dr. T. Saharan (Tara)

With a background in architecture, urban planning and international development studies, I have completed my PhD from the University of Amsterdam. My doctoral research focused on ‘slum’ / informal settlements of Chennai in India and Durban in South Africa. Thereafter, I conducted research in Kenya. In addition, I have participated in several international research projects based in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

My present research in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment will take me to Indonesia and India wherein I will be working on two projects within the scope of urban studies – 1) "Resilient Indonesian Slums Envisioned (RISE) - Building an inclusive governance with people and water to make social-ecological interactions more resilient to water-related disasters" funded by NWO and 2) "Transgressing ‘good’ cities: Decolonising city narratives for inclusive futures", also known as DECOLAB supported by the British Academy. Drawing on my experiences, I have developed research interests in a range of thematic issues related to urban justice from social, geographical and environmental perspectives. More specifically I am interested in subjects related to urban inequality, governance, planning, discursive analysis, post-colonial and decolonial studies, and comparative methodologies.