Hanae Soma
Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning
Hanae Soma is a doctoral researcher in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan. Her Ph.D. investigates the power dynamics that influence life and governance in informal settlements by analysing organisational structures, historical legacies, and gender relations. Her research examines different levels of informal urbanism, from intra-household decision-making and informal rental systems to state–community relations. Hanae employs feminist perspectives to reveal how gendered and historical forces shape the experiences and governance of informality and the geopolitics of urban life in Bangladesh and Ghana.
Key areas of interest: urban informality, gender and planning, gender and development, everyday politics, feminist methods, qualitative methods
Hanae holds an M.A. in Urban Design and Planning from the University of Sheffield with Distinction, where she was also awarded the ADH Crook Prize for Contributions Towards Social Justice in Planning. Hanae is also a member of the Informal Sustainability Lab at School for Environment and Sustainability.
Publications
Soma, H. (2025). Under construction: socio-material assemblage of informal housing in Dhaka. International Development Planning Review, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2025.21
Soma, H., Sukhwani, V. & Shaw, R. (2022). An Approach to Determining the Linkage Between Livelihood Assets and the Housing Conditions in Urban Slums of Dhaka. Journal of Urban Management, 11(1), 23-36, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jum.2021.08.006
