Dr Savannah Cox

School of Geography and Planning

Lecturer in Environment

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savannah.cox@sheffield.ac.uk

Full contact details

Dr Savannah Cox
School of Geography and Planning
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
Profile

Savannah Cox is a Lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Her research focuses on the intersections of financial systems, adaptive and resilient urban infrastructures, and climate justice. As an interdisciplinary researcher, Savannah engages with the fields of urban studies (including planning), science and technology studies, and human geography in her work.

Prior to joining the Department in 2023, Savannah worked as a Lecturer of Human Geography at Loughborough University’s Department of Geography and Environment. She received her PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of California-Berkeley, and in her dissertation investigated the ways in which finance shaped large-scale adaptation and resilience projects in Miami, Florida. Her work on these subjects has received support and award nominations from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the Association of European Schools of Planning.

Savannah has published articles in journals including Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space; Economy and Society; The Geographical Journal; The Annals of the American Association of Geographers; The Journal of Urban Affairs, and Geoforum. A former journalist, Savannah’s writing has also been featured in outlets such as Salon and The New Republic. At present, Savannah is an Associate Editor of C40 Cities’ peer-reviewed journal, Journal of City Climate Policy & Economy.

Research interests

My research interests to-date center on urban climate governance. I am especially interested in the politics of urban adaptation and resilience planning and the ways in which cities come to "know" and act on climate risks. Thus far, I have conducted research on these subjects in Miami, New York, New Orleans, and the Bay Area. I take a highly interdisciplinary approach to my work, and regularly engage with debates in urban and economic geography, political ecology, science and technology studies, and urban planning.

My research has focused on issues such as: how key players within global financial systems are developing their understandings of urban climate vulnerability and resilience and the implications for climate-changing cities; how resilience efforts intervene in, and stand to reconfigure, longstanding racial formations in cities; how climate justice activists mobilize resilience to make claims to the city and its future, as well the significance of the resilience and design turn within the field of urban planning more broadly.

Publications

Journal articles