Daniela Aiello

I am an urban geographer, trained in urban political economy, and theories of critical race and post-colonial studies. Over the last decade my work has been focused on the geographies of housing inequality, especially eviction and rent-burden in North America.

Engaging in broad-based qualitative, comparative and community-based approaches to research, I take part in research, writing and organizing projects that aim to disrupt the falsely constructed dichotomy between the academy and the community. My work is rooted in addressing social and especially urban inequalities through a practice of research-as-organizing, that prioritizes the livingness and thriving of those most impacted by the inequality that property and landlord-tenant relations mark upon the landscape. 

A book project I’m working on right now examines the intimate relationships between present day evictions, colonialism and racial capitalism, bringing necessary insights from critical race, ethnic and critical Indigenous and post-colonial studies to bear on hegemonic socio-spatial and political economic theory within Geography. It draws on archival research, socio-legal historical analysis, oral history and semi-structured interviews, court observation and nine years of grounded research alongside tenants fighting eviction in Atlanta and Vancouver.