Profile
Biography
Cassilde is a PhD student at the University of York, Department of Geography and Environment. Her research focuses on the value and impact of urban green infrastructure on mental health and wellbeing in Nairobi, Kenya.
She is also a Research Fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute’s Africa Centre, working under the Sustainable Urbanisation Programme. She is a geographer with over 9 years’ experience working on biodiversity conservation, city’s health and wellbeing, urban air pollution, sustainable and inclusive urban mobility, transport and gender, off-grid electrification, SDGs and policy coherence, and integration of environmental issues (biodiversity, energy, and climate change) into urban planning policies and strategies. She has worked in France, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Kenya.
Cassilde holds a research-oriented Master’s degree in Environment and Landscape, a Master’s degree in Geography and Planning and a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Planning from the University of Toulouse II– Le Mirail, Toulouse, France.
Research
Overview
Area of research:
- Urban green infrastructure and mental health and wellbeing
- Urban residents’ values and uses of urban green spaces
- Urban governance and green infrastructure planning
- City’s health and wellbeing
- Urban green infrastructure planning
The PhD project explores the value and impact of urban green infrastructure (GI) on mental health and wellbeing in Nairobi, the rapidly expanding capital city of Kenya. First, the research will analyse the recent evolution of GI distribution under urbanisation patterns between 2002 and 2022. This explores how urban expansion patterns have shaped the availability, quality and accessibility of GI over time. An understanding of historical urban GI distribution changes, the drivers and impacts of these changes can inform future urban GI planning policy and practice. This research will also assess the relationship between changes in GI distribution and socio-economic status of Nairobi neighbourhoods over time. Understanding spatiotemporal dynamics of GI quantity, quality and accessibility across neighbourhoods of different socio-economic status can provide essential knowledge for city planners on spatial trends in greening, depletion of GI and hotspots of GI improvement and degeneration and thereby inform equitable and effective GI provision and management in Nairobi. Second, the research will examine how urban governance has shaped the provision and distribution of GI and spatial inequalities in the rapidly expanding city of Nairobi, Kenya, between 2002 and 2022. Understanding how existing governance models have shaped GI quantity, quality and accessibility under rapid urbanisation, is essential for understanding how GI planning can be strengthened to support the human and ecological health of the city and sustainable and inclusive urban development in cities in SSA more generally. Lastly, the research will examine how residents from various neighbourhoods (high, low-income areas and unplanned settlements) use and value GI and factors influencing uses. In addition, we will explore residents' perspectives on the pathways linking GI to mental health. Mapping the experiences and uses of residents from different socio-economic backgrounds will allow us to examine social exclusion and spatial inequality in availability, quality and accessibility of green infrastructure and its implication on mental health and wellbeing. The overall aim of this research is to provide evidence-based insights into the value and mental health benefits of GI to support GI planning and conservation in rapidly expanding cities in SSA.
The PhD is supervised by Dr Steve Cinderby and Dr Rachel Pateman.
