Who we are
Urban Institute academics undertake critical interdisciplinary research to analyse the socio-technical, political, cultural and ecological dynamics of contemporary urban life.
Find out more about our team of researchers
Urban Institute staff


Dr Hita Unnikrishnan
Newton International FellowFaculty of Social Sciences
Hita joined the Urban Institute as a post-doctoral researcher on a Newton International Fellowship. Her work will focus on histories of urban water commons within the south Indian city of Bengaluru.
h.unnikrishnan@sheffield.ac.uk

Dr Prince K Guma
Post-Doctoral Research AssociateFaculty of Social Sciences
Prince’s work explores the multiple ways through which cities and infrastructure domains are constructed and reconstructed through the diffusion and uptake of new plans, ideas and technologies
p.guma@sheffield.ac.uk+44 792 693 6966
Associates


Professor Rowland Atkinson
Research Chair in Inclusive SocietiesDepartment of Urban Studies and Planning
Gentrification and displacement, cities and crime; wealth, poverty and exclusion; segregation and urban security; 'gated communities' and fortress homes.
rowland.atkinson@sheffield.ac.uk+44 114 222 6936
PhD Students
Visitors


Dr. Claudia Fonseca Alfaro
Urban Institute Visiting Fellow, Malmö, SwedenFaculty of Social Sciences
Claudia is Project Researcher at the Institute for Urban Research, Malmö University, Sweden. She is a postcolonial and feminist urban scholar with expertise in Latin America.
C.FonsecaAlfaro@sheffield.ac.uk

Dr Lalli Metsola
Visiting Fellow, Urban Institute, Helsinki, FinlandFaculty of Social Sciences
Lalli Metsola is an Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki whose current project looks at social infrastructuring and everyday governance in South African cities.
lalli.metsola@helsinki.fi

Professor Michele Lancione
Urban Institute Visiting Fellow, Turin, ItalyFaculty of Social Sciences
Michele Lancione is Professor of Economic and Political Geography at the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, and Visiting Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.
michele.lancione@polito.it