Prof. Hanna Hilbrandt

Hanna Hilbrandt serves as an Associate Professor in Social Geography and Urban Studies (tenured) at the University of Zurich (UZH) Department of Geography. Her research aims to advance a global, comparative research agenda on processes of marginalization in housing and urban development in the context of globalizing financial markets and heightened climate crisis. She is trained as an architect, urbanist, and human geographer. Her 2021 monograph Housing in the Margins explores informal dwelling practices in the context of Berlin’s increasingly tight housing market and relates these to negotiations with the local bureaucracy. Her current work bridges concerns about property, precarious housing and the socio-ecological crisis in two collaborative projects: The Responsible City aims to understand how cities negotiate the trade-offs between environmental goals and questions of social justice in Geneva and Zurich. The Home Debt-Nexus addresses the challenges of female-headed households at the nexus of indebtedness and making home in Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Bogotá.