This dissertation aims to analyze how colonial narratives have influenced contemporary understandings of sustainability and food security in the Philippines and to explore pathways towards decolonization. Drawing on theories of discourse analysis, colonialism, and food systems, the study seeks to address the following key research questions: (1) How have colonial narratives shaped discourse surrounding sustainability and food security in the Philippines? (2) What are the contemporary implications of colonial narratives on the sustainability and food security of the Philippines? (3) How can decolonizing policies and strategies challenge and transform colonial narratives to promote more equitable and sustainable food systems in the Philippines? The dissertation will employ discourse analysis to examine texts, speeches, policies, media representations, and other discursive artifacts related to sustainability and food security in the Philippines. By critically analyzing the language, narratives, and power dynamics embedded within these discourses, the study aims to uncover the ways in which colonialism continues to influence contemporary understandings of sustainability and food security, and to 2 identify pathways towards decolonization and transformative change in Philippine food systems.

This dissertation seeks to investigate public opinions on retrofitting their homes and any emerging trends. This includes the level of awareness about retrofitting, identifying the most important reasons for and against retrofitting their homes and whether these reasons differ depending on the age of a household’s property.

Climate change is already threatening the lives and livelihoods of Yangon’s residents, with low-income informal settlements experiencing high levels of vulnerability, while receiving little protection in the face of spatially violent development, policy and planning. This dissertation aims to situate current climate change adaptation needs within the context of historical and contemporary spatial violence that continues to impact everyday lived realities in low-income settlements. Spatial violence in the form of displacement, dislocation and dispossession threatens to continue along the current trajectory perpetuating high levels of vulnerability. With so called ‘green’ development putting those most vulnerable into further states of precarity, this dissertation utilises a Feminist Political Ecology lens to explore the reality for women in Yangon, who despite traditional narratives of relative equality, experience high levels of vulnerability due to their gendered experiences. As a reaction to perpetuating spatial violence and threats of further precarity, women and community groups in Yangon are emerging as agents of their own adaptation in the form of community housing and infrastructure upgrading initiatives. Without acknowledgement for the current experience of spatial violence in the city, and the reactions of the most vulnerable communities, adaptation that aims to challenge the structures behind current vulnerability will not occur. This dissertation found that while there is a lack of care and acknowledgement for the reality of the most marginalised communities, they respond to threats of further precarity with agency, that if supported, could lead to transformative adaptation for the city of Yangon.

Through a nexus approach, this research seeks to establish an integrative understanding of climate change and planning. In particular, it explores the extent to which local institutions can build capacities for addressing the climate emergency agenda in an integrative through planning.