Yasir Hameed

I am a doctoral student at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University and a graduate associate at the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR). I have a bachelor’s degree in Architecture (Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi) and a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning (UC Berkeley). My work focusses on the intersection of public space, citizen engagement, housing equity and social justice in urban policy, planning and design.

My doctoral research aims to explore, through the lens of the Indian case, the Western-colonial roots of contemporary urban planning in the global south which have created and perpetuated inequalities in access and safety and marginalized communities. Additionally, my research also aims to examine the role of social movements as agents of urban planning change, such as Black Lives Matter, Dalit Agitation and Pinjra Tod. Specifically, I examine how these movements are bringing inequity and social justice into national conversations and their calls for a reassessment of normative urban planning theory, practices and policies that have sustained injustice.