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Dr Joana Barros

Positions held:
  • Senior Research Fellow, School of Social Sciences
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  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Joana Barros is an urban planner and geographic information scientist interested in applying geographic information data, tools and technologies to improve the understanding of urban inequalities and promote social justice. While her research has mainly focused on urban issues in Latin American and more particularly Brazilian cities, her research interests also include other cities in the Global South as well as comparative studies with cities in the Global North.

    The main themes of her research are: segregation, urban growth and change, informal settlements, and transport. She is committed to applying geospatial data and geotechnologies to improve our understanding of social inequalities in urban space as well as to develop tools that both inform and guide practitioners in the development of urban policies and interventions.

    Professional memberships

    • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with IBG

    • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Urban Planning
    • Geographic Information Science
    • Urban Modelling
    • Urban Analytics
    • Socio-spatial Inequalities

    Research overview

    Joana鈥檚 areas of expertise lie in urban planning and geographic information science, more specifically spatial analysis and dynamic modelling techniques applied to urban systems.


    Her recently completed research project entitled RESOLUTION (Resilient Systems for Land Use and Transportation) looked into the interplay between transport accessibility and socio-spatial inequalities in the metropolitan areas of two megacities, London and S茫o Paulo, and, thus, had a strong comparative focus. The project, funded by ESRC and FAPESP (Brazil) was a collaboration between 糖心logo入口, the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA, UCL), the University of S茫o Paulo (USP), the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) and the Brazilian National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE).


    Together with colleagues from UK (UCL, KCL), Netherlands and China, Joana has been recently awarded funding for the SIMETRI Project - SustaInable Mobility and Equality in mega-ciTy RegIons: patterns, mechanisms and governance, which starts in March 2019. The project is funded by the ESRC in the UK, NWO in the Netherlands and NF in China.

    Research Centres and Institutes

    • Honorary Senior Research Associate,

    Research clusters and groups

    • ,

    Research projects

    SIMETRI: Sustainable Mobility and Equality in mega-city Regions: patterns, mechanisms and governance.

    Abstract

    The SustaInable Mobility and Equality in Mega-ciTy RegIons (SIMETRI) project seeks to strengthen understanding of the emerging phenomenon of very large urban agglomerations through the development of an innovative platform combining state-of-the-art simulation models, big data from transport and new information technologies. Drawing on research on indicators and predictions undertaken in London (UK) and Randstad (the Netherlands), the project seeks to address spatial segregation, inequality and mobility challenges in the Pearl River Delta Greater Bay Region (China) through the development of a groundbreaking set of tools, indicators and analysis.

    This project is being developed in partnership with University College London (UCL) 鈥 Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), King鈥檚 College London 鈥 Geography, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 鈥 School of Business and Economics, Shenzhen University 鈥 School of Architecture and Urban Planning, The University of Hong Kong 鈥 Shenzhen Institute of Research and Innovation and Sun Yat-sen University 鈥 School of Geography and Planning.

    Post doctoral staff

    • Dr Nlufer Sari Aslam
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Whearty, Matthew and Murcio Villanueva, Roberto and Barros, Joana (2026) . Urban, Planning and Transport Research 14 (1), ISSN 2165-0020.
    • Whearty, Matthew and Murcio Villanueva, Roberto and Barros, Joana (2026) . Urban, Planning and Transport Research 14 (1), pp. 2612861. ISSN 2165-0020.
    • Silva de Araujo, A. and Bugs, G.T. and Barros, Joana and Massucheto, J. and Alves, P. and da Fonseca Feitosa, F. (2026) . Urban Studies 63 (7), pp. 1576-1594. ISSN 0042-0980.
    • Yadav, A. and Jin, T. and Barros, Joana and Koomen, E. and Bacao, F. (2026) . Cities 173 (106980), ISSN 0264-2751.
    • Sari Aslam, Nilufer and Barros, Joana and Lin, H. and Murcio Villanueva, Roberto and Bei, H. (2024) . Transportation Planning and Technology pp. 1-16. ISSN 0308-1060.
    • Saraiva, M. and Barros, Joana (2022) . Applied Geography 144 (102731), ISSN 0143-6228.
    • Li, Q.-Q. and Yue, Y. and Gao, Q.-L. and Zhong, C. and Barros, Joana (2022) . Urban Informatics 1 (5), ISSN 2731-6963.
    • Giannotti, M. and Barros, Joana and Tomasiello, D. and Smith, D. and Pizzol, B. and Santos, B. and Zhong, C. and Shen, Y. and Marques, E. and Batty, M. (2021) . Cities 109 (103016), ISSN 0264-2751.
    • Smith, D.A. and Shen, Y. and Barros, Joana and Zhong, C. and Batty, M. and Giannotti, M. (2020) . Journal of Transport Geography 86 (102767), ISSN 0966-6923.
    • Barros, Joana and Feitosa, F. (2018) . Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science 45 (6), pp. 1073-1089. ISSN 2399-8083.
    • De Araujo, Agnes and Barros, Joana and Queiroz, Alfredo (2018) . Revista do Departamento de Geografia pp. 1-14. ISSN 2236-2878.
    • Barros, Joana (2017) . Journal of Geography in Higher Education 41 (3), pp. 353-367. ISSN 0309-8265.
    • Barreira-Gonz谩lez, P. and Barros, Joana (2016) . International Journal of Geographical Information Science 31 (3), pp. 617-636. ISSN 1365-8816.
    • Kuffer, M. and Barros, Joana and Sliuzas, R.V. (2014) . Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 48, pp. 138-152. ISSN 0198-9715.
    • Willis, I. and Gibin, M. and Barros, Joana and Webber, R. (2014) . Natural Hazards 70 (1), pp. 1-22. ISSN 0921-030X.
    • Kuffer, Monika and Barros, Joana (2011) . Procedia Environmental Sciences 7, pp. 152-157. ISSN 1878-0296.
    • Lizarazo, Ivan and Barros, Joana (2010) . Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing pp. 151-162. ISSN 0099-1112.
    • Batty, M. and Barros, Joana and Alves Jr., S. (2004) . UCL Working Papers Series 72, pp. 1-17. ISSN 1467-1298.
    • Barros, Joana and Sobreira, F. (2002) . UCL Working Papers Series 55, pp. 1-10. ISSN 1467-1298.

    Book section

    • Feitosa, F. and Barros, Joana and Marques, E. and Giannotti, M. (2021) . In: van Ham, M. and Tammaru, T. and Ubarevi膷ien臈, R. and Janssen, H. (eds.) Urban Socio-Economic Segregation and Income Inequality: A Global Perspective. The Urban Book Series. Springer. pp. 507-523. ISBN 9783030645694.
    • Smith, D.A. and Barros, Joana (2020) . In: Mulley, C. and Nelson, J.D. (eds.) Urban Form and Accessibility: Social, Economic, and Environment Impacts. Elsevier. pp. 27-44. ISBN 9780128198223.
    • Fligg, R. and Barros, Joana (2016) . In: Lombard, J.R. and Stern, E. and Clarke, G. (eds.) Applied Spatial Modelling and Planning. Routledge Advances in Regional Economics, Science and Policy. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 315-343. ISBN 9781138925700.
    • Barros, Joana (2012) . In: Batty, M. and Heppenstall, A. and Crooks, A. (eds.) Agent-based Models of Geographical Systems. Netherlands: Springer. pp. 571-589. ISBN 9789048189274.
    • Barros, Joana and Sobreira, F. (2008) . In: Minai, A. and Bar-Yam, Y. (eds.) Unifying Themes in Complex Systems IV: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Complex Systems. Berlin, Germany: Springer. pp. 265-273. ISBN 9783540738497.
    • Batty, M. and Barros, Joana and Alves Jr., S. (2006) . In: Garnsey, E. and McGlade, J. (eds.) Complexity and Co-Evolution: Continuity and Change in Socio-Economic Systems. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. ISBN 9781845421403.
    • Batty, M. and Barros, Joana and Alves Jr., S. (2005) . In: Bruzzo, A. and Occelli, S. (eds.) Le Relazioni Tra Conoscenza Ed Innovazione Nello Sviluppo Dei Territori. Franco Angeli: Milan, Italy. ISBN 9788846471109.
    • Barros, Joana (2004) . In: Atkinson, P.M. and Foody, G.M. and Darby, S.E. and Wu, F. (eds.) Geodynamics. New York, USA: CRC Press. ISBN 9780849328374.
    • Barros, Joana and Alves Jr., S. (2003) . In: Longley, P. and Batty, M. (eds.) Advanced Spatial Analysis: The Casa Book of GIS. London, UK: ESRI Press. ISBN 9781589480735.

    Conference item

    • Trilla Cisa, D. and Barros, Joana (2021) . GISRUK 2021, 2021, Cardiff, Wales, UK (Online)
    • Havemann, Leo and Charles, Elizabeth and Sherman, S. and Rodgers, Scott and Barros, Joana (2018) . ALT-C 2018: 25th Annual Conference, 2018, Manchester, UK
    • Leal, Joanne and Havemann, Leo and Barros, Joana and Drew, Elizabeth (2016) . Learning and Teaching Seminars, 2016, London, UK
    • Havemann, Leo and Drew, Liz and Barros, Joana and Leal, Joanne (2013) . Can We Do It? Yes We Can: HEA/SEEC Conference 2013, 2013, London, UK
    • Walker, L. and Barros, Joana (2012) . GISRUK, 2012, Lancaster University, UK
    • de Alba, H. and Barros, Joana (2012) . GISRUK, 2012, Lancaster University, UK
    • Rains, T. and Barros, Joana (2011) . International Symposium on Spatio-Temporal Analysis and Data Mining, 2011, University College London
    • Mitchell, B. and Barros, Joana (2011) . International Symposium on Spatio-Temporal Analysis and Data Mining, 2011, University College London
    • Mitchell, B. and Barros, Joana and Wendel, D. (2010) . GISRUK, 2010, University College London
    • Willis, I. and Barros, Joana and Gibin, Maurizio and Webber, R. (2010) . GISRUK, 2010, University College London
    • Pottage, S. and Barros, Joana and Nixon, J. and Cannell, A. (2010) . GISRUK, 2010, University College London
    • Havemann, Leo and Charles, Elizabeth and Sherman, S. and Rodgers, Scott and Barros, Joana . CDE RIDE conference 2019, London, UK