Prof. Patel’s research addresses the politics and practices of achieving just and sustainable urban transitions. The roles of knowledge and power shaping urban transitions was a key theme of her PhD in Geography, entitled Rethinking Sustainable Development: Power, Policy and Practice in South Durban, University of Cambridge (2002).
The distinctive focus of her scholarship is the simultaneous use of transdisciplinary approaches to navigate alternate insights and responses to complex urban issues in southern contexts, whilst foregrounding the diversity of forms of knowledge that are recognized as authoritative within these debates.
Patel’s research is marked by its concern to develop southern theorizations on urban transitions, and is framed through a commitment to engaged and socially responsive scholarship.
Source: University of Cape Town
The page has been updated in June 2024.
