Team

Dr Vicky Habermehl

Vicky Habermehl is lead researcher on Whose Knowledge Matters. Her research to date has focused on Latin American Cities where she researched how the economy is understood and reshaped through crisis, narratives of economic informality and everyday economic practices such as economic solidarity initiatives, autogestion and popular economy. She has a PhD in Geography from the University of Leeds,  focused on organising in-against-and-beyond crisis in Buenos Aires, Argentina, through the economy, state and territory. She has previously worked as a Research Associate at University College London in the project ‘Economics in the Public Sphere’ and at Brunel University in ‘Timescapes of Urban Change’. She is part of the Contested Cities international network.

Dr Patrick Hayombe

Dr. Patrick Odhiambo Hayombe is a Senior Lecturer and currently, the Dean School of Spatial Planning and Natural Resource Management at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST). Formerly the  Deputy Director Applied Water Research, Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) 2006-2010 and Physical Planning Officer in the Ministry of Lands and Settlement 1990-2010. Hayombe is a research fellow with Mistra Urban Futures -Kisumu Local Interaction Platform (KLIP). Prior to this project, he has served as a Project Director for USAID/SERVIR AFRICA/RCMRD: Capacity Building Geo-spatial solutions for County Governments in Resilience to Climate Change 2015-2016 and finally was a Co-Researcher with Consuming Urban Poverty with African Urban Studies Cape University (DFID) 2016-2017 (Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in African Cities).
Hayombe has done research and published in refereed journals in the areas of spatial and environmental planning, ecotourism, cultural heritage, urban agriculture and food security.  He has been involved in the preparation of the Siaya County Spatial Plan since 2015 and has been involved in various community outreach programmes.

Dr Frederick Odede

Fredrick Z.A. Odede has PhD in Planning at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, and Master of Arts Degree in Archaeology from University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from University of Nairobi, Kenya. He is a lecturer and researcher at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology. As a consultant, Fredrick Odede has engaged in the development of Siaya County Spatial Plan and GIS Mapping, Kenya. As Head of Western Kenya Museums, Fredrick Odede engaged in cultural and natural resource management, cultural heritage management, tourism management and promotion, developed cultural and natural heritage management plans, and developed cultural heritage legal frameworks and guidelines. Fredrick Odede has participated in developing Government Policy documents such as Siaya County Development Spatial Plan, Commerce and Tourism Development Plan of Kisumu County, Kenya, cultural heritage management and preservation and tourism development plans such as: Got Ramogi Tourism Plan, Shimoni Slave Cave Management Plan, Mama Ngina Park Management Plan, Thimlich Ohinga Management Plan, Environmental Impact Assessment, and Policy Paper for nomination of Thimlich Ohinga by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Notable publications: In refereed journals such as British Antiquity Journal (Britain), Azania Journal (Britain), International Journal of Business and Social Research(Canada), Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (Canada), Kenya Past and Present Journal (Kenya), Nyame Akuma Journal (USA) and Horizon Journal (Kenya).  Fredrick Odede is professionally associated with a number of institutions, including the British Institute in Eastern Africa, AFRICOM, ICCROM and the Kenya Museum Society. 

Professor Beth Perry

Beth is a Professorial Fellow at the Urban Institute. She is the Director of the Sheffield Manchester Local Interaction Platform and sits on the Mistra Urban Futures International Board. Her research focuses on urban governance, transformation and the roles of universities, with an emphasis on socio-environmental and socio-cultural transitions.

Dr Rike Sitas

I came to Urban Studies via Historical Studies, Political Science (BSocSci), Sociology (BAHons) and Fine Art (MA). I joined the African Centre for Cities (ACC) in 2011 as a doctoral student, and now coordinate the Cape Town Mistra Urban Futures platform, UrbanAfrica.Net, and the Urban Humanities Hub. I also coordinate ACC’s Seminar and Brown Bag Seminar Series, and ACC’s 101 sessions.

Straddling the academic world of urban studies and creative practice, I am fascinated by the intersection of culture cities, and more specifically on the role of art, culture and heritage in urban life. My doctoral research stemmed out of several years of experience as a public arts practitioner, particularly as a co-founder and co-director of dala. My PhD focused on exploring the idea of an affective urbanism by looking at the role public-facing art can play in producing knowledge about the city. Linked to this has been exploring the impact of the creative economy and cultural policy in producing more just and sustainable cities. A large part of my research focus has meant unpacking the notions of public space and public life in Southern cityness.

Dr Naomi Roux

Naomi is an urbanist and visual historian who works on heritage, memory, spatial politics and urban transformations. She is a senior lecturer in the University of Cape Town's School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, where she convenes the MPhil in Conservation of the Built Environment. Her current research focuses on the relationship between heritage conservation and spatial justice in post-apartheid South African cities.  She is also affiliated with Cape Town-based museum and heritage consultancy Dijon Design as a senior researcher.

Naomi has previously held research fellowships and teaching positions at the University of Cape Town, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Birkbeck University of London, and the University of the Witwatersrand. Her work has been published in Social & Cultural Geography, Anthropology Southern Africa, Thesis Eleven and Safundi, and she is currently completing a book manuscript for Manchester University Press based on her PhD work (Birkbeck, 2015) looking at heritage, social memory and urban transformation in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.