Huijoo Shon
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I work at the intersection of urbanization, infrastructural practices, and health across East and Southern Africa. My work is driven by commitments to environmental justice and health equity, with attention to the conditions that support more reliable, safe, and equitable services. I am particularly interested in how built environments relate to the spatial and temporal dynamics of energy, water, and sanitation systems and to lived experience.
I use quantitative methods to analyze diverse data sources such as satellite imagery, climate data, and household surveys. I also use qualitative approaches to understand institutional arrangements in infrastructure provision and shared use. My fieldwork emphasizes local knowledge and collaboration with community members.
My current projects combine infrastructure surveys, interviews, and mapping across informal settlements to study infrastructure typologies, sharing practices, and the conditions associated with reliable and safe services. I also study pedestrian street networks using computer vision models to detect and analyze pedestrian pathways and examine how street environments relate to everyday mobility.
Research Interests: Infrastructure; Urbanization; Environmental planning; Child health; Climate resilience
Education
Present. Ph.D. Candidate, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
2022 Master of City Planning, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, KOR
2018 B.S., Dept. of Geography, Konkuk University, Seoul, KOR
Featured works
The role of household and community infrastructures in mitigating energy poverty in Africa: Between and within urban and rural areas. 2026. Energy Economics, 154, 109045. Paper (Shon, H. & Lee, H.)
Multilevel social vulnerability and urban health in sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for adaptation across household, community, and city levels. 2025. Sustainable cities and society, 126, 106368. Paper, Accepted ver. (Shon, H.)
Urbanicity and child health in 26 sub-Saharan African countries: Settlement type and its association with mortality and morbidity. 2024. Social Science & Medicine, 340, 116401. Paper (Shon, H.)
Recent projects
Infrastructure configurations and sharing practices in informal settlements in African cities. Supported by CFK Africa (Peacock Fellowship) and Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Webb Design Fellowship).Â
Blog post: From Points to Stories: Continued Reflections on My Peacock Fellowship in Kibera
Shared sanitation in African informal settlements: Sharing practices and service quality. Supported by Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Habitat international
Detecting mobile home park change and exposure to natural hazards in USA: A computer-vision approach.
Blog post: Along the streets of Western North Carolina: Notes on mobile home parks
Infrastructural vulnerability, climate anomalies, and child undernutrition in 32 sub-Saharan African countries: A multisectoral and climate justice perspective. Supported by World Vision Korea (Grant for Graduate Student).
Contact Detail
hjshon@unc.edu
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