The potential for and politics of just transitions
My research examines the politics of and pathways to "just" urban sustainability transitions, which I define as the social, political and economic transformations required to create spaces and structures that can facilitate both social justice and ecosystem health. I tackle this research agenda by (a) studying the cultural and democratic politics of public policies and community initiatives that seek to “green” lifestyles and the urban environments and spaces they are embedded in, particularly in the mega-cities of the global south, and (b) combining critical insights with practitioner knowledge to explore how we can accelerate transitions to more sustainable global urbanisms.
My research is critical, participatory and solution-oriented in that I work alongside communities who are trying to address local environmental and social justice issues. As part of my ethnographic research in Bangalore, I worked with Hasirudala, a waste picker cooperative, and a number of neighborhood associations. I cultivated enduring relationships with these communities and continue to collaborate with them on grant-writing, media, and outreach. Transdisciplinary, community-engaged research is often able to produce more contextually-relevant and practicable insights than traditional research. For example, my community-engaged research in Bangalore, India, which examined a transitions movement in solid waste management from multiple points of view, was pivotal in helping identify and formalize alliances between middle class environmentalists and waste picker advocacy groups.
I am also beginning a new strand of research that looks at sustainable well-being in cities. You can also explore the links below to see some of my non-academic writing and some profiles of my research.
Non-academic writing by me
Segregation- a core concept in discard studies. Co-written article in the Discard studies compendium, written with Aman Luthra
In Bangalore, crisis in waste management forces change. My article in The Hindu about Bangalore's waste crisis and lessons for other cities
A day in the life of a waste picker. My article in The Alternative about waste work and waste picker rights
Talking waste with pourakarmikas, My article in The Alternative about what Bangalore's sanitation and conservancy workers think of the zero waste movement
Articles about my research
A politics of possibility. A blogpost on my research written by Liz Ivkovich of the Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah
Its not easy being green. UC Berkeley's Social Science Matrix profile's my research in Bangalore
Videos of lectures
Critical Sustainable Consumption: A transformative research agenda. My talk at the Sociological Forum hosted by the Institute for Sociological Research, University of Geneva, May 2019
Class, poverty and urban sustainability in Bangalore, India, University of Utah, Global Change and Sustainability Seminar Series, Salt Lake City, November 2016, A write-up of my talk here
Opening plenary of the International Conference on Sustainable Lifestyles, Livelihoods and the Circular Economy, that I co-chaired. Hosted by the Institute for Development Studies and the University of Sussex, June 2017
Segregation- a core concept in discard studies. Co-written article in the Discard studies compendium, written with Aman Luthra
In Bangalore, crisis in waste management forces change. My article in The Hindu about Bangalore's waste crisis and lessons for other cities
A day in the life of a waste picker. My article in The Alternative about waste work and waste picker rights
Talking waste with pourakarmikas, My article in The Alternative about what Bangalore's sanitation and conservancy workers think of the zero waste movement
Articles about my research
A politics of possibility. A blogpost on my research written by Liz Ivkovich of the Global Change and Sustainability Center, University of Utah
Its not easy being green. UC Berkeley's Social Science Matrix profile's my research in Bangalore
Videos of lectures
Critical Sustainable Consumption: A transformative research agenda. My talk at the Sociological Forum hosted by the Institute for Sociological Research, University of Geneva, May 2019
Class, poverty and urban sustainability in Bangalore, India, University of Utah, Global Change and Sustainability Seminar Series, Salt Lake City, November 2016, A write-up of my talk here
Opening plenary of the International Conference on Sustainable Lifestyles, Livelihoods and the Circular Economy, that I co-chaired. Hosted by the Institute for Development Studies and the University of Sussex, June 2017
