Short course
Counterplotting the Urban: Decolonial Sustainable Urban Development
Course status:
Closed to new applications
Location:
Online
Dates:
10/06/2026 - 10/06/2026
Study format:
Short intensive
Fees:
£160.00
Cities around the world still bear a legacy of colonial pasts. Contemporary practices in urban place management, development, and policy often reinforce entrenched narratives that foster inequality and segregation. It is vital to develop approaches that ‘counterplot’ these narratives and help deliver better urban environments for all citizens.
This course unpacks how colonialism continues to shape contemporary urban settings, particularly across the Global South. Participants will critically examine colonial logics embedded in urban development and placemaking that reinforce spatial inequalities, dispossession and exclusion. The course also addresses how practitioners can actively counteract these dynamics.
Key themes that will be covered during the event by expert speakers include path dependency, decolonial practice and counter-plotting.
Participants will be:
- Challenged to reimagine urban development through a decolonial lens.
- Equipped with the knowledge and tools to re-shape systems to address colonial injustice and co-create urban futures that are fair and just.
The course will be delivered online in an interactive, seminar-style format. We begin by establishing a strong foundation, bringing participants up to speed on core concepts and contemporary debates in decolonial theory in the urban. Through a series of case studies interwoven into each session, we will examine how colonial path dependencies continue to shape urban settings together with their social, cultural, and economic implications. In the final breakout session, we will collaboratively explore ways to counterplot against colonial logics in policy and practice, with the aim of advancing fairer and more just urban futures.
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Accommodation
Accommodation is available to book for this course at Rewley House. If you have any questions regarding the accommodation please get in touch with Continuing Education Residential Centre res-ctr@conted.ox.ac.uk.
All bedrooms are modern, comfortably furnished and each room has tea and coffee making facilities, Freeview television, and Free WiFi and private bath or shower rooms.
Programme details
09:00 Welcome & Introductions (Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann)
09:05 Inherited Paths: A look at Path Dependencies and the Reproduction of Colonial Logics (Dr Francesca Froy & Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann)
09:45 Colonial Legacies, Land Governance & Issues of Tenure in West Africa (Dr Timothy Adams)
10:50 Break
11:00 What We Preserve and What We Forget: The Making of Indian Cities, Colonial Heritage and Decolonial Urban Futures (Dr Pooja Rambhakta)
12:20 Break
13:15 The Coloniality of Energy Transitions in Urban Settlements (Dr Idalina Baptista)
14:20: Echoes of Empire: A Caribbean Perspective on Confronting Colonial Path Dependencies in the Contemporary City Through a Decolonial Lens (Ms. Gina Granado)
15:20 Break
15:25 Breakout Session (Dr Francesca Froy & Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann & Dr Pooja Rambhakta)
17:00 Close of Session (Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann)
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes of the course are:
- To establish a common understanding of coloniality’s role in shaping contemporary urban development and spatial injustice.
- To establish a common understanding of “post-colonial” vs “decolonial” in theory and practice
- To critically examine ways of counterplotting against spatial injustices in practice.
Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann (sustainable urban development, Oxford Lifelong Learning)
Dr Francesca Froy (sustainable urban development, Oxford Lifelong Learning)
Dr Idalina Baptista (sustainable urban development, Oxford Lifelong Learning)
Dr Pooja Rambhakta (cultural heritage and spatial planning)
Ms. Gina Granado (international relations, gender and development)
Dr Timothy Adams (land tenure, gender and development)
Dr Idalina Baptista – Tutor
Keywords: African urbanization, urban planning and governance, energy infrastructure, urban theory.
Idalina Baptista is an Associate Professor in Urban Anthropology, a Fellow of Kellogg College and an Associate Fellow of the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities at the University of Oxford. She is also the Director of the DPhil in Sustainable Urban Development. Idalina teaches urban theory in the MSc in Sustainable Urban Development and has taught in the past on diverse themes relating to urban planning and environmental management at the University of California, Berkeley, the New University of Lisbon, Universidade Aberta, and Universidade Atlântica, in Portugal. Idalina also held a visiting position at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon and collaborated with colleagues at the New University of Lisbon on projects and initiatives involving public participation in urban and environmental planning and policymaking. Her teaching and research is informed by her past experience as an environmental planning consultant and as a volunteer to NGOs in the environmental sector. She holds a PhD in City and Regional Planning (2009) and a Master in Landscape Architecture (Environmental Planning concentration) (1999) from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a BEng in Environmental Engineering (1996) from the New University of Lisbon, Portugal.
Idalina’s current research focuses on the colonial and post-colonial geographies of urban energy infrastructure and urbanization in African cities, with a special focus on Maputo, Mozambique. Her latest research project, “Electric Urbanism: the Governance of Electricity in Urban Africa”, was funded by Oxford’s John Fell Fund. The project uses the case study of the prepaid electricity system in Maputo, Mozambique, to examine the challenges of accessing utility services in the global South. Through her research, Idalina seeks to deepen her understanding of African urbanization and the challenges of governing urban infrastructures in Africa. In particular, she’s interested in understanding how different forms of infrastructure governance emerge and the patterns of urbanization, citizenship and urban livelihoods these engender. Idalina’s work has been published in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Studies, Urban Geography, City & Society and in edited collections.
Pooja Biswas Rambhakta – Tutor
Pooja Biswas Rambhakta is an interdisciplinary researcher and practitioner working at the intersection of cultural heritage, economic sustainability and urban development. She holds a Doctorate in Economics from Sorbonne University, Paris, where her research examined the financial viability of conserving vernacular heritage. Her academic background also includes an Masters in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Sheffield, U.K., an MA in Geography from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, and a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Geography from the University of Calcutta.
Dr Rambhakta’s research and professional practice focus on establishing long-term cultural and economic sustainability by integrating heritage resources directly into regional planning, economic development, and public policy frameworks. Her work is dedicated to framing the strategic vision required to shape inclusive, sustainable futures, bringing an interdisciplinary perspective that combines economics, planning, geography, and cultural policy.
She has built extensive, high-level experience in the consulting and advisory sector, specializing in public policy, vision documents and strategic intervention development for complex regional initiatives. Throughout her career, she serves as a key advisor to government institutions, leading projects that span culture-led development, heritage management, tourism strategy, interpretation planning, and sustainable urban development. Currently, she is with EY India in the Government and Public Sector advisory practice within Strategy and Transactions, drawing upon a diverse professional history across government, academia, and international contexts.
Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann – Course Director
Dr Desiree Daniel-Ortmann | Oxford Lifelong Learning, University of Oxford
Desiree Daniel-Ortmann is a Departmental Tutor in Sustainable Urban Development, and Supervisor for the DPhil in Sustainable Urban Development at the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. Previously, Desiree was Departmental Lecturer for the Master’s in Sustainable Urban Development, Department for Continuing Education, and a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Geography, University of Bern in Switzerland. Desiree holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Bonn, Germany (2018), a Master’s in Geoinformatics from the University of Muenster, Germany (2011) and a Bachelor’s in Geomatics from the University of the West Indies (2009).
Dr Francesca Froy – Tutor
Dr Francesca Froy | Oxford Lifelong Learning, University of Oxford
Francesca Froy is a Lecturer for the Master’s in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Kellogg College. She is an Honorary Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning and also a Senior Research Fellow at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Francesca sits on the Editorial Board for the Local Economy Journal. Prior to her academic roles she worked for over twenty years in policy analysis and delivery, and until 2015 was a senior policy analyst at the OECD, where she led international reviews on local policy implementation, employment and skills strategies and local governance for the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. She is an Associate at the planning and architecture consultancy, Space Syntax.
Francesca holds a PhD in Architecture from the Bartlett, UCL (2021), an MSC in Advanced Architectural Studies from UCL (2014), an MA in The Body and its Representation from the University of Reading (1996) and a BSc in Anthropology from UCL (1994).
Gina Granado – Tutor
Ms Gina Granado is an international relations professional with over 15 years of experience. She holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of the West Indies and works at the intersection of diplomacy, culture and decolonial practice. She contributed to the Cross Rhodes Freedom movement in the Caribbean, advancing renaming initiatives and the removal of colonial monuments in Trinidad and Tobago. Her research interests include post-colonial politics, reparations, race and decolonial movements.
Certification
Certificate
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will receive a certificate of attendance.
Digital badge
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be issued with an official digital badge from Oxford Lifelong Learning, University of Oxford. After the course, you will receive an email with a link and instructions on how to download your digital badge. You will be able to add your badge to your email signature and share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Online Tuition: 10 June 2026 | £160.00 |
Payment
Payment of fees must be made in full at the time of booking.
Please note that businesses and organisations can be invoiced on provision of a Purchase Order and completed application form. These can be emailed to the CWHE Programme Administrator, email: cultural.heritage@conted.ox.ac.uk.
Module code: O25P260PAR
Please use the ‘Book’ or ‘Apply’ button on this page. Alternatively, please contact cultural.heritage@conted.ox.ac.uk to obtain an application form. Enrolments will close 3 weeks before course start date.