Jennifer Robinson is a professor of Urban Geography at the University Collage London. She is author of Ordinary Cities (Routledge, 2006), which offers a critique of urban studies from the point of view of cities in poorer countries. Her work challenges the conventional divide between western and ‘Third world’ cities, and argues for a truly cosmopolitan approach to understanding cities. Her empirical research has been focussed on South Africa, including studies of segregation and state power, and the politics of urban development.