Urban transformation, co-creation and wellbeing in disadvantaged neighbourhoods

My research focuses on cross-sectoral collaboration and co-creation processes between civil society and public actors in the social welfare and elderly care sectors, with an emphasis on marginalised groups and disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Over the past decade, I have worked extensively on how structural conditions in vulnerable urban areas shape everyday life, social relations, and access to welfare.

I am currently PI on a project in Odense, Denmark, examining the effects of large-scale urban transformation on residents’ lives. The project investigates an ongoing policy-driven effort to transform predominantly immigrant and socially deprived neighbourhoods into socioeconomically mixed areas. The project pays particular attention to older adults who are relocated and experience the loss of social networks, local attachments, and familiar surroundings.

Using ethnographic methods, I explore how these profound neighbourhood changes intersect with marginalization and vulnerability, and how collaborative, place-based efforts can support older adults’ wellbeing, agency, and sense of belonging. This includes a focus on inhabitants lived experiences and the social dimensions of urban change.

In addition to my research, I am an associate lecturer, teaching and coordinating continuing education programmes for social workers. I hold an MA in Middle Eastern Studies combines with many years of experience working with integration and migration, both nationally and internationally.