Research Seminars @ Illinois

Tailored for undergraduate researchers, this calendar is a curated list of research seminars at the University of Illinois. Explore the diverse world of research and expand your knowledge through engaging sessions designed to inspire and enlighten.

To have your events added or removed from this calendar, please contact OUR at ugresearch@illinois.edu

GGIS Colloquium | Hidden Empire of Finance: How Wall Street Profits from our Cities and fuels Global Inequality

Feb 20, 2026   3:00 pm  
2049 Natural History Building and via Zoom
Sponsor
Geography & GIS
Speaker
Dr. Michael Goldman | Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota
Cost
This talk is free and open to the public with a Zoom option.
Registration
Zoom RSVP
Contact
Geography & GIS
E-Mail
geography@illinois.edu
Views
12
Originating Calendar
Geography & Geographic Information Science

Hidden Empire of Finance: How Wall Street Profits from our Cities and fuels Global Inequality
Prof. Goldman will present his new book Hidden Empire of Finance (Duke U Press, 2026) and explain the role of global finance in the worsening inequities in our cities. He will highlight why and how this recent phenomenon of “speculative urbanism” relies on dispossession and the racialization of institutional practices to fuel global finance's insatiable appetite, determining the ways cities across the global South and North are governed. If we have time, we can use this framing to help us understand some of the forces behind the siege of Minneapolis, a violent moment worth reflecting upon, as well as the powerful citywide response. 

Michael Goldman is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He is the author of Imperial Nature and the co-editor of The Social Lives of Land and Chronicles of a Global City, among others.

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