-51.
  • Diaz JM, Staples H, Kanai JM & Lombard M (2021) . Geoforum, 118, 106-116.
  • Schindler S, Gillespie T, Banks N, Bay覺rba MK, Burte H, Kanai JM & Sami N (2020) . Area Development and Policy, 5(3), 283-304.
  • Fabio V, Kanai JM & Astbury J (2020) . 4D Journal of Landscape Architecture and Garden Art, 38(55-56), 54-64.
  • Kanai JM & Schindler S (2019) . Environment and Planning A: international journal of urban and regional research, 51(2), 302-322.
  • Schindler S & Kanai JM (2018) . International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 42(5), 828-844.
  • Kanai JM, Grant R & Jianu R (2018) . Urban Studies , 55(12), 2569-2585.
  • Kanai JM (2016) . Geoforum, 69, 160-170.
  • Kanai JM & Kenttamaa-Squires K (2015) . Urban Geography, 36(3), 385-402.
  • Clement D & Kanai M (2015) . American Behavioral Scientist, 59(3), 369-385.
  • Kanai JM (2014) . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 32(6), 1071-1087.
  • Kanai M (2014) . Urban Geography, 35(8), 1111-1117.
  • Kanai JM (2014) . Antipode, 47(3), 652-670.
  • Miguel Kanai J (2014) . Geoforum, 56, 1-5.
  • Kanai JM & da Silva Oliveira R (2014) . Environment and Planning A, 46(1), 62-77.
  • Kanai JM (2014) . Urban Studies, 51(11), 2387-2405.
  • Kanai JM & Kutz W (2013) . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 31(1), 80-98.
  • Kanai JM, Oliveira RDS & Silva PRDF (2012) . Sociedade & Natureza, 24(1), 67-81.
  • Kanai JM (2011) . Political Geography, 30(4), 225-235.
  • KANAI M & KUTZ W (2011) . Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 102(3), 346-360.
  • Kanai JM (2010) . Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 42(8), 1887-1901.
  • KANAI M & ORTEGAALCZAR I (2009) . International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33(2), 483-501.
  • Kanai JM (2009) . Bulletin of Latin American Research, 28(3), 441-443.
  • Vidosa R, Kanai JM & Armas-D穩az A () . Scripta Nova. Revista Electr籀nica de Geograf穩a y Ciencias Sociales, 29(2).

Book chapters

  • Kanai JM & Schindler S (2023) , The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Global Urban Studies (pp. 452-463). Routledge
  • (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. 57-82). Bristol University Press
  • (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. vii-viii). Bristol University Press
  • Jaramillo-Mar穩n J, L籀pez-Lizarazo LM, Ruiz-Galvan A, Bishop ML, D穩az-Ar矇valo JM, Kanai JM, Lombard M, Rushton S, Shesterinina A, Shesterinina A & Turton HL (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. 1-10). Policy Press
  • (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. 1-10). Bristol University Press
  • Jaramillo-Mar穩n J, L籀pez-Lizarazo LM, Ruiz-Galvan A, Bishop ML, D穩az-Ar矇valo JM, Kanai JM, Lombard M, Rushton S, Shesterinina A, Shesterinina A & Turton HL (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. 83-116). Policy Press
  • (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. 11-35). Bristol University Press
  • Jaramillo-Mar穩n J, L籀pez-Lizarazo LM, Ruiz-Galvan A, Bishop ML, D穩az-Ar矇valo JM, Kanai JM, Lombard M, Rushton S, Shesterinina A, Shesterinina A & Turton HL (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. 57-82). Policy Press
  • Jaramillo-Mar穩n J, L籀pez-Lizarazo LM, Ruiz-Galvan A, Bishop ML, D穩az-Ar矇valo JM, Kanai JM, Lombard M, Rushton S, Shesterinina A, Shesterinina A & Turton HL (2023) , Participating in Peace (pp. 11-35). Policy Press
  • Jaramillo-Marin J, Mery Lopez-Lizarazo L, Ruiz-Galvan A, Bishop ML, Diaz-Arevalo JM, Kanai JM, Lombard M, Rushton S, Shesterinina A, Staples H & Turton HL (2023) PARTICIPATING IN PEACE Violence, Development and Dialogue in Colombia Introduction, PARTICIPATING IN PEACE (pp. 1-+).
  • Kanai JM (2020) , International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (pp. 159-162). Elsevier
  • Kanai JM & Schindler S (2018) Regional urbanization: Emerging approaches and debates, Handbook on the Geographies of Regions and Territories (pp. 322-331).
  • Schindler S, Kanai JM & Rwehumbiza D (2018) The twenty-first century rediscovery of regional planning in the global south, Handbook on the Geographies of Regions and Territories (pp. 346-357).

Dictionary or encyclopaedia entries

  • Kanai JM (2025) . In Latin American Geographies Routledge.
  • Kanai JM (2015) . In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences Elsevier.

Datasets

  • Gorrell G, Maynard D, Bakir M, Kanai J, Temple L, Harrison J & Bontcheva K .
Teaching interests

J. Miguel Kanai teaches concentrates within the International Development cluster and his teaching interests include the following:

  • Urbanisation, Development and the Environment
  • Research Methods
  • International Field Courses
  • Development in Practice