Cities are celebrated as key engines for innovation and economic growth as well as attractive places to live, work and grow. Yet, this representation of cities as places of infinite opportunities is only one side of the story. Urbanization is, in fact, highly uneven. This is evidenced by the growing disparities within cities. Processes of polarisation, segregation, and fragmentation of the urban landscape form substantial legislative and social challenges for local residents and urban governments. Cities should thus be understood to be places of both high accessibility as well as concentrated poverty, deprivation and exposure. This raises important questions about urban inequality and social justice.

As a Master’s student in Engineering and Policy Analysis at TU Delft, I joined the CUSP Lab to research the processes that shape certain spatial inequalities in cities from a computational perspective. I aim, through this lab, to gain enough computational skills that would help me understand, interpret and communicate the relationship between urbanization and spatial inequalities from a geographical lens. Using these gained skills, I hope that one day I will be able to influence urban policy in order to reach more inclusive, resilient and liveable cities.

Besides my academic interests, I also enjoy wokring for the social good and creating a social impact. Therefore, I decided to join the board of 180 Degrees Consulting Delft-Rotterdam as a volunteering consulting director. My work there consists of providing consulting services to non-profits, social enterprises and statrups. All in all, I hope to be a small contribution to reaching a better state of this world.