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Dr Ashraful Alam

Ashraful Alam imageLecturer
Master of Planning Programme Coordinator

B Arch(Khulna)
M Planning(Hong Kong U)
PhD(Macquarie)

 

Richardson Building, room 4N3
Office Hours: email to make an appointment
Tel +64 3 479 8769
Email ash.alam@otago.ac.nz

Teaching

Research interests

My research falls under the broad umbrella of urban geography and feminist political ecology. I am interested in examining the structural dynamics of cities and how they create the condition of ‘otherness’ and enable more ‘subaltern’ and informal politics of dwelling. I am particularly interested in exploring the ways different marginalised and less-represented communities (e.g. migrants, refugees, climate-displaced families, the urban homeless, minors and women) bring in their own agencies to make and remake the everyday city outside the grains of expert-led discourses.

I am also interested in the relational approaches to planning to rethink cities as spaces of multi-species flourishing. Numerous already existing intra-human and more-than-human care relations exist around us. I question, how the generative potentials of the actually existing care relations can contribute to the rethinking of urban infrastructure and more inclusive form of planning and environmental management from below.

Current research projects

  • Migrant imaginaries and the construction of Australian identities: the case of South Asian communities in Sydney and Perth (2018 – present)
  • Well-being in the cities of Global South: Perspectives of the internally displaced children (2016 – present)

PhD supervision available

I have the capacity to take on new PhD students in 2019. My current research projects and areas where I would be keen to supervise PhD students are as follows:

1. Politics of urban dwelling

  • Migrant identity politics in gateway cities
  • Politics of housing, home and homelessness
  • Urban (in)formality
  • Citizen participation in smart cities

2. Rethinking cities and urban planning

  • Multi-species and more-than-human cities
  • Infrastructure as care, and care-full approaches to planning
  • Beyond urban exceptionalism: the city as a counter-profiling project
  • Planning the climate-just city

If you are interested in any of the above or in a related field of urban planning and development, urban political ecology or urban geographies, please email me at ash.alam@otago.ac.nz. I am happy to supervise students who wish to do research in New Zealand, the Pacific or in the student’s home country or country of interest. The University of Otago has generous PhD scholarships available to students with excellent academic records.

Postgraduate student supervision

Current supervision

  • James Nicol, MPlan – The influence of planning controls on the land market and urban development in New Zealand
  • Dermot Frengley, MPlan – Public Participation in Environmental Planning in New Zealand: A Look at Predator 2050
  • Brenna Sherson, MPlan – The impact of sea level rise on the residents of South Dunedin: learnings for future relocation planning
  • Kurt Bowen, MPlan - A study into the feasibility of a ‘land for affordable housing’ policy for private development in Dunedin City

Selected awards and grants

  • 2017 – Geography Society NSW (GSNSW) Photo Competition (1st place).
  • 2016 – Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI) Alumni Funding (USD 10,000), Brown University, USA.
  • 2016 – Macquarie University Postgraduate Research Fellowship (MQPGRF).
  • 2015 – European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE) Scientific Committee Travel Grant.
  • 2013-2016 – Macquarie University Research Excellence Scholarship (MQRES).
  • 2012 –Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP) Merit Award.
  • 2011 - Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP) Prizes.
  • 2011 – Erasmus Mundus City Regeneration (reCity) Planning Competition (5th place).
  • 2010 – International Design Summer School (IDSS), Tongji University (1st place).
  • 2009-2011 – Asian Development Bank- Japan Scholarship Programme (ADB-JSP), Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong.

Selected conference outputs

Alam, A.F.M.A. & Khalil, M.B. (2011). Mapping sustainability for Hong Kong: future direction. The 11th International Congress of Asian Planning Schools Association (APSA), September 2011, Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan. 958-968.

Rahman, M.S., Darain, K.M. & Alam, A.F.M.A. (2009). Waste generation scenario of fish processing industries at Khulna of Bangladesh. The International Conference on Solid Waste Management, WasteSafe 2009, 9-10 November, Department of Civil Engineering, KUET, Bangladesh. 377-385. (ISSN: 978-984-33-0761-3)

Alam, A.F.M.A., Hakim, S.S. & Khalil, M.B. (2008). Crisis in spatial order of public buildings: the experience from Khulna city, Bangladesh. 5th Great Asian Streets Symposium (GAAS): A Public Forum of Asian Urban Design, December 2008, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, 109. (ISBN: 978-981-08-2012-1), Proceedings CD: (ISBN: 978-981-08-2013-8).

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Publications

Alam, A., McGregor, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Neither sensibly homed nor homeless: Re-imagining migrant homes through more-than-human relations. Social & Cultural Geography, 21(8), 1122-1145. doi: 10.1080/14649365.2018.1541245

Alam, A., McGregor, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Women's mobility, neighbourhood socio-ecologies and homemaking in urban informal settlements. Housing Studies. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2019.1708277

Rogers, D., Herbert, M., Whitzman, C., McCann, E., Maginn, P. J., Watts, B., Alam, A., … Caldis, S. (2020). The city under COVID-19: Podcasting as digital methodology. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 111(3), 434-450. doi: 10.1111/tesg.12426

Alam, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Rethinking care as alternate infrastructure. Cities, 100, 102662. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102662

Sherson, B., & Alam, A. (2020). Planning for sea level rise: Adaptation in small coastal communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Planning Quarterly, 217, 6-12.

Chapter in Book - Research

Parvin, A., Alam, A. F. M. A., & Asad, R. (2016). A built environment perspective on adaptation in urban informal settlements, Khulna, Bangladesh. In M. Roy, S. Cawood, M. Hordijk & D. Hulme (Eds.), Urban poverty and climate change: Life in the slums of Asia, Africa and Latin America. (pp. 73-91). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Alam, A. F. M. A., Asad, R., & Parvin, A. (2015). Climate change adaptation through grassroots responses: Learning from the “Aila” affected coastal settlement of Gabura, Bangladesh. In W. L. Filho (Ed.), Handbook of climate change adaptation. (pp. 2011-2034). Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-38670-1_16

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Journal - Research Article

Alam, A., McGregor, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Neither sensibly homed nor homeless: Re-imagining migrant homes through more-than-human relations. Social & Cultural Geography, 21(8), 1122-1145. doi: 10.1080/14649365.2018.1541245

Sherson, B., & Alam, A. (2020). Planning for sea level rise: Adaptation in small coastal communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Planning Quarterly, 217, 6-12.

Alam, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Rethinking care as alternate infrastructure. Cities, 100, 102662. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102662

Rogers, D., Herbert, M., Whitzman, C., McCann, E., Maginn, P. J., Watts, B., Alam, A., … Caldis, S. (2020). The city under COVID-19: Podcasting as digital methodology. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 111(3), 434-450. doi: 10.1111/tesg.12426

Alam, A., McGregor, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Women's mobility, neighbourhood socio-ecologies and homemaking in urban informal settlements. Housing Studies. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2019.1708277

Ahmed, S., Meenar, M., & Alam, A. (2019). Designing a blue-green infrastructure (BGI) network: Toward water-sensitive urban growth planning in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Land, 8(9), 138. doi: 10.3390/land8090138

Alam, A., & Miller, F. (2019). Slow, small and shared voluntary relocations: Learning from the experience of migrants living on the urban fringes of Khulna, Bangladesh. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 60(3), 325-338. doi: 10.1111/apv.12244

Alam, A., McGregor, A., & Houston, D. (2018). Photo‐response: Approaching participatory photography as a more‐than‐human research method. Area, 50(2), 256-265. doi: 10.1111/area.12368

Alam, A. F. M. A., Asad, R., & Kabir, M. E. (2016). Rural settlements dynamics and the prospects of densification strategy in rural Bangladesh. SpringerPlus, 5, 254. doi: 10.1186/s40064-016-1883-4

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