[CSH Occasional Seminar Series] When Diseases Reinvent Urban Space (S. Benkimoun)

[CSH Occasional Seminar Series] When Diseases Reinvent Urban Space (S. Benkimoun)


Event Details

  • Date:

The Centre de Sciences Humaines is pleased to invite you to the CSH Occasional Seminar Series

by

Samuel Benkimoun

CSH / Université Paris-1

When Diseases Reinvent Urban Space

On

Monday, 24 February 2020, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm IST

At
Centre de Sciences Humaines
IFI-CSH conference room (ground floor)
2 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road, New Delhi – 110011

Abstract: The ongoing epidemic of Coronavirus showcases the absolute need to monitor properly the spatiality of diseases in terms of case distribution and environmental context. Such a spatial analysis is necessary to be able to apprehend the determinants of the disease’s spread. The disciplinary field of health geography aims to identify the spatial characteristics that influence the emergence of disease outbreak and make certain territories more vulnerable than others. Yet while geographical factors influence the spread of diseases, analysing this very diffusion of diseases also reveals significant information about a territorys spatial dynamics.

This presentation will focus on the case of dengue fever—whose burden is globally estimated at 390 million infections per year according to WHO—in the city of Delhi. I will attempt to show how the case of dengue invites us to rethink urban space and question the notion of “cities” as complex and dynamic systems of flows with constantly changing boundaries. This is due to the fact that diseases are not confined to administrative perimeters but move where infected people go. Recently, dengue has also been brought into the public political debate, with the campaign by the Delhi government entitled “#10Hafte10Baje10Minute”. Delhi citizens were exhorted to get rid of mosquito breeding sites (i.e. the vectors of dengue transmission) by devoting 10 minutes each week to inspecting their own houses and surrounding areas. Such an objective of dengue eradication raises questions regarding the priority focus of public policy. At what scale should health policy be implemented, and on which geographical areas should it focus? This is particularly relevant given the frenetic urban growth that the city of Delhi experiences.

To support this analysis, we will rely on a very unique dataset provided by Facebook in the frame of its “Data for Good Project”. This data gives an accurate record of users’ mobility across all of Northern India. Combined with other data sources such as Census data, dengue cases records from sentinel hospitals, or satellite imagery on urban settlement, this data will allow us to conduct geospatial analysis at a suburban level and present various indicators and cartographies depicting a broader picture of Delhi’s urban context regarding the dengue issue.

Speaker: Samuel Benkimoun is a Ph.D. student in Geography at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, France), member of the joint research unit Géographies-Cités and of the CSH. His research interests focus on topics implying geography and health issues, and on spatial analysis methods. His Ph.D. dissertation discusses the potential links the spread of between infectious diseases and some urban dynamics in emerging country metropolises, such as people’s mobility, urban sprawl or neighborhood social disparities. His work mostly relies on a quantitative, GIS-based, modeling approach, with the city of Delhi as main example. Samuel worked on similar issues at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) in Reunion Island, when he wrote a master’s thesis about spatial modeling of vector-borne diseases. Still at CIRAD he then worked on modeling biting-midges population dynamics; and later joined the Paris Urban Planning Agency (Apur) to work on built-up evolution.

More info:
julien{dot}levesque{at}csh-delhi{dot}com
samuel{dot}benkimoun{at}csh-delhi{dot}com

For registration:

RSVP mentioning your full name to be sent (before Monday, 24 February, 12 p.m.) to: neeru{dot}gohar{at}csh-delhi{dot}com

(!) Due to security protocols, we request you to please pre-register over email and kindly carry an ID proof to be granted access to the venue.

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