Carolina Mayen Huerta

Graduate Researcher

Biography

Carolina is currently a PhD candidate in the School of Geography, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Melbourne and holds an MPA in Development Practice at Columbia University. Prior to starting her PhD, Carolina worked as a consultant for the Strategic Coordination Group at the presidency of the Inter-American Development Bank Group and as a consultant for the Advisory Services team at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank. Throughout her work in multilateral organisations, she has contributed to designing, monitoring, and evaluating development projects in countries like Kenya, Paraguay, Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil.

As the population living in cities grows and urban health disparities continue to exist, approaches to reduce health inequities in urban settings, particularly during crises, are becoming a central topic in the development agenda. Carolina's doctoral research examines equity in access to urban green spaces (UGS) in Mexico City and its implications for the well-being of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. With her research, she hopes to improve geographic knowledge and support the formulation of policies with social scientific evidence. Moreover, she expects to provide tools to evaluate, quantify and compare the distribution and quality of green spaces in the city, their impact during the public health emergency of COVID-19, and the possibilities that these spaces offer as resilience mechanisms during a health emergency.

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