About
Dr. Jola Ajibade is an Associate Professor and a scholar activist in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University. Jola is an interdisciplinary scholar with a keen interest in human-environment relations in cities and a focus on understanding the intersections of cascading climate disasters, climate adaptation, climate justice, community resilience, energy transitions, future cities, AI, and just societal transformations.
Research Interests
She explores how cities are adapting and transforming as a result of climatic variability and extreme events by embracing new sustainability practices such as tree-planting, constructions of eco-cities and climatopias, establishment of managed retreat programs, blue-green infrastructure, and renewable energy projects that are transforming the economic, political, and socio-cultural ‘riskscape’ of cities. Dr Jola seeks to understand how such transformation is perceived by people undergoing change and how socio-ecological justice can be advanced on the one hand, and how the perpetuation of environmental injustices, eco-gentrification,and uneven development can be redressed, on the other hand. Dr Ajibade’s scholarship advances cutting-edge ideas on just urban adaptations through embracing feminist, decolonial, and antiracist approaches as well as care ethics that can lead to more just, livable, and sustainable futures. Her work also promotes partnerships with social entrepreneurs, grassroots coalitions, cooperatives, and small businesses in promoting a shareable economy, sustainable lifestyle changes, low-carbon development, and socially just resilience planning in cities. Dr Ajibade’s work has been featured in many academic journals and media outlets including Science Friday, NPR, Yale Environment 360, Science, New Internationalist, and Vice.
Selected Publications
Walter, M., Bagozzi, B.E., Ajibade, I. Mondal P., (2023). Social media analysis reveals environmental injustices in Philadelphia urban parks. Sci Rep 13, 12571
Egge M and Ajibade I (2023) Water Struggles and Contested Use: A Capabilities Approach to
Water Security Assessment. Journal of Environmental Management. 341, 118047.
Ekoh S, Lemir T, Ajibade I (2023) Climate Change and Coastal Megacities: Adapting through Mobility. Global Environmental Change, 80, 102666.
Ajibade I, Sullivan M, Lower C., Yarina L., Reilly L (2022) Are managed retreat programs successful and just? A global mapping of success typologies, justice dimensions, and trade-offs. Global Environmental Change. 76, 102576.
Ajibade I (2022) The Resilience Fix to Climate Disasters: Recursive and Contested Relations
with Equity and Justice-Based Transformations in the Global South. Annals of American Geographer. 112 (8) 2230-2247
Ajibade, I. & Siders, A. R. (Eds) (2022). Global Views on Climate Relocation and Social Justice.
Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group. pp1-324
Siders A.R, and Ajibade I. (Eds.) (2021). Introduction: Managed retreat and environmental
justice in a changing climate. Special Issue. J Environ Stud Sci, Springer. 11(3), 287-293.
Ulibarri, N., Ajibade, I., Galappaththi, E. K., Joe, E. T., Lesnikowski, A., Mach, K. J., … & Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative Team. (2021). A global assessment of policy tools to support climate adaptation. Climate Policy, 22:1, 77-96
Ajibade I and Boateng G (2021) Predicting why people engage in pro-sustainable behavior
In Portland Oregon: the role of environmental self-identity, personal norm, and socio-demographics. Journal of Environmental Management. 289, 112538
Siders A.R, Ajibade I & Casagrande, D (2021) The transformative potential of retreat as climate
adaptation in coastal areas. Current Opinion on Environmental. Sustainability. 50, 272-280
Egge M and Ajibade I (2021) A Community of Fear: Emotion and the Hydro-Social Cycle in East Porterville. Journal of Political Ecology. 28 (1) 266-285
Ajibade, I. (2017) Can a future city enhance urban resilience and sustainability? A political ecology analysis of Eko Atlantic city. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Vol 26: 85-92
Ajibade, I. Pelling M, Agboola, J. and Garschagen M (2017) Sustainability transitions: exploring risk management and the future of adaptation in Lagos. Journal of Extreme Events.3 (3), 1-25.