Lecturer
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
- ENVI 111 Environment and Society
- GEOG 214 Economic Geography of the Post-World War II Era
- ENVI 311 Understanding Environmental Issues
- GEOG 374 Economic Geography of the Post-World War II Era
- GEOG 384 Urban Geography
- PLAN 435 Planning Case Study I
- PLAN 438 Planning Practice
- PLAN 535 Planning Case Study II
- PLAN 590 Planning Project
- APPS 597 Supervised Independent Study
Research interests
My research falls under the broad umbrella of urban and cultural geography and planning. I am interested in examining the structural dynamics of places creating conditions of otherness/othering and enabling more ‘subaltern’ and informal infrastructural politics. I am particularly interested in exploring the ways different marginalised, less-represented (e.g. migrants, refugees, climate-displaced families, the urban homeless, students and women) and sometimes more-than-human (e.g. plants and animals) communities use their own agencies to make and remake everyday places outside the expert frame. My research often employs innovative and creative methods and methodologies that empower my research participants to bring out alternative meanings and dynamics of the social worlds that may remain otherwise hidden through conventional methods.
Current research projects
- Minority ethnic migrant's settlement experience in rural New Zealand (2021 - present)
- Muslim migrant women’s politics of representation in New Zealand cities (2021 - present)
- Changing geographies of cities (2020 - present)
- 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. My current research projects align with following 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
2. Counter-Cities
- multi-species and more-than-human cities
- Care as infrastructure, and care-full approaches to planning
- Beyond urban exceptionalism, alternate urban imaginaries
If you are interested in any of the above or in a related field of urban planning and development, urban political ecology, or urban and cultural geographies, please email me at ash.alam@otago.ac.nz. I am happy to supervise students who wish to do research in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pacific or in the student’s home country or country of interest. Suitably qualified applicants would be supported to apply for the University of Otago Doctoral Scholarship.
Postgraduate student supervision
Students (current)
- Rajan Ghosh, PhD – Social impacts of Pasifika ‘climigration’
- Koritiemo James Fawei, PhD – Climate change vulnerabilities in the Niger Delta Region
- Matthew Campbell, MPlan – Precinct planning in Dunedin
- George Van Pelt, MPlan – Post-earthquake urban regeneration in Christchurch CBD
- Josh Kenneally, MPlan – Resource Management Act (RMA 1991) Reform
- Trent Lynch, MPlan – High-density low-rise apartments influencing housing affordability
- Wanli Cheng, MIDP – Hong Kong’s education and the “one country, two systems”
Students (Completed)
- Kelsey Newman, MPlan – Planning for Street Art in Aotearoa-New Zealand Cities
- Jack Cowie, MPlan – Network-oriented public transport planning in medium and small New Zealand cities
- 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).
Publications
Lobo, M., Alam, A., & Bandyopadhyay, S. (2022). Tiger atmospheres and co-belonging in mangrove worlds. Environment & Planning E: Nature & Space. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/25148486221079465
Waliuzzaman, S. M., & Alam, A. (2022). Commoning the city for survival in urban informal settlements. Asia Pacific Viewpoint. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/apv.12332
McGregor, A., & Alam, A. (2022). More-than-human development. In K. Sims, N. Banks, S. Engel, P. Hodge, J. Makuwira, N. Nakamura, … P. Yeophantong (Eds.), Routledge handbook of global development. (pp. 170-182). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/ 9781003017653
Alam, A., Meenar, M., Barraza, F., Khalil, M. B., & Knopp, K. (2022). Citizen engagement on local government Facebook pages: Experience from Aotearoa New Zealand. Cities, 123, 103584. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2022.103584
Alam, A., Binns, T., Cullen, N., Freeman, C., Nel, E., & Roche, M. (2021). Celebrating 75 years of geography teaching and research at the University of Otago [Introduction to virtual special issue]. New Zealand Geographer, 77, 242-247. doi: 10.1111/nzg.12306
McGregor, A., & Alam, A. (2022). More-than-human development. In K. Sims, N. Banks, S. Engel, P. Hodge, J. Makuwira, N. Nakamura, … P. Yeophantong (Eds.), Routledge handbook of global development. (pp. 170-182). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/ 9781003017653
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.
Chapter in Book - Research
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
Chapter in Book - Research
Alam, A., Meenar, M., Barraza, F., Khalil, M. B., & Knopp, K. (2022). Citizen engagement on local government Facebook pages: Experience from Aotearoa New Zealand. Cities, 123, 103584. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2022.103584
Journal - Research Article
Lobo, M., Alam, A., & Bandyopadhyay, S. (2022). Tiger atmospheres and co-belonging in mangrove worlds. Environment & Planning E: Nature & Space. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/25148486221079465
Journal - Research Article
Waliuzzaman, S. M., & Alam, A. (2022). Commoning the city for survival in urban informal settlements. Asia Pacific Viewpoint. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/apv.12332
Journal - Research Article
Alam, A., Minca, C., & Uddin, K. F. (2021). Risks and informality in owner-occupied shared housing: To let, or not to let? International Journal of Housing Policy. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/19491247.2021.1877887
Journal - Research Article
Alam, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Rethinking care as alternate infrastructure. Cities, 100, 102662. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102662
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
Journal - Research Article
Alam, A., McGregor, A., & Houston, D. (2020). Women's mobility, neighbourhood socio-ecologies and homemaking in urban informal settlements. Housing Studies, 35(9), 1586-1606. doi: 10.1080/02673037.2019.1708277
Journal - Research Article
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
Journal - Research Article
Sherson, B., & Alam, A. (2020). Planning for sea level rise: Adaptation in small coastal communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Planning Quarterly, 217, 6-12.
Journal - Research Article
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
Journal - Research Article
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
Journal - Research Article
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
Journal - Research Article
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
Journal - Research Article
Alam, A., Binns, T., Cullen, N., Freeman, C., Nel, E., & Roche, M. (2021). Celebrating 75 years of geography teaching and research at the University of Otago [Introduction to virtual special issue]. New Zealand Geographer, 77, 242-247. doi: 10.1111/nzg.12306
Journal - Research Other
Underhill-Sem, Y., Bolinga, C., Movono, A., Dombroski, K., Dorji, C., Overton, J., Binns, T., & Alam, A. (2020). Decoloniality in Development Studies in Aotearoa: Engaging race, gender, sexuality, indigeneity. Proceedings of DevNet2020: The Aotearoa New Zealand International Development Studies Network Conference. Retrieved from https://devnet.org.nz/devnet2020
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Bowen, K., & Alam, A. (2019, August). A study into the feasibility of an affordable land policy for private development in Dunedin City. Verbal presentation at the School of Geography Postgraduate Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Frengley, D., & Alam, A. (2019, August). Public participation in conservation planning. Verbal presentation at the School of Geography Postgraduate Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Nicol, J., & Alam, A. (2019, August). Urban development outcomes from central government policy interventions. Verbal presentation at the School of Geography Postgraduate Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Sherson, B., & Alam, A. (2019, August). Planning for sea level rise adaptation in coastal Dunedin. Verbal presentation at the School of Geography Postgraduate Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Alam, A. (2020) Home. Part of "An A to Z of shadow places", collection edited by F. Miller, D. Houston & E. Potter. Shadow Places Network. Retrieved from https://www.shadowplaces.net/concepts
Other Research Output