Prof. Natalia Escobar Castrillón awarded SSHRC grant for equitable cities research

Assistant Professor Natalia Escobar Castrillón has been awarded a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for a study on immigrant and refugee women’s access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

The three-year, $69,540 SSHRC Insight Development Grant is for a project titled Undoing White Settler Designed Cities: The Urban Experiences of Immigrant and Refugee Women in Canada.

“The knowledge co-produced with local communities will be shared with governmental agencies and local organizations to support the development of more equitable urban futures,” says Dr. Escobar Castrillón.

The study focuses on five urban areas in Ottawa-Gatineau, where more than 40 percent of people identify as low-income immigrant or refugee women and members of racialized populations.

Dr. Escobar Castrillón is the principal investigator of the study, that explores a participatory mapping method to document the first-hand urban experiences of diasporic communities. 

Participants overwrite a map of the city with their comments on topics such as transportation, amenities, services, and housing. The goal is to assess the adequacy and accessibility of urban infrastructure in their neighbourhoods.

“This is an empowering method that highlights the value of firsthand experience, the knowledge of community members, and their capacity to lead changes,” says Escobar Castrillón.

To date, she has pursued this work in the Ottawa neighbourhoods of Overbrook and Cyrville and presented the research at the annual meeting for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture last March.

The study explores the concept of access beyond physical presence and proximity, to include questions about cultural, religious, and linguistic diversity, gender and age inclusivity, safety, affordability, schedule flexibility, maintenance, transit reliability, and social diversity and connectivity.

Although urban populations are becoming increasingly diverse, most cities are not designed to provide equitable access to urban amenities and infrastructure, says Escobar Castrillón.

“Twentieth-century Western urban design standards were rooted in Eurocentric ideals, primarily addressing the needs of White, economically secure, able-bodied, neurotypical, cis-gender, heterosexual males,” she writes.

 “As a result, one key aspect of designing equitable cities is understanding the different embodied experiences of marginalized populations,” she says. “However, at present, city planners rely on quantitative and abstract urban studies that continue to render other social groups invisible.” 

Escobar Castrillón adds that this issue is particularly relevant in Canada, where projections estimate that by 2041, one in three people will be a current or former immigrant. In addition, two in five people and one-third of the total female population will belong to racialized populations.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) is a federal research funding agency that reports to Parliament through the ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry. Between 2022 and 2023 SSHRC received 13,000 applications.