Brenner, Neil 1969(?)–

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1969. Education: Yale University, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1991; University of Chicago, M.A. (political science), 1993, Ph.D., 1999; University of California at Los Angeles, M.A. (geography), 1996. Hobbies and other interests: Long-distance running, marathons.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Sociology/Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, Puck Bldg., 295 Lafayette St., 4th Fl., New York, NY 10012-9605. E-mail—neil.brenner@nyu.edu.

CAREER:

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, departments of sociology and political science, lecturer, 1997; Columbia University, New York, NY, Graduate School of Architecture, Urban Planning and Preservation, adjunct assistant professor, 2003; New York University, New York, NY, departments of sociology and social and cultural analysis, assistant professor, 1999-2005, associate professor, 2005-06, professor of sociology and metropolitan studies, 2007—, director of the metropolitan studies program. Previously served as a visiting professor at several universities, including the University of Bristol in England, the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, and the University of Urbino in Italy; has presented at numerous conferences and lectures around the world.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright Scholarship, Division of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany, 1991-92; Bundeskanzler Fellowship/Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, 1997-98; Donald Robertson Memorial Prize, awarded by the editorial board of Urban Studies, 1999; James Bryant Conant Fellowship in German and European Studies, Harvard University, 2000-01.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Nik Theodore) Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe, Blackwell (Boston, MA), 2002.

(Editor) State/Space: A Reader, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 2003.

New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

(Editor) The Global Cities Reader, Routledge (New York, NY), 2006.

Chief editor of the Studies in Urban and Social Change series, Blackwell (Boston, MA); serves on the editorial boards for International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Studies, Urban Affairs Review, European Journal of Urban and Regional Studies, and the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economies and Societies. Contributor to various academic journals, including the American Journal of Sociology, European Urban and Regional Studies, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Affairs Review, and Theory and Society.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sociologist, writer, and educator Neil Brenner earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale University, graduating summa cum laude. From there he continued on with his education, earning a master's degree in political science from the University of Chicago, followed by a second master's degree, this time from the University of California in Los Angeles, in geography. Brenner returned to the University of Chicago to complete his doctorate, earning his Ph.D. in political science in 1999. Brenner serves as a professor of sociology and metropolitan studies, as well as the director of the metropolitan studies program, at New York University (NYU). Prior to his tenure at NYU, he spent time as a lecturer at the University of Chicago, and also taught classes at Columbia University and Bard College. Brenner has also served as a visiting professor at a number of universities in Europe, including the University of Bristol in England, the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, and the University of Urbino in Italy. His primary areas of research and academic interest include the development of global and comparative urban, suburban, and metropolitan regional areas; sociospatial theory; state theory; critical urban theory; comparative-historical political economy and sociology; globalization studies; and neoliberalization. Brenner has written and edited books about global spaces and about the ways in which they are planned and maintained.

Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe, which Brenner edited, is the first volume in the proposed "Antipode Book Series." It attempts to provide readers with a new approach to recent and ongoing transformations of the modern urban landscape. The book collects eleven essays, each of which addresses and analyzes a different aspect of urban transformations, paying particular attention to the social and economic details of these changes. There is a definite overriding feeling of negativity and concern regarding the subject, with most of the essays suggesting that the majority of these urban transformations are not for the better. The book's three sections focus on theory, the effect of state regulations on geography, and various case studies that provide examples of social exclusion, a lack of justice, and poor economic conditions resulting from the changes to the urban landscape. Wieslaw Michalak, writing for the Canadian Geographer, suggested that "the critical theorising presented in this volume is probably not radical enough to be able to cope with the real existing world of the twenty-first century."

State/Space: A Reader, for which Brenner also served as editor, is a collection of essays that seek to give readers a coherent overview of various debates pertaining to the political state and to the geographical and political theories that result. The book includes several works that address the resurgence of Marxist theories of political economy as applied to geographical debates, as well as the perspectives of a number of other political and social theorists, including Foucault, Derrida, and Spivak. At the same time, the essays maintain and elaborate upon other theories that had faded with the resurgence of Marxist thought, such as theories of social, economic, cultural, environmental, and urban geography. Corporate agendas pushed out political considerations, and the economics related to geography began to receive more pressure from capitalist interests. The essays in this book analyze these shifts in priorities and motivations, following the politics and theories of geography up to current debates and their relationship to the state as a whole. Peter O. Muller, in a review for the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, remarked of the book that the "reassertion of the power of political analysis and the need for a serious engagement with the political moment in any attempt to excavate the changing realities of everyday life (as geographers claim to do) makes this a very valuable and welcome book."

In his work New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood, Brenner gives readers an in-depth look at the ways in which capitalism has affected the structure of the state as a whole, and how it has influenced its more recent development. Brenner takes a more modern approach to his subject than is traditional, addressing individual social phenomena and determining how they affect the whole. This system is in direct contrast to the usual method, which involves dividing labor in a disciplined manner. Brenner's theoretical argument is based on two basic premises. He maintains that regions centered in cities have become major sites of power on a national level, dividing the power among them as opposed to focusing it entirely in a few key locations. From there, he theorizes that these regions have thereby become far more influential when it comes to affecting and altering urban policies on the national level. He also believes that this process has been encouraged by globalization, which gives the various nation-states greater access to the worldwide arena. Jeffrey D. Hilmer, writing for Perspectives on Political Science, opined that "Brenner's postdisciplinary approach undoubtedly will attract the attention of scholars in diverse disciplines. With some luck, it may also inspire them to adopt a similarly holistic approach." Deborah G. Martin, in a review for Economic Geography, had mixed feelings regarding the book, stating that "Brenner's argument relies upon a synthesis of theoretical propositions that are derived from existing scholarship, described in perhaps overly exhaustive detail. Each chapter contains its own theoretical argument (essentially a literature review) and historical context. The result is at times dense and overly detailed—even repetitive—but also frequently intellectually stimulating." She concluded that the work "fosters the critical intellectual work that is needed to understand political, economic, and social transformations in a globally restructuring world."

Brenner also edited The Global Cities Reader, which looks at the up-and-coming cities of the world and how their development and increase in prominence is affecting the global landscape as a whole. The volume extends the theory that cities are affected by outside events, to a more encompassing idea that cities are actually both defined and transformed by what is happening around them on a global level. Peter J. Taylor, writing for the Journal of the American Planning Association, remarked that "the volume is intended as an ‘intellectual starting point’ …, which makes it immensely useful not only for urban studies students but also for urban professionals who wish to update their more formal understanding of the city."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journal of Sociology, November 1, 2003, David Brady, review of Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Western Europe, p. 757.

Annals of the Association of American Geographers Web site, March, 2004, Peter O. Muller, review of State/Space: A Reader, p. 228.

Canadian Geographer, June 22, 2006, Wieslaw Michalak, review of Spaces of Neoliberalism, p. 268.

Contemporary Sociology, July 1, 2003, review of State/Space, p. 535; January 1, 2006, Francesco Duina, review of New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood, p. 56.

Economic Geography, January 1, 2006, Deborah G. Martin, review of New State Spaces, p. 113.

Journal of Economic and Social Geography, May, 2007, Nico Giersig, review of New State Spaces, pp. 298-300.

Journal of the American Planning Association, January 1, 2007, Peter J. Taylor, review of The Global Cities Reader, p. 131.

Perspectives on Political Science, March 22, 2005, Jeffrey D. Hilmer, review of New State Spaces, p. 116.

Political Geography, February 1, 2004, Unna Lassiter, review of Spaces of Neoliberalism, p. 226.

Progress in Human Geography, February, 2007, Jon Coaffee, review of The Global Cities Reader, pp. 118-120.

Urban Geography, August 16, 2006, Linda McCarthy, review of The Global Cities Reader, p. 581.

ONLINE

American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Web site,http://www.americanfriends-of-avh.org/ (June 16, 2008), author profile.

New York University Sociology Department Web site,http://sociology.fas.nyu.edu/ (June 16, 2008), faculty profile.