Dr Paula Vandergert
Paula’s 30+ years’ experience continually explores what is required to embed environmental and social justice in practice, and what this means in terms of fostering new, sustainable ways of working. She looks at this from a range of broad adaptive governance-related themes, including meaningful inclusion of local people and nature; and the knowledge, skills and collaboration needs required for just urban transformations.
Paula has led action research projects internationally through her work with environment, development and human rights NGOs; at University of East London (UEL) she works with partners across Europe on Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmes promoting urban nature-based solutions; Paula managed CABE’s (the former UK government advisor on architecture, urban design and public space) Sustainable Cities programme; and at UEL she has also worked on European, DEFRA and NHS England-funded projects and with community groups closer to home in East London.
Whether through research, policy or practice, Paula has always prioritised that her work is both with and for local communities. Her PhD from the LSE explored the complex dynamics involved in delivering environmentally and socially just sustainable development and forest management practices. She remains passionate that solutions to environmental and social challenges are within our grasp when we work together.
Paula’s particular expertise she brings to EM|Path:
Through a range of creative and grounded methods, facilitate the embedding of environmental and social justice in organisations’ practices, projects and partnerships.
Act as a bridging intermediary to foster meaningful connections between organisations and individuals in order to stimulate innovative and sustainable solutions to environmental and social challenges.
Develop practices grounded in eco-therapy techniques, drawing on her positive psychology and coaching psychology training.
Paula’s Nature of Cities articles:
Getting to Know You: The Under-Appreciated Art (Science) of Slow Research and Arts-Led Community Engagement 2020 Getting to Know You: The Under-Appreciated Art (Science) of Slow Research and Arts-Led Community Engagement – The Nature of Cities
Tales from the London 2018 Heatwave: But are we listening? Tales from the London 2018 Heatwave. But Are We Listening? – The Nature of Cities
A Hymn to Nature in My City 2017: Hymn to Nature in My City
Some other publications Paula has co-authored
Book chapter (in press): Nature-based Solutions for Improving Health: The Healthy New Towns Programme in Nature-based Solutions and Water Security An Action Agenda for the 21st Century, Elsevier
Examining the policy needs for implementing nature-based solutions in cities: Findings from city-wide transdisciplinary experiences in Glasgow (UK), Genk (Belgium) and Poznań (Poland). Land Use Policy vol 96, July 2020.
Urban transformation with TURAS open innovations; opportunities for transitioning through transdisciplinarity. (2016) Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 22..
Stuck in the middle with you: The role of bridging organisations in urban regeneration. (2016) Ecological Economics, 129.