Anne Rademacher

Department of Social and Cultural Analysis

New York University

My research explores the political and cultural dimensions of sustainability in cities. Through ethnographic analyses of urban environmental change, I study how place-based affinities, contested histories, and ideologies of belonging develop in struggles over the form, content, and quality of urban environments. My central interest is urban ecology – its scientific contours, its application across cultural and political contexts, and its interconnection with social change.

 

I recently completed a major research initiative in one of South Asia’s fastest-growing and most politically dynamic cities, Kathmandu. Other recent work has addressed urban ecology as it relates to housing and migration, political stability, cultural conflict, and alternative forms of environmental knowledge.

 

My current work addresses the theory and practice of sustainable building, or green design, in rapid-growth cities of the Global South.

 

I bring an appreciation for, and experiential understanding of, applied conservation practice to my research and analytical projects, having worked previously for the World Bank, The World Conservation Union, and The Asia Foundation in development and conservation research capacities.