Research
My current research is developed largely through the Centre for the Just City, which I co-founded at TU Delft in 2022. Below: the projects currently active, followed by an archive of earlier funded work.
Current projects
European-funded consortia, books and policy partnerships, each developing a distinct angle of my work on spatial justice, governance and urban planning.
UP2030
Urban Planning & Design Ready for 2030
UP2030 supports cities in driving the socio-technical transitions required to meet climate-neutrality targets through urban planning and design. I lead the work package on the spatial-justice framework and the benchmarking of carbon-neutrality strategies, with Juliana Gonçalves, Marcin Dąbrowski and Hugo Lopez.
ENGAGED
The Equity Nexus of Governance, Adaptation Planning & Design for Urban Climate Resilience
ENGAGED investigates how cities can adapt to climate change in ways that are not only effective but equitable. Working with municipalities, community groups, knowledge institutes and practitioners across the Netherlands, the project integrates social vulnerability, participation and climate justice into adaptation governance, planning and design. I lead the work package on stakeholder engagement, developing participatory methods for equitable climate adaptation.
Insurgent Planning Practice
Co-edited with Gabriel Silvestre, Agenda Publishing, 2024
Eleven chapters from contributors working in diverse socio-political contexts ask what insurgent planning practice looks like on the ground, how radical planners cope with technocratic norms, and how everyday practice can advance democratisation and the right to the city.
UfM Urban Agenda
Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040 for the Mediterranean
The UfM Urban Agenda operationalises the Union for the Mediterranean’s commitment to sustainable urbanisation, adopted by ministers of UfM member states at the Second UfM Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Urban Development in Cairo, May 2017. I co-authored the resulting Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040 with Carola Hein and Remon Rooij (TU Delft), published in July 2021 in institutional partnership with UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and with financial support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A companion Housing Action Plan was developed with housing consultant Julie Lawson (RMIT).
Past projects & funding
Earlier funded research, fellowships and grants, in reverse chronological order.
AMBITION: AMBassadors for Sustainable Transition
Erasmus+ PhD-education programme led by Politecnico di Milano, building capacity for evidence-based research on sustainable development and green technology, with partners across Europe and Africa (RWTH Aachen, Chalmers, TU Delft, KNUST, Strathmore University) and associate partners including ETH Zurich.
COMENIUS — Bridge DOCS
With Igor Pessoa: a Comenius Teaching Fellowship project (€50,000, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) connecting on-campus Urbanism students with participants in the MOOC “Rethink the City”.
COHESIFY
Horizon 2020-funded research into citizens’ awareness of EU Cohesion Policy and regional identification with the European Union, with a consortium of eight universities and two SMEs. TU Delft team: Marcin Dąbrowski, Ana Maria Fernandez Maldonado, Bardia Mashhoodi, Vincent Nadin, Roberto Rocco, Marjolein Spaans, Dominic Stead and Wil Zonneveld.
The Political Meaning of Informal Urbanisation
Book project arising from the Research Group International Development, co-led with Ana Maria Fernandez Maldonado at the Department of Urbanism, TU Delft.
Planning for Energy-Smart Cities
FP7-funded project led by the city of Eskilstuna, Sweden, with a consortium of municipalities and universities. Contributed to Work Package 4 (University of Copenhagen, led by Christian Fertner), responsible for the Stoke-on-Trent case study.
University of Hertfordshire
Assistant researcher, Social Sciences Arts and Humanities Research Institute, investigating design and creative practice in relation to academic research traditions. Funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Doctoral research, TU Delft
Fully funded doctoral programme. Thesis: “An Urban Geography of Globalisation: New Urban Structures in the Age of Hyper-Connectivity”.
Alfa Fellowship
Postgraduate research scholarship at TU Delft, funded under the European Union–Latin America Alfa programme of the European Commission’s Development and Cooperation programme.
Masters programme, FAUUSP
Full scholarship for the postgraduate masters programme at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo, supervised by Professor Sueli R. Schiffer and funded by FAPESP, the São Paulo Research Foundation.
Scientific Initiation Bursary, FAUUSP
Research assistant to Professor Maria Cecilia França Lourenço (History of Art) under the CNPq national programme for young researchers, Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development.
For collaborations, consortium enquiries or PhD supervision, see the Contact page.
Leave a Reply