DECOLAB – A Decolonial Collaboratorium

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We are excited to invite you to the launch of DECOLAB, a decolonial collaboratorium and a key output of our two-year research project, 'Transgressing ‘Good’ Cities: Decolonising City Narratives for Just Urban Futures' (2023–2025), funded by the British Academy through the Interdisciplinary Knowledge Frontiers 2022 grant.

During the event, we will showcase various activities and other projects that DECOLAB has been involved in, and our aspirations and opportunities for future collaborations across UCL.

Please note spaces for this event are limited and to ensure participation bookings must be made in advance on Eventbrite. 

About DECOLAB

The enduring legacies of colonial history continue to shape how we address, represent, research, manage, and examine the past, present, and future. At DECOLAB, we are committed to fostering disruptive thinking and interdisciplinary learning to forge a more just and equitable future. We aim to challenge the core of colonial knowledge production, opening up new ways of learning and creating future imaginaries and practices. We bring together a diverse range of national and international scholars, students, academics, and citizens to delve into the intricate intersections of race, caste, colonialism, capitalism, class and gender within spatial narratives, imaginaries and practices.

Agenda

09:30–10:00 Morning refreshments

10:00–10:10 Welcome and Introduction

10:10–10:45 Part 1 – Inaugural Lecture by Dr Althea-Maria Rivas (SOAS, University of London)

11:00–12:00 Part 2 – DECOLAB Launch

Discussion of the project by the project team – Dr Lakshmi Priya Rajendran (The Bartlett School of Architecture), Dr Tara Saharan (Radboud University) and Dr Nian Paul (Indian Institute of Technology Madras)

12:00–12:30 Q&A facilitated by Priya Mohanty (Mercator Fellow)

12:30 Lunch (vegan and vegetarian options provided)

Biographies

Dr Althea-Maria Rivas is Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at SOAS, University of London. She draws upon critical, feminist and decolonial theoretical frameworks and employs innovative grounded methodologies, such as photovoice, storytelling and narratives, to explore debates in conflict, security and development. A central theme in her current work is intersectionality, specifically the racialised and gendered nature of processes of aid, post-conflict reconstruction, sexual and gender-based violence and transitional justice. Her research focuses on Afghanistan, Liberia and Somalia, with broader work in North, West and East Africa.

Dr Lakshmi Priya Rajendran is an Associate Professor in Environmental and Spatial Equity and Co-Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at The Bartlett School of Architecture. She is also the Co-Chair for UCL's Environment Research domain and Academic Co-Chair for the UCL Advisory Group on Climate Change and Health. Her teaching and research interests deal with city imaginaries, decoloniality, critical social and digital media, spatial representation and practice, identity negotiations and cultural encounters in contemporary cities. She is particularly interested in an interdisciplinary understanding of social, spatial, temporal and material practices in cities and a comparative study of these practices in the Global South.

Dr Tara Saharan holds a PhD from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) focusing on urban inequality and governance within the comparative contexts of India and South Africa. Since her PhD, she has worked on numerous research projects based in Asia and Africa promoting sustainable forms of development, understanding rapid urbanization, and encouraging innovation in the policy and planning of cities.  She is a Research Fellow at the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment (GPE) at Radboud University. In her present role, Tara focuses on teaching and research within the domain of decoloniality, urban inequalities, water governance and urban justice. 

Dr Ellie Cosgrave is the Director of Publica’s Community Interest Company and Research. She has over 15 years of experience in leadership and strategic management and is an expert on inclusive urbanisation. Ellie is Associate Professor in Urban Innovation and Policy at UCL's department of Science Technology Engineering and Public Policy, where she is co-director of the Urban Innovation and Policy Lab. She is also an outspoken advocate and campaigner for increasing the quality of women's health services. She is a BBC broadcaster, presenting the Tomorrow's World Podcast and the BBC World Service series "My Perfect City".

Dr Jyotirmaya Tripathy is a professor in the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He works at the confluence of culture and development practice, with particular interest in the culturalist and everyday dimension of institutional and popular life. He has published around these topics in various journals. He also co-edited anthologies such as The Democratic Predicament: Cultural Diversity in Europe and India (Routledge, 2013), Becoming Minority: How Discourses and Policies Produce Minorities in Europe and India (Sage, 2014) and Bonding with the Lord: Jagannath, Popular Culture and Community Formation (Bloomsbury, 2022).

Dr Nian Paul is an urban feminist geographer from India. Her core research interests are urban spatial politics, cultural and creative economies, feminist politics, visual culture, socially engaged art and Southern Urbanism. She received her doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi where she worked on public art and urban spatial politics in Delhi. As a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, she uses a decolonial lens to unravel the politics of everyday life in urban public spaces in Chennai.

Kıvılcım Göksu Toprak is a spatial designer and researcher interested in creating socially and environmentally sustainable futures via design and spatial studies. Her work focuses on memory, identity, social and spatial justice, decolonising urban narratives, visual and spatial storytelling and everyday urban landscapes. She completed her Architecture & Historic Urban Environments MA at The Bartlett School of Architecture. Her thesis, focused on memories of Istanbul’s lost leisure spaces and their potential to resolve contemporary social polarisation conflicts, was awarded the 2023 Postgraduate Thesis Award by GLTRG Royal Geographical Society.

Priya Mohanty holds an MSc in Development Studies from SOAS, University of London and a BA in International Affairs from the University of St. Gallen. As a Mercator Fellow, Priya challenges urban narratives rooted in colonial structures and power imbalances, which are perpetuated through international cooperation. During her fellowship, Priya collaborated with YLabs on "Children, Cities and Climate" and worked on public space projects with UN-Habitat and Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI). As a visiting researcher at Decolab, Priya mainly focuses on the Global Studio, which will bring together students across various disciplines to study, understand and develop city imaginations using a decolonial lens. 

Image: Lakshmi Priya Rajendran