Poverty in and unsustainability of urban areas in the Global South has been a major challenge to researchers and policy makers for a very long time. International and national urban policies still tend to operate at a very general level with policy makers having limited knowledge about the unequal distribution of opportunities, benefits, and harm within the urban population. Understanding of urbanisation is fragmented and research overwhelmingly focuses on conditions of slums at the expense of investigating specific local social, economic, and physical structures, and how they are changing, especially at the neighbourhood level. 

Sustainability, prosperity, and resilience of cities, countries, and the world as a whole can only be achieved if we have a holistic and in-depth understanding of the complex issues we are dealing with, why they exist, and how they can be addressed effectively. We argue that such understanding should start with exploring such micro units as the neighbourhood: first, neighbourhood is the place where social policy is delivered, and second, it is the place that determines residents’ exposure to peace and security vs violence and harm, prosperity vs poverty and destitution, and opportunities vs disadvantages. However, despite the emphasis of the New Urban Agenda of UN-Habitat on maximising the benefits and minimising the harms of urbanisation for all, there is a lack of evidence for action at the time when evidence-based and cost-effective interventions are desperately needed.  

At the Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (SHLC) we work to generate such understanding and evidence to tackle the challenges of social and economic unsustainability in fast-growing urban centres in Africa and Asia. To do so, we adopt a novel approach: instead of studying and/or comparing countries, we utilise an interdisciplinary, city- and neighbourhood-level lens to systematically investigate the complex connections and relationships between urban (SDG11), health (SDG3), and education (SDG4) challenges in neighbourhoods. Unlike the majority of studies, we also made a decision to shift from studying large cities to studying and comparing two cities in each country: one major national city and one ‘typical’ regional city. This approach allows us to draw comparisons from several dimensions: within country and region, between countries and regions, and between different economic development levels and types of cities and neighbourhoods.  Profiles of a number of the cities that we work with have been published in a special issue of Environment and Urbanisation ASIA.  

And we do not do it alone – for a more locally-driven, equitable, and effective approach, we formed an international consortium of nine research partners in eight countries: Bangladesh, China, India, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and the UK. Our team of experts comes from a range of different fields including urban studies, architecture, design and planning, demography, education, health, law, and more. To support our ambitious collaborative project that runs from 2017 to the end of 2021, we received funding via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). 

To provide policy makers and planners with more localised, contextual, and specific responses to urban issues on the ground, we are working on three main packages:  

(1) Sustainable cities and communities: we analyse the underlying social and economic forces of urban development and the changing internal structure of cities to understand the different neighbourhoods. 

(2) Sustainable health and wellbeing: we assess the relationships between city and neighbourhood characteristics, health services, and the health and wellbeing of residents. 

(3) Inclusive and equitable quality education and learning: we assess the provision and outcomes of formal and non-formal educational facilities and services to understand how education and continuous learning can contribute not only to economic prosperity but also to improved quality of life in communities, health and wellbeing, city governance, civic participation, and other aspects of cultural and social development, especially in challenging circumstances.  

PI: Professor Ya Ping Wang, University of Glasgow

CR&DALL Co-I and Capacity Strengthening Lead: Professor Michael Osborne, School of Education, University of Glasgow

Other Co-Is at University of Glasgow: Professor Keith Kintrea, Dr. Jing Yao and Dr Amini Kamete, Urban Studies, Professor Michele Schweisfurth, School of Education and Professor Richard Mitchell, Institute of Health and Well-Being.

Other Co-Is in the project are from the Human Sciences Research Council and University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, University of Rwanda, National Institute of Urban Affairs in India, Khulna University in Bangladesh, University of the Philippines Diliman and Nankai University in China.  

Research Fellow in Education: Dr Yulia Nesterova

PhD students in Education: Preeti Dagar and Rhona Brown

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This project is researching and developing the capacity within local and community resources to generate water and energy from beneath the surface of the land. It is a large and exciting environmental sustainability project, starting in May for 3 years (the EPSRC contribution is £1,330,441.31). Mia's role will be focused on ensuring the social, community, and qualitative aspects of the research, engagement and education around the project.

The PI is Paul Younger (University of Glasgow, Engineering), and the other Co-I’s are Zhibin Yu (University of Glasgow, Engineering), Elias Teklemariam (University of Addis Ababa), L He (University of Oxford), Adrian Boyce (Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre), and Mia. She will also be working closely with Neil Burnside (UG Engineering), who is also involved in an existing project in the same general field of work.

Co-Investigator: Mia Perry

It is estimated that 70% of the population of Uganda, Botswana, and Nigeria directly depend on the biodiversity of their ecosystems for their livelihoods, health and well-being. These ecosystems are being damaged at alarming rates in conjunction with a deterioration of social, cultural, and economic prosperity. While research, innovation, and policy addressing these environmental and social realities is carried out nationally and internationally, these occur largely without community involvement or qualitative input and mostly without successful implementation (Adelle, 2016; Oluka, 2016; Rwakakamba, 2009; Wingqvist & Nilsson, 2013). The CSPE Network brings together environmental and social scientists in community and public pedagogies with the following key aims:

1. To mitigate the gap between expertise in environmental science, community engagement and public pedagogies, as well as the social, cultural, and economic realities of land/water dependent communities in Uganda, Botswana, and Nigeria.
2. To build sustainable and productive partnerships between social scientists (community engagement and public pedagogy) environmental scientists (agricultural and ecological sciences) and non-academic Community-Based Organisations (community development and sustainability).

The Network currently has 17 members across 4 countries.

PI: Mia Perry, Co-I’s: Bonnie Slade and Dan Haydon (MVLS). Our Network includes colleagues from Makerere University in Uganda, The University of Botswana, and Obafemi Awolowo in Nigeria.  Non-academic partners include: The Apala Widows and Orphanage Centre (AWOC) in Uganda; The Ngamiland District CBNRM Forum in Botswana; and The Women Environmental Programme (WEP) in Nigeria.

Start and End Date: January 2017 – July 2018

Funder and funding amount: ESRC, £129,000