Neelakshi Joshi is a social scientist, urban planner and architect interested in the social dimension of sustainability. She is currently a post-doctoral research fellow working on the Future Energy Systems project at the Urban Environment Observatory where she focuses on municipal transitions to low-carbon pathways in Canada. She obtained her PhD from the Dresden Leibniz Graduate School in Germany where her research dealt with the risks of rapid unplanned urban development in the Himalayas. Previously she has worked at the World Resource Institute as a consultant for sustainable transport and at the Auroville Earth Institute, UNESCO Chair for Earth Construction (2010-12) specializing in low cost and sustainable earth based construction. Her research interests include risks, sustainability, governance and urban transformations.