As part of the Pedestrian Space ‘Global URBAN HEAT Media Lab’ and network in development, we are recording our conversations with incoming collaborators around the world, as well as students pursuing academic internships related to the project.
As part of that, we recently met with Aditi Ajay, an urban development practitioner from Kochi, India, and currently based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Aditi had written to us about our call for collaboration for the Global URBAN HEAT Media Lab. She wrote: “Your call for the pilot sits at a very relevant intersection of my work and interests. It also comes at a time when I am available, and fired up about contributing to the larger dialogue on mobility and heat.”
Aditi is completing her Master’s in Urban Climate and Sustainability (Erasmus + MUrCS) and shared that she had originally learned about our work through the Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability Special Issue on 15-minute cities that Pedestrian Space founder Annika Lundkvist is a guest editor of. Aditi co-authored a viewpoint piece with Priyani Pranab in that issue on the barriers for informal-sector residents to experience the 15-minute city model in heat-stressed Global South cities.
View post abou the paper on Instagram here
It was a really special connective moment in having a published author (on issues of extreme heat!) for a project we are guest editing, then connecting with interest in this new Urban Heat initiative and project. It’s all interconnected.
Aditi also shared more about the context she will be looking at in Kochi, India. She writes that “Kochi is a coastal city in the south of India, defined by its backwaters and canals. The city’s heat stress is compounded by coastal humidity, and its economy relies heavily on informal and semi-formal outdoor labor connected to the water. Based on this, I would like to explore the lived heat-adaptation strategies of informal outdoor workers (fish market vendors, ferry operators, street vendors) in Kochi – perhaps developing something transferable to the informal sector and community learning in other contexts as well.”
Welcome to the Global URBAN HEAT MEDIA Lab network Aditi!
Learn more about the Global URBAN HEAT Media Lab below: