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Ben Rogers

@ben-rog.bsky.social
271 followers 231 following 57 posts

Urbanist & writer; Professor @UoL University of London; Distinguished Fellow @LSECities; Founding Director @CentreforLondon; Chair @DesignSouthEast. Interests include Citizenship, public realm, urban government and democracy, sustainable urbanism, London

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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Feel there is a really strong narrative that Burnham gov isn’t constructing abt rebalancing our lives away from screen to real social networks. We all know we spend too much time on phones. And we want stonger local communities. Would help frame support for high streets & measures against big tech.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
It’s going to bd good!
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
100th anniversary of General Strike tomorrow and thinking of my grandmother. She came from comfortable South London family but told me that seeing the anger of strikers on a picket line she passed on a bus made her think ‘there must be some justice to their cause’ and became a Labour supporter
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Pleased to have reviewed @brunoleipold.com and @stuartgwhite.bsky.social contributionsto the burgeoning field of civic republican political thought. Two very different books but both illustrate the importance of this tradition to our increasingly unequal times.
the-tls.com
The radical republican tradition
What does it mean to be a republican? In the US, it is to support the party of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. In the UK, it is to favour the abolition of
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
This is a wonderfully uplifting story about the radicalism of Glasgow but also the radicalism of streets
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
With a radical new Mayor in NYC, join us @LSE to discuss how to create fairer transport systems in large global cities. The Inclusive City: Transport Equity in New York and Londonhttps://www.lse.ac.uk/school-of-public-policy/events/2025-26/the-inclusive-city-transport-equity-in-new-york-and-london
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Call for papers: We're getting used to cities standing up to populists leaders. But what explains this & what intellectual, legal & political resources can they draw on in their fight? Delighted to be working w/ @mwojciechowska.bsky.social @jmchickson.bsky.social Joe Hoover. Apply: lnkd.in/ee3dkZj6
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Very annoying when a serious news outlet runs a story celebrating the design of a building without mentioning the architect. Happens the time yet too www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Leeds Uni lecture theatre block voted best city building
Leeds' Roger Stevens Building was chosen from a shortlist of 10, all built between 1965 and 2025.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Deadline approaching: Call for papers: The City as a Normative Political Space: Institutions, Relations, and Republicanism MANCEPT Workshop philevents.org/event/show/1...
philevents.org
MANCEPT Workshop: The City as a Normative Political Space: Institutions, Relations, and Republicanism
While mainstream political theory has long focused predominantly on the nation state, it has largely been silent about the city. Slowly, however, the city is gaining prominence in political theory, pa...
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
www.linkedin.com/posts/bromme...
linkedin.com
Private property you can and cannot store in public space. (By Dave… | Marco Te Brömmelstroet | 45 comments
Private property you can and cannot store in public space. (By Dave Walker) | 45 comments on LinkedIn
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Incredibly gratifying
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
As Americans take to the streets, a new piece by me on public protest as the last line of defence in the fight for #democracy #HandsOff2025
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Americans have a proud tradition of civil disobedience but not much experience of using the streets to defend democracy. That might have to change. One for @fromtga.bsky.social @lseusablog.bsky.social @gideonrachman.bsky.social @anneapplebaum.bsky.social
blogs.lse.ac.uk
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Yes to this
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
The rule of law is often described as democracy's last defence. Wrong. It's the public square. Just look at #Turkey Me, for @lseusablog.bsky.social blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Definitely more thinking to be done here. Obvious alternative would be to beef up powers of Assembly but easier to justify if Mayor gets more powers. Also councils should be careful what you wish for. If MCA’s are your model, gov might say, then let’s radically reduce # of London boroughs
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Some English peeps are getting jolly cross
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Reposted by Ben Rogers
Richard Brown @richardbrown.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
This is very good by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com. Also, the tasks that AI is taking over fastest (defined, complicated, programmable) are often those most easily performed from home, while the tasks that are more messy, complex, interactive may still be better in person/office. www.ft.com/content/471b...
ft.com
Why hasn’t AI taken your job yet?
New research shows ChatGPT’s inability to cope with ‘messy’ multitasking is still protecting some human workers
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Dr Balki Begum Bayhan @bbbayh.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Update from today’s #Turkey protests. Hundreds continue to protest across the country. Protests spreading fast & getting stronger despite harsh police response, including tear/pepper gas in Ankara & Istanbul. Protests not just in large cities but also conservative places like Konya & Trabzon.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Various books and articles i have done have been pilfered which is bad - but I also wish i could lay claim to the articles by some of the other Ben Rogerses - especially the astrophysicist
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
For female followers: this is bold!
bsky.app
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Stanley Pignal @spignal.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
I'm afraid I must inform you we are discussing Canadian membership of the EU again. NEARLY HALF OF CANADIANS SAY THEY WOULD SUPPORT JOINING THE EU.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Fun fact: the cost is of building a tunnel across the Thames is about the same as UK gov has given to help Ukraine.
ft.com
Lower Thames Crossing has cost £1.2bn even before construction starts
Outlay on items including consultants, planning and legal fees jumps from £800mn two years ago
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Reposted by Ben Rogers
Sandra Swart @wildpasts.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
I guess most grant proposals work out like this
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
I am not a big Oscars fan but delighted No Other Land won best documentary. And the acceptance speeches were a moment of hope when there is not much of that around youtu.be/6N3CUwe3LPA?...
youtu.be
Israeli Palestinian documentary 'No Other Land' wins Oscar
YouTube video by ynetnews
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
The official site for donations to Ukraine seems to be down I hope its because of surge in donations and not combined Russian-US cyber attack war.ukraine.ua/donate/
war.ukraine.ua
Donate to Ukraine’s defenders
The National Bank of Ukraine has decided to open a special fundraising account to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Feels like the US has crossed the Rubicon now this is Europe’s moment www.nytimes.com/video/us/pol...
nytimes.com
Video: Trump, Zelensky and Vance Argue Over Ukraine War
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance scolded President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine during a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, claiming he was not grateful enough for U.S. aid.
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Reposted by Ben Rogers
Anne Hidalgo @annehidalgo.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Ce soir plus que jamais aux côtés des ukrainiens et de Volodymyr Zelensky. Dans ces tempêtes où les vents mauvais soufflent forts, rassemblons nous derrière le président ukrainien. Il s’agit de nos valeurs, il s’agit de notre démocratie, il s’agit de notre liberté. Nous vaincrons. Slava ukraini !
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Lea Ypi @leaypi.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
I always struggle a little to explain my students why Marxists are right about freedom in the capitalist state. Jeff Bezos does it so much better.
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Reposted by Ben Rogers
Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
How strange it is to be alive when the USA jumped the shark.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Just watched this on Prime. It’s really powerful and in many ways universal story of expropriation and exile. It did not win at tonight’s BAFTAs. Hope it triumphs at Oscars.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Got to page 24 of today’s Guardian/observer and still no coverage of trump and US politics. Fog in Atlantic, world superpower cut of etc.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Parking policy: nothing more banal but few things more important to cities. This was a life professionally well lived.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
@nytimes.com doing its little bit to normalise ethnic cleansing here.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Things have really moved on since Putnam's Bowling Alone and not in a good way. This makes for very compelling reading.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
I appreciated @radio4rne.bsky.social World of Secrets series, exposing an abusive sexual cult disguised as a Yoga programme. But slightly alarmed to hear that one of the interviewees earned a living 'teaching students how to write in academic English'. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
World Of Secrets - The Bad Guru - The Bad Guru: 1. The Retreat - BBC Sounds
Miranda loves her new yoga school. But at its country retreat she gets a shock.
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Shayan Sardarizadeh @shayan86.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
I asked DeepSeek three questions: - How does China treat the Uyghur Muslims? - Is Taiwan part of China? - What happened in Tiananmen Square in the 1980s? Here are DeepSeek's answers:
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Am travelling from Dorset. Dystopian scenes in the Axe Valley #climatchange
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Bring them on so much better than driverless cars www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
‘Is that thing legal?’: trialling the Yo-Go on Britain’s most dangerous roundabout
A London council is introducing electric buggies to cut emissions on its roads, but are they a practical solution?
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
I missed #holocaustmemorial day yesterday but reposting this from what was for me Holocaust Memorial Two Days in Trieste last weekend.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
“The non-dom community …”
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Sartre: Napoleon was a madman who thought he was Napoleon. Been thinking of that since inauguration
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Honoured to attend ceremony in Trieste today to lay #stumblingstones in memory of relatives killed at Auschwitz. My grandmother’s uncle, aunt and 2 cousins, among others.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Much enjoyed this fine appreciation of #hannahArendt by @lyndseystonebri.bsky.social.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Struck by @bobbyduffy.bsky.social on @radio4rne.bsky.social this morning saying that 60% of public think Xmas too commercial - same as 50yrs ago. Encouraging to know non-commercial values not stronger but a depressing that we have not found way, collectively, to something better
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
On the #DevolutionWhitepaper, good to see that local government will no longer have to seek National government's consent before installing dropped curbs or constructing cattle grids.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
The record of the EU in stabilising, integrating and enriching new, poorer members, as outlined here, is deeply impressive. on.ft.com/3BQ2UmR
on.ft.com
The EU must build on past successes
As it faces fresh challenges, Europe should remember that neither economic integration nor convergence among member states was inevitable
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Ruination: Spell-binding retelling of Medea by #royalballet #lostdog #royaloperahouse. Tickets still available and quite affordable. Recommended.
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Ben Rogers @ben-rog.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
I would have thought young people write and read a lot more texts than they did 30 years ago
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