Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research

This dissertation investigates the relationship between doctrines and rhetoric of sustainable development (SD) and their compatibility with robust notions of migrant justice. I use migrantworkers-built Masdar City, Abu Dhabi's "eco-smart city," as an entry point to examine this relationship. Drawing on Amartya Sen, I rely on a critical capabilities-based environmental justice lens that focuses on the full range of opportunities migrants have at home, in their destination country, and anywhere in between. While this lens offers a means-ends distinction and a pluralistic notion of justice, it must be further specified and supplemented by explicit accounts of structural constraints. The focus, therefore, is on movement and supportive capabilities and this account is further supplemented by Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) and Critical Development Studies that build on post-colonial and post-structural critiques of SD. This multi-lingual project relies on interviews of Pakistani returning migrant workers and government officials; civil society members based in the Gulf region; and Masdar City's studentresidents as well as ethnographic reflection notes taken in the UAE and Pakistan. These data supplement a range of international and domestic laws on labour migration; legal and policy instruments on sustainable development; case law; international organization reports; UAE and Pakistani government documents; and publicly available information published by Masdar. The multi-scalar analysis that follows reveals how the international migration regime creates multiple statuses, affording insufficient protection to migrants in an irregular situation. This is further compounded by how the Emirati labour migration regime allocates certain workers to sectors based on race, gender, class, etc. Even the ways it is subverted incentivize and reinforce irregularity and precarity for the most vulnerable. Ultimately, I argue that while irregularity and precarity are mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goals that seek to "leave no one behind," sustainable development's eco-modernist logic and unidimensional view of economic-centred growth waters down its social content. In eco-cities such as Masdar, the status quo is sustained while marginalized and racialized migrant workers building eco-cities are erased in post-oil futures. This project's focus on an oil-rich monarchy contributes to the growing literature on environmental justice in the global South and focus on capabilities adds to theoretical debates on the "justice" in environmental justice. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Amira Obad Mubarak (1992-2021), my friend and sister. You lit all the rooms you passed. and guidance without which this would not have been possible. I will not forget our prefieldwork and pre-covid lockdown meetings. I am also grateful for excellent committee members: Amar Bhatia who went above and beyond, and Tania Das Gupta whose careful comments and questions continue to keep me thinking. I would like to thank the examination committee members, Noora Lori, Leah Vosko and Jennifer Nedelsky -thank you for your patience with a zoom defense and for your thoughtful, inspiring engagement. Thank you, also, to Sonia Lawrence, and Craig Scott for their support as GPD's when it was needed the most. I would also like to acknowledge the Graduate Programme's, Osgoode Hall Law Library's and Scott Library's valuable staff, particularly

This dissertation investigates the relationship between doctrines and rhetoric of sustainable development (SD) and their compatibility with robust notions of migrant justice. I use migrant-workers-built Masdar City, Abu Dhabis "eco-smart city," as an entry point to examine this relationship. Drawing on Amartya Sen, I rely on a critical capabilities-based environmental justice lens that focuses on the full range of opportunities migrants have at home, in their destination country, and anywhere in between. While this lens offers a means-ends distinction and a pluralistic notion of justice, it must be further specified and supplemented by explicit accounts of structural constraints. The focus, therefore, is on movement and supportive capabilities and this account is further supplemented by Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) and Critical Development Studies that build on post-colonial and post-structural critiques of SD. This multi-lingual project relies on in...

This article explores whether the doctrine and rhetoric of sustainable development (SD) are compatible with robust notions of migrant justice, through a focus on Masdar City, an eco-smart city in oil-rich Abu Dhabi. After discussing what migrant justice entails and the potential link between SD and migrant workers' concerns, I examine how SD is practiced in Masdar City. Drawing on Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), I study the example of Masdar to understand the process of how SD gets coopted because of SD's conceptual evolution which consistently places economic concerns over social and environmental aspects. Ultimately, my study of Masdar City shows the eco-modernist logic and unidimensional view of economic-centered growth that is embedded in the concept of SD, watering down its social content and undermining its compatibility with migrant justice.

IntroductionThe increasing incidence of pathogen transmission from animals to humans (zoonotic spillover events) has been attributed to behavioural practices and ecological and socioeconomic change. As these events sometimes involve pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential, they pose a serious threat to population health. Public policies may play a key role in preventing these events. The aim of this review is to identify evaluations of public policies that target the determinants of zoonotic spillover, examining approaches taken to evaluation, choice of outcomes measures and evidence of effectiveness. Our approach to identifying and analysing this literature will be informed by a One Health lens, acknowledging the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health.Methods and analysisA systematic scoping review methodology will be used. To identify articles, we will search Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Global Health in May 2021 using search terms combining anim...

Background Emerging infectious diseases of zoonotic origin present a critical threat to global population health. As accelerating globalisation makes epidemics and pandemics more difficult to contain, there is a need for effective preventive interventions that reduce the risk of zoonotic spillover events. Public policies can play a key role in preventing spillover events. The aim of this review is to identify and describe evaluations of public policies that target the determinants of zoonotic spillover. Our approach is informed by a One Health perspective, acknowledging the inter-connectedness of human, animal and environmental health. Methods In this systematic scoping review, we searched Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Global Health in May 2021 using search terms combining animal health and the animal-human interface, public policy, prevention and zoonoses. We screened titles and abstracts, extracted data and reported our process in line with PRISMA-ScR guidelines. We also sea...

As the widespread proliferation of technology changes how communities engage and respond to crisis, new mechanisms, such as Digital Response Networks (DRNs), emerge with the potential to facilitate collaboration and si- tuational awareness between responders and local communities. DRNs are social networks of physical responders (e.g. local government, authorities, emergency responders, communities) and digital responders i.e. Volunteer & Te- chnical Communities (V&TCs) 1 connected through a central hub. They are often considered a network-of-networks. This guide will step you through creating a localized DRN by describing a) the purpose and required capability of a DRN, b) considerations before creating a DRN, and c) how to setup and sustain the DRN hub and larger network.

The evolution of technology is creating a more complex, connected society of interdependent networks and processes. As connectivity increases, so does the concentration of value. This increases the consequence of failure and the scale, scope and complexity of potential risks causing these systems to fail. These systems are made resilient by making the physical and virtual networks resilient in isolation and intersection. Yet existing resilience practices fail to address the complexities of virtual networks and their dynamics with the physical environment, specifically the requirements of physical infrastructure networks to enable resilient virtual networks and vice versa. This paper aims to address this gap through a simulated case study of resilience development within and between a physical network and a virtual online network. The networked operational resilience framework is applied to an emergency services network partnered with a digital response network (DRN). DRNs are virtua...

This essay explores the paradox of activists using corporate-owned platforms-the 'master's tools' (Lorde, 1984)-in the context of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Grounded in findings from interviews with 30 women activists from eight North American Occupy sites, this essay reveals the frictions that result from the entangled paradox between philosophies embedded within technologies and activists' philosophies. We document entanglements between corporate platforms and radical democratic ideals, and subsequent frictions between activists' ideals and more pragmatic, DIY practices. We also investigate frictions between aspirations of openness, and the realities of surveillance and infiltration by the police state. We examine entanglements through the theoretical lenses of 'connective labor' (Boler et al, 2014), 'veillance' (Mann, 2004), and the 'master's tools' (Lorde, 1984), and lay the groundwork for 'queering the binary of individuals and groups' (Barad, 2012) and recognising the non-linear, dynamic relations of social movements.

As society becomes increasingly networked, both physically and virtually, so do human operations. This change exposes a unique subset of challenges and risks associated with the intersection of systems and the potential for cascading failure. Yet existing risk and resilience dependency models fail to accommodate these complexities, potentially exposing the capabilities that infrastructure systems enable to catastrophic failure. This paper builds on operational resilience (OR) theory, to develop a theoretical framework for developing resilience in physical and virtual networks, the networked OR framework. The authors argue that risk tolerance and resilience is developed through the concept of a projected tableau which is well situated in the broader network context. An overview of resilience, networks and OR is provided, with an explanation of the networked OR concept, a revised framework for developing resilience in networks and application to an emergency services network. Infrastructure Asset Management Building resilience in virtual and physical networked operations Phillips and Hay Infrastructure Asset Management

As society becomes increasingly networked, both physically and virtually, so do human operations. This change exposes a unique subset of challenges and risks associated with the intersection of systems and the potential for cascading failure. Yet existing risk and resilience dependency models fail to accommodate these complexities, potentially exposing the capabilities that infrastructure systems enable to catastrophic failure. This paper builds on operational resilience (OR) theory, to develop a theoretical framework for developing resilience in physical and virtual networks, the networked OR framework. The authors argue that risk tolerance and resilience is developed through the concept of a projected tableau which is well situated in the broader network context. An overview of resilience, networks and OR is provided, with an explanation of the networked OR concept, a revised framework for developing resilience in networks and application to an emergency services network.

This module aims to explore the individual- and community-level factors identified in our research in more depth through comparative analysis across case studies. We explore three factors – 1) Perceptions of Data Collection & Management; 2) Sense of Community; and 3) Communications & Misinformation – identified as potential influencers of app-uptake at the individual (micro) and community (meso) levels as well as at the intersection of the community-system (meso-macro) levels. Discussion will begin with a brief summary of user-uptake across case studies to provide context. We then briefly describe how each factor fits within each level of analysis before exploring the research findings across the five case studies. We then situate these findings within the global scope (i.e. what these factors look like beyond the case studies) alongside broader discussion and emerging research on D-CT uptake in relation to risk and benefit perception.

This module aims to explore the system-level factors identified in our research in more depth through comparative analysis across case studies. We explore five factors – 1) Accessibility & Inclusion; 2) Trust in Public/Private Institutions; 3) Policy & Governance; 4) Response Infrastructure; and 5) Digital Capability – identified as potential influencers of app-uptake at the system (macro) level. Discussion will begin with a brief summary of user-uptake across case studies to provide context. We then briefly describe how each factor fits within the system-level before exploring the research findings across the five case studies. We then situate these findings within the global scope (i.e. what these factors look like beyond the case studies) alongside broader discussion and emerging research on D-CT uptake in relation to risk and benefit perception.

This module aims to explore Digital Contact Tracing (D-CT) developed and implemented in Ireland for the COVID-19 response. Focus is on their D-CT app, COVID Tracker Ireland, and understanding user-uptake. The case study begins with a brief overview of the country's overall response to COVID-19 and the impact of the virus on the country. Following, we explain Ireland's app by describing how it emerged, how it is designed and functions, how users engage with the app across the whole user-engagement process, and what user-uptake looks like in the country. The next section describes the main factors that emerged in our research for this country that suggest influencing user-uptake within the country's context including public perceptions, sense of community, communications & misinformation, accessibility & inclusion, and public trust. This section ends with a brief conclusion.