Dr Anika Haque

Personal statement:

I am a human geographer broadly interested in Urban inequality. My research is interdisciplinary and situated at the intersection of society, environment and development. I am particularly interested in the everyday and embedded structural inequalities at city level.

My research is grounded in Systems thinking – not only for unpacking the complex interdisciplinary problems of the contemporary cities, but also to identify solutions and pathways to achieving the overlapping sustainable development goals in the global South. Much of my research over the last decade has empirically focused on cities around the global South (from Asia to Africa to Latin America) and has been funded by a wide range of sources such as British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, INRIC, Schlumberger Foundation, FCDO.

I’m a mixed-methods researcher and have conducted extensive quantitative and qualitative field works in Bangladesh, India and South Africa. My work is widely published in world-leading journals in the field of Geography, Development, Environment as well as in interdisciplinary journals.

Key topic areas of research or interest:

My research has three interrelated strands addressing the intersection of various sustainable development goals, namely climate action (goal 13), gender and economic inequality (goal 5 and 10), sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11) and energy access (goal 7).

Climate change adaptation – primarily focusing on understanding the political economy in which livelihoods operate and the political ecology (including urban governance as well as socio-political processes) shaping the urban adaptation processes in low-income urban settlements (case study: Bangladesh, South Africa, Mexico).

Gender vulnerability – exploring the ‘gendered’ vulnerability to urban risks and ways in which gendered considerations can be mainstreamed into public policies (case study: Bangladesh and India).

Energy transitions – exploring ways in which ‘just’ energy transition pathways can be achieved addressing the dual challenge of limiting the danger of climate change and increasing socioeconomic inequality particularly across the Global South (case study: India and South Africa).

Publications:

• Is (in)access to infrastructure driven by physical delivery or weak governance? Power and knowledge asymmetries in infrastructure governance in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Climate risk responses and the urban poor in the global South: a case of Dhaka’s low-income settlements International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
• Why do low-income urban dwellers reject energy technologies? Exploring the socio-cultural acceptance of solar adoption in Mumbai and Cape Town Energy Research & Social Science
• A ‘Whole Systems’ View of Vulnerability to Climatic Risks: The Case of the Urban Poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh Progress in Development Studies
• Adaptation to flooding in low-income urban settlements of the least developed countries: a systems approach The Geographical Journal
• Sentiment analysis as tool for gender mainstreaming in slum rehabilitation housing management in Mumbai, India Habitat International
• Gender, domestic energy and design of inclusive low-income habitats: A case of slum rehabilitation housing in India Energy Research & Social Science
• Application of Multi-Criteria Analysis on Climate Adaptation Assessment in the Context of Least Developed Countries Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis
• Individual, communal and institutional responses to climate change by low-income households in Khulna, Bangladesh Environment and Urbanization
• Participatory integrated assessment of flood protection measures for climate adaptation in Dhaka Environment and Urbanization