Julian Agyeman

Biography

Julian Agyeman Ph.D. FRSA FRGS is a Professor in the Department Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, and is the Fletcher Professor of Rhetoric and Debate, an endowed professorship at Tufts University.

He is the originator of the increasingly influential concept of just sustainabilities, which explores the increasingly intersecting goals of social justice and environmental sustainability, defined as:

The need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now, and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.

Born and trained in the UK, he holds a B.Sc. in Geography and Botany, with a minor in Anthropology (University of Durham, 1980), a Post Graduate Certificate in Education in Geography and Environmental Studies (University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1982), an MA in Conservation Policy (Middlesex University, 1987) and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies (University of London, 1996).

His combined science and social science background, together with extensive experience in local government, consulting, working for, and board-level advising of NGOs and community-based organizations in the UK and US, helps frame his perspectives, research and writing. This enables him to thrive at the borders and intersections of a wide range of disciplines, knowledges and methodologies which he uses in creative and original ways.

Education

• PhD, Urban Studies and Environmental Education, University of London, London, United Kingdom, 1996
• MA, Conservation Policy, Middlesex University, United Kingdom, 1987
• PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education), University of Newcastle-on-Tyne, United Kingdom, 1982
• BSc, Joint Honours, Geography and Botany, subsidiary Anthropology, Van Mildert College University of Durham, United Kingdom, 1980

Research Activities

Agyeman identifies himself as a critical urban planning and environmental social science scholar. He centers his research on critical explorations of the complex and embodied relations between humans and the urban environment, whether mediated by governments or social movement organizations, and their effects on public policy and planning processes and outcomes, particularly in relation to notions of justice and equity. He believes that what our cities can become (sustainable, smart, sharing and resilient) and who is allowed to belong in them (recognition of difference, diversity, and a right to the city) are fundamentally and inextricably interlinked. We must therefore act on both belonging and becoming, together, using just sustainabilities as the anchor, or face deepening spatial and social inequities and inequalities.

His key research contributions are in

• Just sustainabilities in policy, planning and practice
• Environmental and food justice
• Antiracist planning in, and for intercultural cities
• Planning in, and for co-produced and sharing cities