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The main objective of this project is to support a pilot study and a new interdisciplinary collaboration between a social scientist specialising in urban studies (Yacobi), an epidemiologist (Fottrell) and a medical anthropologist (Nkhata). The pilot aims to conceptually develop the notion of Syndemic Urbanism as both theoretical and methodological lenses through which urban health and interventions should be understood. Syndemic urbanism, we propose, focuses on how urban-spatial elements influence the accumulation of several health conditions and how these are experienced in an urban context. In reference to Mendenhall and Singer (2019), we suggest that syndemic urbanism is the “interaction of those conditions via biological, social, or psychological pathways; and involvement of social, political, economic, or ecological drivers”.
Syndemic urbanism necessitates a cutting-edge, critical and interdisciplinary exploration; it further highlights the important role that development planning, epidemiology, and anthropology play in the health of urban dwellers and the necessity for interaction between specific aspects of city life such as housing, transportation, food, infrastructure, productive processes, and their impact on human health. The team intends to analyse the effects – both positive and negative - of urbanisation processes on health, with particular focus on non-communicable diseases, and the root causes of intra-urban disparities in health. The proposed research is planned as a pilot in Faridpur, a major city located in the Faridpur District, Bangladesh. This pilot will serve as a preparatory phase towards a larger application to the Wellcome Trust Discovery Research Scheme.
Social Science Principal Investigator
Professor Haim Yacobi, Professor of Development Planning, Development Planning Unit, Bartlett, BEAMS
Non-Social Science Co-Investigator
Dr. Edward Fottrell, Associate Professor, Institute for Global Health, Population Health Sciences, LMS
Early Career Researcher
Misheck Julian Nkhata, Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, Social and Historical Sciences, SLASH