Dr Giulia Torino
Lecturer in Urban and Cultural Geography
Research interests
- Geography
- Culture
Contact details
Biography
Dr Torino is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography interested in the spatial politics of migration, race, displacement, and agency, and how these relate to the urban. She joined King's in September 2023, following a Junior Research Fellowship at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (2021-23), where she obtained her PhD in 2021.
Prior to that, Dr Torino worked at the University of Cambridge as Teaching Associate (Department of Politics), at the New York City Department of City Planning, and for an architecture NGO in Benin. Her research has been funded by grants from the British Academy, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UKRI), the Society for Latin American Studies, and the Kettle Yard's Arts Fund. Her interdisciplinary research has appeared on Social and Cultural Geography, Dialogues in Human Geography, Identities, the South Atlantic Quarterly, and the Journal of Latin American Studies, among others.
Research
- Migration and global displacements
- Cities, camps, margins, and peripheries
- Race and racial capitalism
- Spatial justice and agency
- Urban policy and governance
Dr Torino investigates the intersecting dynamics of migration, race, urbanisation, and socio-political transformation in global contexts, with a focus on Southern Europe, Latin America, and North America. Currently, her primary research interest is in how racial capitalism and global displacements reshape urban (and agro-urban) spaces, engaging the lived experiences and resistance strategies of marginalised and migrant communities. Her work is situated at the crossroads of critical urban studies, migration studies, and critical race theory.
Her main research streams are:
- Migration and Precarious Urbanisation in the Black Mediterranean
- Racial Dispossession and Urban Justice in Latin America
- Territorial and Relational Spatial Practices of Resistance
- Technology, Digital Surveillance, and Urban (Un)freedom
See a detailed description of each stream
PhD Supervision
Giulia is currently considering doctoral applications on one or more of the following themes:
- Global human movement
- Cities of migration and refuge
- Displacement, camps, and temporary dwelling
- Informal settlements and informal economies
- Spatial inequality and spatial justice
- Cities and human rights
- Migration policy and urban governance
- Digital peripheries and digital urban inclusion/exclusion
Teaching
Undergraduate
- 4SSG1014 Geographical Foundations
- 4SSG1016 Geography in Action
- 4SSG1008 Fieldtrip
- 5SSG2063 BA Geography Research Tutorials
- 6SSG3072 Right to the City
Undergraduate/Postgraduate
- 6SSG3076/7SSGN212 Critical Geopolitics
Further details
Research
Urban Futures research group
Examining urban futures through a conceptual, analytical and methodological lens that questions what cities are and how they work.
Contested Development research group
Exploring environmental, political and social questions in relation to contested and uneven processes of development.
Features
Hidden in plain sight: how racism shapes Latin American cities
Dr Giulia Torino examines how urban planning in Bogotá, Colombia, perpetuates racism under a facade of multiculturalism.
Research
Urban Futures research group
Examining urban futures through a conceptual, analytical and methodological lens that questions what cities are and how they work.
Contested Development research group
Exploring environmental, political and social questions in relation to contested and uneven processes of development.
Features
Hidden in plain sight: how racism shapes Latin American cities
Dr Giulia Torino examines how urban planning in Bogotá, Colombia, perpetuates racism under a facade of multiculturalism.