Project Partners and Collaborators in Nepal: Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS), Institute of Engineering (IoE), Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET)-Nepal, Lumanti Support Group for Shelter.
International Partners: The University of York (England), Chiang Mai University (Thailand), Stiftelsen The Stockholm Environment Institute (Thailand)
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF)
Duration: January 2020 – May 2023
Project Description:
This project aims to transform the political capabilities of marginalised groups (e.g., informal settlers) in the study cities of Nepal and Thailand, so that the integration of development and disaster risk planning occurs in ways that provides them with control over their environment. The project brings together scholars and practitioners in different disciplines from the UK, Nepal and Thailand to facilitate joint learning on how narratives of risk and resilience in urban systems rely on and reinforce expertise, infrastructure and institutions, sustaining inequality in access to services and uneven material and political relations. Drawing on the critical insights, the project will co-develop new analytical tools and apply them in the study cities to enable those working with marginal communities to identify strategic alliances and entry-points for engagement, opening spaces for dialogue in the city that generate new knowledge and narratives, securing decision making power for marginalised groups and anchoring resilience in the complexity of urban risk creation.
The project has the following objectives:
- Reveal how narratives of risk and resilience rely on and reinforce expertise, infrastructure and institutions, sustaining inequality in access to services.
- Co-develop new tools for analysis with marginalized groups and the organizations that work with them; Identify new strategic alliances and alternative infrastructure development pathways in the study cities;
- Open new political space, building and reinforcing new alliances of science and people, laying the ground for more equitable material outcomes and political relations
- Enable regional learning between Thailand and Nepal to support engagement with national and regional decision makers.
The findings of this study will be disseminated through seminars, reports, and scientific articles in collaboration with project partners.
Project Sites: Kathmandu Valley and Dhulikhel Municipality (Nepal) and Chiang Mai (Thailand)
Project Team at SIAS: Anushiya Shrestha (PhD), Dil Khatri (PhD), Dilli P. Poudel (PhD), Binod Adhikari, and Salu Basnet
