I am a critical urban sociologist and geographer, and a political activist previously based in Manila and currently working on a PhD at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), University College London (UCL).

I am the recipient of the 2018 DPU 60th Anniversary Doctoral Scholarship Award, as well as the 2018 Gilbert F. White Thesis Award given by the American Association of Geographers’ (AAG) Hazards, Risks, and Disasters Specialty Group.

My PhD research examines how a flood-resilient Metro Manila is being built in the aftermath of the 2009 Ondoy flood disaster which spurred the reconstitution of the Philippine disaster risk management framework. I aim to develop new conceptual tools for understanding the relationship between resilience on one hand and dispossession and urbanisation on the other.

This is part of a larger intellectual project that seeks to understand the new logics, drivers, and modes of expulsion in Manila beyond neoliberal urbanism.

I have published theoretical and empirical research articles on the politics of ‘danger zone’ evictions in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR) and the launching issue of Radical Housing Journal.

My writings on cities have also appeared as essays in The Funambulist and Al Jazeera, and as a chapter in the book, Cities of Dignity: Urban Transformations Around the World.