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Scholar-Activism and the Value of Insider-Outsider Status
Public Talk by Loretta Lees as Part of the GSZ ‘Think & Drink Colloquium’
In this talk, Loretta Lees discusses her choice to be a scholar-activist from fairly early on in her academic career, exploring why she chose this route and how she came to—and "does"—scholar-activism. She examines key approaches central to scholar-activism, such as undertaking "Engaged Dialogue," retaining an "insider-outsider" status, and, most recently, promoting "convergence" in research and practice. Drawing on real-life examples from her own work, Loretta Lees reflects on the responsibility and commitment that come with this approach and considers how we might—or might not—institutionalize it going forward.
Loretta Lees is Director of the Initiative on Cities at Boston University, USA. She is an urban geographer who is internationally known for her research on urban regeneration/revitalization/renewal, gentrification, global urbanism, urban policy, and urban social theory. In 2025 she was ranked in the top 1% of most highly cited social scientists internationally (Scopus, Elsevier). She was Chair of the London Housing Panel 2020-22 (https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/issues/housing/london-housing-panel/). In 2026 she was awarded the Patron’s Medal, Royal Geographical Society, UK; in 2025 the Contribution to the Field of Urban Affairs Award, Urban Affairs Association, USA; and in 2022 the Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award Urban Affairs Association, USA.
Twice a year, the Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) invites leading international scholars to give a public lecture as part of its current research programme “Collaborating with Society”, promoting dialogue on participatory and transdisciplinary research. This talk is jointly organized by the IRS and the Georg Simmel Center for Urban Studies (GSZ), hosted as part of the GSZ's 'Think & Drink Colloquium'.