Make sure to follow @valspacepower.bsky.social for future updates, and also check out the rest of the @sheffieldurbanism.bsky.social summer program!

Successfully co-organized a 2-day workshop on the theme of Valuation, Space & Power this week, bringing together a brilliant group of scholars in Sheffield. Thank you to all the participants and fellow organizers @callumny.bsky.social @richmgoulding.bsky.social @adamleaver.bsky.social & Dan Tischer!

And Michaela Hamilton, University of Sussex. Her research explores monetary policy in a fascinating paper that examines calculative practices in the mortgage markets as an 'anchor' for statecraft

Siyue Wang, City University of Hong Kong, who discussed the curation of value through the strategic deployment of contemporary art as a means to boost the value of real estate

Logging in again to make sure we give shout-outs to two more paper presenters for whom we unfortunately didn't get pics!

This week, I was in Sheffield for the WS on @valspacepower.bsky.social. Met many ECRs interested in how economic value is constructed, where it is located, and who captures it. Thanks to Callum Ward, @adamleaver.bsky.social, @richmgoulding.bsky.social and @eyeofraf.bsky.social for the organisation!

This was such a fun and stimulating workshop. Thank you to the whole organisational team and all the presenters - I learnt lots and enjoyed my trip to Sheffield 🙏

That's a wrap for today after two days of great papers by keynotes and early career researchers. Watch this space, and follow @sheffieldurbanism.bsky.social for their summer programme over the coming two weeks!

And to round off our workshop, our own Rafaella Lima @eyeofraf.bsky.social presented her research on real estate wealth chains in Belgium and Portugal

Hannah Sender presents her research

Hannah Sender also presented her research on financial assets in the context of domicide through Israeli violence in Lebanon

In our other breakout session, we had Andreas Kanaris Miyashiro on valuation and financial fragility

Gustav Kalm presenting his paper

This paper critically draws on Katharina Pistor's work in exploring the multiple legal and customary property forms that shape rights to assets at different scales

Gustav Kalm presenting a paper

Gustav Kalm presents his paper, 'Who owns the Simandou Mountain, and to what effect?', exploring the legal infrastructures that underpin the leverage of mining rights in Guinea

Ana Ligia Magalhães delivering a paper presentation

Up next we have Ana Ligia Magalhães, carrying on the infrastructural theme through an analysis of subordinate financialisation and PPP risk management in Brazil

Zhengli Huang delivering a paper presentation

In our final afternoon breakout session, Zhengli Huang from @sheffieldurbanism.bsky.social presents her research on contested values within global infrastructure corridors

Emanuele Sciuva delivering a paper presentation

And Emanuele Sciuva from the Politecnico di Torino discussing his paper 'Siliconizing Lisbon: Arbitrage and Value Extraction in the Making of a Nomadland'

Niall Docherty delivering a paper presentation

From yesterday we also had the University of Sheffield's Niall Docherty discussing user habits and digital platforms

Sarah Hall giving a lecture

Drawing on Alami and Dixon's critical reading of state capitalism literature, Sarah Hall argues for the need to explore how state action and finance shape one another in different domains

Sarah Hall giving a lecture

After lunch, Sarah Hall @drsarahhall.bsky.social in our final plenary is arguing for the need to take borders seriously as a missing analytical category in the spatialisation of finance

A panel discussion

Some fascinating links between interlegality and the role of law being drawn across all four papers in the panel discussion

A panel discussion

Some fascinating links between interlegality and the role of law being drawn across all four papers in the panel discussion

Sara Bencekovic presenting her paper

Finally for this morning's session we have Sara Bencekovic from Luxembourg's Fincity project discussing anthropological theories of value as a site of conflict

Clare Debucquois explaining green bonds

For instance, measurements used to calculate 'green' bonds can detach projects from their context and purpose

Claire Debucquios presenting her paper on 'green slicing the amazon'

Claire Debucquois presenting her paper on 'green slicing' the Amazon, exploring how legal and accounting rules elevate proxy measures for sustainability that obscure other forms of accountability

Amazing opening keynote yesterday by Mary Robertson at our 2-day Valuation, Space and Power workshop!

Maria Cariola presenting her research

Now Maria Cariola Eriksson is discussing how the legal 'fixing' of value is co-constitutuve with processes of extraction, using the example of green transitions in Chile

Annika Reinke presenting a paper

In our first paper session, Annika Reinke is presenting her research on climate adaptation and disaster risk management

Valbona tracing the origins of international investment law to control over what was once the most important asset, land, in encounters between the 'west' and colonial 'others'

Valbona Muzaka giving a lecture on the social underpinnings of international investment law

Starting our second day with an opening talk by Valbona Muzaka of Uppsala University on how assets are made through the 'alchemy' of international investment law

A q&a following Adam Leaver's keynote

That's a wrap for today. We'll be back for the second day tomorrow to hear from Valbona Muzaka of Uppsala University on public policy and the asset form