Tanzil Shafique, PhD, is a Visiting Research Fellow at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University. He is based at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture and Landscape, where he serves as Associate Professor. He has also previously taught at the University of Melbourne and the University of Arkansas.
Dr. Shafique completed his PhD from the University of Melbourne. Prior to his doctoral studies, he completed an M.Arch in Ecological Urbanism at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. His academic and professional work focuses on southern urbanism, pluriversal architectural practice, and informal planning, with a particular emphasis on climate change–driven adaptation and transformation led by local citizens.
He recently leads a global consortium that received £499,995 grant from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for a climate-impacted dweller-led urban wetland restoration and stewardship project in Dhaka called ReWET (www.rewet.info). He is also the co-founder of a diaspora think-tank, Next50 Bangladesh, focused on knowledge exchange, policy engagement, and futures-oriented research on Bangladesh and its global diaspora. He is the author of City of Desire: An Urban Biography of the Largest Slum in Bangladesh (Bloomsbury, 2024).
