Research
My research builds on urban feminist theories that highlight how fear and perceived unsafety constrain autonomy, particularly for those most exposed to violence, while critiquing prevention policies that remain centred on public space and obscure the reality that much gender-based violence occurs in the domestic sphere. Adopting a multiscalar and relational lens, I examine how domestic violence is produced and reproduced across homes, neighbourhoods, and institutions, shaped by power relations, surveillance, and neoliberal urban planning. Central to this analysis is the role of response networks in shaping survivors’ spatial and emotional journeys, and the ways in which space itself structures those networks. Through feminist GIS, I aim to amplify counter-narratives and foreground the complexity and relational nature of safety in the city, showing how spatial configurations both enable and constrain possibilities for support, disclosure, and recovery.
Bio
I am an architect with specializations in basic habitability, bioclimatic architecture, and geographic information systems (GIS). After gaining experience as an architect caring for sustainable and bioclimatic solutions, I decided to pursue an academic career to deepen my understanding of how the built environment can shape our behavivour and to other forms of care. This interest naturally led me to pursue an academic path, and I am now undertaking a PhD in Human Geography.
After following research on feminist urbanism and perceptions of (un)safety in public spaces, I shifted my focus to the intimacy of the home, seeking to understand how violence, power, and fear (which are so evident in the built environment) permeate the most private spaces to shape the spatial patterns of domestic violence in relation to social relations, access to services and support, and mobility. I have a strong sensitivity to understanding domestic violence as a structural phenomenon, one that generates layers of complexity within a racialized and patriarchal capitalist system.
Selected publications
Hillerbrand, L. (2024). Mapping urban safety and security: an intersectional approach in Umeå, Sweden (Dissertation). Retrieved from https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-226925