My research work focuses on how power relations affect the participation of different people and social groups in decision making processes that have an impact on their lives. My research involves micro-analysis of power relations and diversity issues, including how social identities (gender, class, ethnicity, age, etc.) play out in in such decision making processes. My work analyses social and political conflicts and explores tensions between the individual and the collective.
I am particularly interested in how the participation of residents is organised within urban development, particularly in informal settlements, and what are the effects on in/equality and social exclusion. Therefore, a lot of my work has focused on intra-community inequalities and ways to approach them, particularly in the informal low-income settlements of African cities, where I had worked for two years before embarking on my academic career. This work has led to founding two institutions working on these issues in Sierra Leone and the Middle East as well as partnering with a number of NGOs to translate my findings in new approaches and methodologies for people’s participation in urban development (see under external engagement). I have also analysed processes of citizen participation at various scales from neighbourhood to global levels and have led participatory action-research processes in several countries to contribute to local and global processes such as the definition of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
A characteristic of my research is that it attempts to use theoretical advances to influence policy discourses in order to transform power relations. I have a track record of significant innovation in policy engagement activity and sustained co-production with non-academic actors
I am continuing to mainstreaming diversity and intersectionality into urban development practice through methodological innovations, with a particular focus on very unequal, conflict-ridden, or forced migration contexts. For example, I led a project analysing co-designed public spaces in Beirut post 2020 blast reconstruction.
Another area where I made a substantial contribution is children participation in urban development and design. The main output of the international transdisciplinary research project DeCID was a handbook for the codesign of built interventions with children in displacement of which I am the main author. The publication has brought together two UN agencies (UNICEF that works with children and UN-Habitat that focuses on cities) to intensify their collaboration in this area that crosses between their mandates.
I have a sustained track-record of securing competitive grants. The total budget of my research projects as a Principal Investigator is €3 million (€3.3 million including projects as a Co-I). I played a lead role in collaborations with large research teams and research institutions in the global South.
Ongoing Research Projects
I am carrying out preparatory work for a new project on Intersectional Ecology. The project interrogates the meaning of social justice in today’s world. The project will work around an argument for a shift in global social norms and ethics towards a new equality politics that extends rights to animals, future generations and the planet.
Here you can find recordings and notes from a lecture which contains the initial reflections for this forthcoming project, exploring the connections between inequalities of consumption of nature, pandemics and ecological/climate crises.
YUP. Co-producing Digital Platforms for Youth Inclusive Urban Governance. Funder: Fondation Botnar. Budget: €1,000,030 (Indonesia, Lebanon).
Participation, diversity and conflict in the implementation of slum-upgrading projects: I am particularly interested in the upgrading of informal settlements in the context of pre-existing conflict, particularly around land.
Selected completed research
Participatory Analysis of Co-designed Public Spaces In Beirut Post-blast Reconstruction. Funder: AHRC & University of Bath. Lebanon. Project outputs and documentaries here.
DeCID: Codesigning built interventions with children affected by displacement. Funder: Grand Challenge Research Fund. Lebanon. Please visit project website for more information.
Bringing Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to Life. Funder: CAFOD. Liberia, Zambia, Kenya, Sierra Leone. Main synthesis report here.
Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre: A £930,000 project to establish an urban research centre in Freetown in partnership with Njala University.
Public services and vulnerability in the Lebanese context of large-scale displacement: Implemented in partnership with CatalyticAction, information about the participatory spatial intervention we implemented can be found here. Funded by British Academy, Grand Challenge Research Fund. Full project report in English and Arabic as well as two documentaries can be found here.
Urban Livelihoods in Freetown’s Informal Settlements: With Braima Koroma, Austina Sudie Sellu, Julian Walker, this research developed a more detailed understanding of the existing livelihood strategies of women and men living in informal settlements, by focusing on a number of typical livelihood sectors in which informal settlement residents engage. This has been undertaken with the overall aim of informing policy interventions.
Refugee self-reliance and Humanitarian Action in Urban Markets: A research partnership between the DPU and the Humanitarian Advisory Team at Save the Children UK. The partnership focused on the linkages between urban, humanitarian and forced migration scholarships. More information and outputs available on project website.
Prof Andrea Rigon 