Introductory workshop: Urban Sustainability in the Global South

Strong connections with partners creates unique opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration

Sara Gräslund, director of SLU Global, and Nina Vogel, Acting Director of SLU Urban Futures opened the seminar by highlighting the important contribution of urban research towards SLU’s priorities for global development. SLU Global’s strong ties with partners in low and middle income countries, coupled with SLU Urban Future’s focus on transdisciplinary and future oriented research on cities opens-up unique opportunities for collaboration around urban sustainability agendas.

Over 100 projects conducted at SLU have connections to the global south and connect to urban challenges from a range of disciplinary and thematic perspectives. The seminar showcased five of these ongoing research projects at connected to urban themes. Researchers shared perspectives on conducting research in countries in the global south, as well as how their research interacts with the Sustainable Development Goals, and more specifically SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). The research demonstrated projects from different regions of the global south including Latin America, India, South-East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

A snapshot of the research conducted at SLU

Ildikó Asztalos Morell, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, presented her project, Multi-cultural aspects of active aging: A cooperative study between Sweden and India. The project highlighted the work of an interdisciplinary team comprising of health science, social science, and social care science. In context of a rapidly urbanizing and an ageing population in India, the team’s research seeks to explore the needs of the elderly and how support systems could better cater to their needs. Ildiko illustrated how her project brought together issues of poverty, health and inequality, which connected multiple goals of Agenda 2030 across rural and urban landscapes.  

How much are office workers in Mexico city are willing to pay for teleworking at near-home facilities? In his research ‘Teleworking and governance of urban green spaces in Mexico City –A conversation on two features to improve resilience of cities in the Global South’, Adan Martinez Cruz, Researcher at the Department of Forest Economics, discussed the opportunities of teleworking facilities in cities in the context of the pandemic, where the economic value of facilities is weighed against the value placed on commuting times. Importantly, the research sheds light on the inequalities present in the global south, where working from home places disproportionately greater burdens on women and vulnerable segments of society. Adan placed a critical eye on issues of mobility and urban planning in cities, bringing together aspects of economics, urban planning and social sciences.

Alin Kadfak, Researcher at the Department for Urban and Rural Development, as well as communicator for SIANI/SLU Global shared research perspectives from Urban and Rural Development, SIANI and SLU Global. Her research aims to understand social injustice situated within urbanization processes focused on waterfront transformation. Alin reflected on the impacts of urban transformation on fishing livelihoods in cities around the Indian Ocean, and how different social groups have renegotiated their positions in these new settings. Her research brings together natural and social scientists through transdisciplinary research with a focus on climate change and livelihood transformation. Alin’s work with SIANI, a communications platform for research on food security and agricultural development, demonstrated the importance of communications in making research actionable in line with Agenda 2030. SIANI facilitates a research network that connects researchers and partners in the global south with a focus on thematic areas around agricultural development, where urban food issues are an increasingly important subject area.

Patrik Oskarsson, Researcher at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, presented his research publication, ‘If the gas runs out we are not going to sleep hungry’: Household fuel choice in critically polluted central India. Patrik illustrated the ways in which household pollution affects women and children in particular; and how the choice of household fuel like firewood and solid fuel contributes to city-wide pollution. The research publication reflects upon questions of energy access, public health and rural and urban livelihoods, where an energy crisis India is leading to desperate search for coal to support families and communities.

How can we provide a sustainable urbanism, taking inspiration from Nature Based Solutions? Åsa Ode Sang, Professor at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, presented research perspectives from two of her projects: Urban Green Infrastructure in Ethiopia, and H2020 funded project CONEXUS that works with nature-based solutions in Latin America. The research highlighted that elements of urban green infrastructure contribute to different SDGs such as health and well-being, zero hunger, water and sanitation, and life on land, to name a few. Not only this, urban green infrastructure initiatives further provide opportunities for engagement between universities, city administrations, NGOs and regional planning bodies, and knowledge exchange between Latin America and Europe.

Improving collaboration to better deal with the complexity of sustainability challenges

The final part of the seminar engaged participants in discussions around how we can improve collaboration in research on urban sustainability with a focus on the global south. The discussions reflected upon the impact of urbanization processes that connect urban and rural research, which presents both challenges and opportunities for how we understand and relate to sustainability issues. It raises questions about how we engage with and represent stakeholders with different views, and relate to sustainability challenges that look different across diverse contexts. Our participants shared thoughts on the complexity of sustainability issues and how this is mirrored by the interconnections within and between the Sustainable Development Goals. The seminar concluded by understating that there is much more to be done in understanding the opportunities and challenges around the interaction of SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) with other SDGs and how research works with these interactions and complexity.