Miguel Robles-Duran is an urbanist and associate professor of Urbanism at The New School. His research areas include “Marxist Political-Economy, Urbanism, Equitable Housing, Public Infrastructure, Socially-Engaged Urban Practice, Eco-Socialism, [and] Cultural Politics.” ¹

Robles-Duran has also helped found several left-of-center and often Marxist-aligned groups, including a media organization called Politics in Motion, the Urban Front, The Shape of the Cities to Come Institute, and Cohabitation Strategies. Politics in Motion produces a podcast hosted by Robles-Duran and the group’s other co-founder, David Harvey. Cities After is a podcast hosted by Robles-Duran, which is described as “A radical exploration into the capitalist contradictions of our urban world, and the many anti-capitalist futures to come.” Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is a podcast that is hosted by Harvey and describes itself as a “Dialectical analyses of the capitalist totality through a Marxist lens.” ¹

Academic Positions

Miguel Robles-Duran is an urbanist and a tenured associate professor of Urbanism at The New School, where he began working in 2010. According to his faculty page, his research interest areas include “Urban Political-Ecology, Marxist Political-Economy, Urbanism, Critical Human Geography, Equitable Housing, Urban Theory, Urban Policy, Public Infrastructure, Urban Strategy, Socially-Engaged Urban Practice, Social Urbanism, Eco-Socialism, [and] Cultural Politics.” He is also the director of graduate programs for Urban Studies. Previously, he worked at the Berlage Institute in the Netherlands and at the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland. ¹

Robles-Duran has been a fellow at the Center for Urban Research on Austerity in Leicester, England. From 2014 to 2017, he also co-directed the National Center for the Right to the Territory in Ecuador, an organization he helped found with David Harvey. ^{1 2}

Advocacy Organizations

Robles-Duran is also a founding board member of The Shape of Cities to Come Institute and a co-founder of Cohabitation Strategies, a group that used “anti-capitalist methodologies to expose, challenge, and subvert the forces of speculative urbanization, financialization, and displacement.” In 2021, the organization dissolved and was effectively replaced by the Urban Front. ³

Robles-Duran, together with David Harvey, established the Urban Front, a consultancy agency with a presence in South America, North America, and Europe. The group claims that it is concerned with the “fair distribution of prosperity, rights, and power across all social, gender, and class groups in society.” The group advocates for the critical race theory-influenced concept of equity, portraying “equitable and socio-ecological development” as one of its values. ^{4 5}

Politics In Motion

Politics In Motion is a media group founded by Robles-Duran and David Harvey. The organization describes itself as “an anti-capitalist media cooperative” that is concerned with social and environmental issues. ^{1 6}

Cities After is a podcast hosted by Robles-Duran, which was co-produced by Democracy@Work before being taken over by Politics in Motion. The show’s description is “A radical exploration into the capitalist contradictions of our urban world, and the many anti-capitalist futures to come.” ⁷

Anti-Capitalist Chronicles is a podcast that is hosted by Harvey, which was co-produced by Democracy@Work before being taken over by Politics in Motion. The show describes itself as providing “Dialectical analyses of the capitalist totality through a Marxist lens.” ⁷

Other broadcasts include Mercado Popular hosted by Professor Ana Rodriguez-Ludena and Cultural Counterpower hosted by Laura Raicovich.  ⁷

1. “Faculty.” Miguel Robles-Duran | Parsons School of Design. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/faculty/miguel-robles-duran/.
2. “Miguel Robles-Durán.” Urban Front. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.urban-front.com/miguel-robles-durn.
3. “About.” Cohabitation Strategies. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.cohstra.org/?page_id=8.
4. ^[1] “Faculty.” Miguel Robles-Duran | Parsons School of Design. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/faculty/miguel-robles-duran/.
5. “Urban Front.” Urban Front. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.urban-front.com/.
6. “Anti-Capitalist Media.” Politics In Motion. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.politicsinmotion.org/.
7. “Broadcasts.” Politics In Motion. Accessed February 27, 2026. https://www.politicsinmotion.org/broadcasts.