Abstract Originating in the early 20th century, international education migration has undergone significant growth to become a sprawling industry responsible for managing substantial student mobility. This process encompasses more than just the students themselves, incorporating a diverse array of actors, regulations, and technologies. Within this multifaceted system, commercial brokers play a vital role by actively facilitating the intricate and interconnected interactions involved in international education migration. This review takes a critical look at the evolving role of commercial brokers in international student mobilities, with a particular focus on the COVID‐19 pandemic and its aftermath. Brokers are presented as key intermediaries, bridging the gap between state mechanisms and migrating students, and contributing significantly to economic development through education migration. The review explores the layered relationships between brokers and students, taking into account not only economic aspects but also the social, cultural, and interpersonal factors that shape these interactions. Additionally, it considers the impact of digital transformation on commercial brokers, revealing how digital platforms have necessitated a reevaluation of their roles in an increasingly globalized educational landscape. In underscoring the growing importance of commercial brokers in the post‐pandemic education‐migration landscape, the review concludes that brokerage is best conceived as a complex, technologically‐mediated social practice that bridges state policies, migrants' aspirations, and the overarching digital landscape.

Abstract Armed forces in urban areas are a very visible source of socio‐spatial and urban change. Even in contemporary cities ‘at peace’, this presence and ensuing changes can be wide‐ranging, evident across infrastructure, organisations, narratives of place, events, and everyday activities. Although over the past 2 decades critical military studies and urban geopolitics have explored some of these themes, an urban studies perspective on such military geographies in peacetime has elicited far less attention. The aim of this article is to open up opportunities for deeper conceptualisation and research on urban military geographies. This article establishes a dialogue between critical military studies and urban geopolitics, to review the different dimensions of the influence of a military presence in urban space, and to provide a synthesis of these two bodies of literature. Using Lefebvre's dialectical theory of spatial production, this review shows how cities can be privileged spaces for the reproduction of militarism and preparation for war. Moreover, it examines how the presence of military forces in peacetime can influence the material and immaterial production of urban space.

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No abstract is available for this article.

Abstract European colonialism sought to inscribe order and meaning on non‐European landscapes through the process of place naming. Naming or renaming was fundamental to the extension of imperial control over physical and human environments. This article offers a brief overview of the ways critical place name studies has addressed these colonial practices. In particular, the paper examines the power relationships inherent in place naming, asks questions about authority and authenticity in place naming, highlights the importance of sound in the performance of place names, and explores decolonial mapping practices as an opportunity to challenge neocolonial cartographies. I suggest that critical place name studies has been insufficiently attentive to orthography and that addressing the spelling of place names more directly offers important ways to understand how power and authority intersected with authenticity and reproducibility in colonial naming practices. I conclude by identifying the potential benefits to geographers of prioritising decolonial research by collaborating with indigenous peoples and incorporating indigenous practices within research.

No abstract is available for this article.

Abstract The term peri‐urbanization has been widely used to describe a range of different processes that transform rural areas to a mix of rural and urban spaces. Although there is a burgeoning literature on peri‐urbanization, the conceptual debate about peri‐urbanization's distinction from urbanization is rarely considered. It sometimes seems like whatever occurs at the urban periphery across the global south is labeled peri‐urbanization. This universalizing use of the term risks obscuring the existing diversities of rural‐to‐urban transformations. At the same time, it is empirically clear that the urban periphery of the global south hosts the most dynamic processes of urbanization in the contemporary world. It is also conceptually accepted that to better understand these diverse processes of urbanization, scholars must decenter global urban theory and build new vocabularies and theories from the south. Thus, there is doubt as to whether and to what extent a single concept like peri‐urbanization can capture the great diversity of rural‐to‐urban transformations across the global south. This critical review of the southern geographies of peri‐urbanization first identifies three interrelated conceptual vectors ( territorial , functional , and transitional ) for understanding the peri‐urban concept, and outlines recent developments in the field. Then, peri‐urbanization is reframed as an umbrella concept, which embraces multiple theoretical concepts and avoids the universalization inherent in much current usage. Finally, the paper reviews recent theoretical inquiries and new vocabularies of urbanization processes at the urban periphery, offering scope to theorize the heterogeneity of the geographies of peri‐urbanization in the global south.