The Neil Smith tribute organized by Espais Crítics is approaching and I am thrilled to join the event tomorrow, as it will be a great opportunity not only to enjoy the interesting set of selected papers (full program here) and participate in a series of visits exploring the gentrification of Barcelona’s historic center, but also to meet some good old friends and catch up with the group’s research on the spatial challenges of the global crisis. I am going back to some of the keynote speakers’ contributions this weekend, especially by Eric Clark and Tom Slater whom I will interview at some point of the conference for the Espais Crítics project. Both Clark’s and Slater’s interventions on gentrification are inspiring —although very different in their personal approaches, eg see Clark’s pieces here and here, and Slater’s here and here— but the warm up for the event has been an opportunity to discover other facets of these authors I didn’t know, such as Clark’s critique of the greenwashing and eco-branding of Scandinavian cities (here) or Slater’s account of the 2011 urban riots in England (here).

In addition to Clark and Slater, Luz Marina Garcia Herrera and Fernando Sabaté Bel will use their intervention tomorrow evening to present their monograph on Neil Smith for Icaria’s Espacios Críticos book series. And, of course, Don Mitchell will close the events at MACBA on Tuesday evening. The presentations will be live-streamed here, so stay tuned!