This research group is extending the ‘Indian Ocean World’ framing into the study of cities under climate crisis. The key aims of the group are:
- To understand how urban planning and urban politics are being shaped by regional circuits of capital, labour, and policy diffusion in the Indian Ocean World e.g., between the Gulf States and South Asia, between South Africa and South Asia, in the Indo-Pacific sub-region etc.
- To understand how this is mediated by the climate crisis and to detect parallels, overlaps, and conflicts within the region in this regard
- To develop an Indian Ocean World research agenda focused on urban justice and climate justice
The Indian Ocean World has been historically significant to the emergence of the climate-risk management and insurance sectors. It is also an important site for the study of indentured labour, high-value commodity trade, and early decolonial solidarities. The group will bring these existing literatures into conversation with contemporary research on urban and climate justice, thereby creating a new research agenda.