Transformations in work
Several simultaneous megatrends — climate change, the fourth industrial revolution, and demographic transitions — are upending conventional employment models. In both Global South and North, the ‘precariat’ class of workers is expanding, ranging from gig workers to survival entrepreneurs. My research and policy work investigates local manifestations and responses to these shifts. How are urban planners, policymakers and communities responding to the changing nature of work?
-
Mainstream policy guidance suggests that the labor market impacts of energy transitions can be managed by simply “retraining” workers in fossil fuel industries. But this narrative simplifies the local challenges inherent in ensuring just transitions, especially in the Global South. Along with the International Development Research Centre and the Just Jobs Network, I am investigating the question of how to ensure energy transitions are just for the most vulnerable workers in Global South economies heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
-
Gojek, which began as a ride-hailing app and has evolved into a one-stop-shop for digital services, is Indonesia’s first unicorn company. Along with Ashok Das, Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, I am investigating how planners in the Indonesian city of Surabaya are attempting to respond to Gojek’s meteoric rise. Our research exposes the limitations of planners’ current understandings of the gig economy.
-
Deindustrialization conjures images of former factory towns in the Global North, but many regions of the Global South are also experiencing the devastating job losses of economic restructuring, as all industries grow more capital-intensive. With the Zambian Institute for Policy Analysis and Research, the International Growth Centre (London School of Economics), and the Just Jobs Network, I analyzed Zambia’s problem of ‘jobless’ urbanization and developed strategies for revitalizing Zambia’s Copperbelt, which has experienced decline since the 1990s.
-
In a project with the German Marshall Fund and the Just Jobs Network, I investigated the ingredients of Bilbao, Spain’s success in rebuilding an inclusive economy following the devastating impacts of deindustrialization. We asked what lessons Bilbao’s story holds for the American Rust Belt.
Photo credits (left to right): Nick, Diego BIS, Tommy Wahyu Utomo