My research explores how the built and natural environment is shaped by (disaster) risk and conflict, as well as by efforts to mitigate them, and conversely how such interventions are informed by urban and environmental “problems” and solutions, including infrastructure. I am also interested to understand how ideas of peace and development are pursued in practice, and how both, ideas and practice, are subject to change.
My first book PEACE INFRASTRUCTURES: HOW UN PEACE OPERATIONS BUILD ROADS, BRIDGES, AND SOLAR FARMS IN THE PURSUIT OF SUSTAINABILITY focuses on UN peace operations’ past and present involvement in infrastructure building and forms of socio-spatial planning. I document how, over time, ideas about peace and risk have evolved, just as the very practices of intervening in fragile contexts, the technologies, policies and knowledge, have changed. In the face of present challenges to peace operations, I argue for a locally-grounded infrastructure planning rooted in equity at the center of peace efforts.
I am also involved in a variety of research projects exploring the role of climate change (action) and disaster risk in conflict and conflict management efforts, with a special focus on urban areas and urbanization dynamics.