Jean Chia

I conduct community driven research and provide advice on the social design of resource and infrastructure projects. I work with community organizations, law firms, university departments, and government and municipal planning agencies to improve delivery outcomes in development projects.

My work moves beyond social or cultural impact assessment and community consultations to design specific co-management pathways for the development of land and cultural resources. It is informed by ethnography, which primarily uses observational inquiry and interviews to engage with communities, gather data and provide a framework for understanding complex social situations on the ground. Ethnographic based methods is a particularly effective way of grasping evolving social dynamics. More often than not, it reorients us towards understanding cultural scenarios differently and uncovers underlying issues to be solved.

With a PhD in anthropology (University of Toronto) and expertise in infrastructure development, I apply analytical expertise into designing socially driven processes that endure throughout the lifetime of a project, from planning and design to implementation, construction, operation, maintenance and closure. It is a comprehensive and long-term approach that paves the way forward in co-managing land and infrastructure projects. My work is geared towards thoughtful and robust processes that allow new and existing communities to thrive by co-investing in land and cultural resources.