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Southern Urbanisms

Selected Projects

This strand focuses on the spatial practices of the prevalent mode of urbanisation, reframing ‘informality’, to understand the uneven geographies of urbanisation. An example of this is the project ‘GREAT: Gridding Equitable Urban Futures in Areas of Transition’, funded by UKRI-GCRF, which seeks to understand the ways in which being on- and off-grid provides an opportunity to rethink the relationship between people and urban infrastructure in Cali, Colombia and Havana, Cuba. As Co-I, I have contributed to the creation of an interdisciplinary space to think and input public policy on self-built neighbourhoods called Populab.  The studies and protocols produced by the team have been the basis for the legalisation of 4 neighbourhoods in Cali.  Our policy brief on ‘Comprehensive Habitat Upgrading As A Strategy For The Transition Towards Urban Territorial Peace’ and the legal advocacy strategy has influenced the approval of Neighbourhoods of Peace as a national-level program contained in the National Development Plan of Colombia (Art 296). Based on my learnings, I have contributed to framing theoretically the nexus between spatial and restorative justice introducing the concept of territorial healing with the article Territorial healing: A spatial spiral weaving transformative reparation (in Planning Theory). 

Advocacy in times of crisis is key in the practice of this strand. For instance, I am PI of the project ‘Yangon Stories: Framing Living Heritage as Tool to Prevent Spatial violence’, funded by the British Academy, aimed at documenting longitudinally the spatial violence in the city. Given the changing political context in Myanmar, the project attempts to mobilise action against further spatial violence. Our reports on the ‘Violations of the Right to Adequate Housing after the Coup’, have influenced the statement from the High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights. Likewise our report on ‘Forced Evictions of Squatters during the Coup in Hlaing Thayar, Yangon’ have contributed to a general understanding of the escalation of evictions in the news outlet The Guardian.

Related Work