News and Events

Introducing the City Studio through critical lenses: Spatial injustice, precarity, favelisation and disciplining the periphery

Speakers: Prof Marie Huchzermeyer (Wits) and the City Studio core team

Discussants: Prof Evance Mwathunga (University of Malawi); Prof Noor Nieftagodien (Wits)

Seminar synopsis:

This opening session introduces the City Studio and its core team by situating this initiative within broader debates on spatial injustice and urban precarity. Drawing on the team members’ research, the presentation explores theoretical lenses, including “favelisation” and disciplining of the periphery to provoke a discussion on how the everyday urban experience is shaped and what the transformative possibilities and limits are for critical, community-engaged and design-based research. 

Speaker and discussant bios:

• Marie Huchzermeyer is Professor in the SoAP at Wits and Director of CUBES. She currently leads the Kelvin-Alexandra-Frankenwald City Studio. Marie’s research is on informal settlement, housing policy, the right to the city and spatial justice. Her writing has spanned South Africa, Brazil, Germany, Kenya and other African countries. 
• The City Studio core team
  • Miss Nomonde Gwebu is a practising architect, lecturer and researcher in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits. Through the application of design atelier to case studies, her research employs architectural design as a tool to contribute constructively to the discourse of low-cost housing in South Africa.
  • Paul Devenish is an architect, lecturer, and PhD candidate at Wits with professional experience in housing, education, healthcare, and public environments. Through the City Studio, his research on Stjwetla and Alexandra’s northern edge examines boundary-making and shared infrastructures. His work reimagines boundaries as connective interfaces, challenging inherited divisions through ground-up practices of city-making.
  • Dr Paulo Moreira is an architect, researcher, and a Postdoctoral Centennial Fellow at the Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES), School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University. His work examines reciprocities in the Kelvin-Alexandra-Frankenwald City Studio, exploring how communities, materials, and urban infrastructures interact.
  • Quentin Rihoux is a PhD candidate in Urban Geography at the University of Lausanne. With degrees in architecture, planning, and urban policy, his research explores the shift from “plan” to “project” in urban politics. He is conducting fieldwork on the Frankenwald Development Project within the City Studio.
  • Dr Sarita Pillay Gonzalez is a lecturer in Geography at Wits. Her work explores themes related to real estate, spatial justice, heterogenous and racialised financial and capital flows, and state polymorphism. Sarita was previously a popular educator and researcher in spatial justice campaigns in Cape Town.
• Assoc Prof Evance Mwathunga is a development geographer and urban planning scholar at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College and visiting lecturer at Wits University. Holding a PhD from Stellenbosch, his research spans urban governance, informality, and environmental geographies, with extensive work on Malawian cities and collaborations on international urban research projects
• Prof Noor Nieftagodien is the South African Research Chair in Local Histories, Present Realities, and Head of the History Workshop at Wits University. He has published widely on urban history, popular struggles, and youth politics, and collaborates nationally and internationally through research, exhibitions, documentaries, and community-based projects.

Spatial counter-representations: Harnessing photography, local voice and photogrammetry

Speakers: Leon Krige (UJ), Dr Motshwaedi Sepeng (UWC), Izak Potgieter (UJ), Dr Jhono Bennett (UCL)

Discussants: Prof Sarah Williams (MIT), Dr Sechaba Maape (Wits)

Seminar synopsis:

This session explores how visual and spatial methods can disrupt dominant narratives about informal settlements. From nocturnal cityscapes to participatory photogrammetry, presenters and discussants examine how photography, community-generated imagery, and digital tools can create counter-representations that have the potential to amplify local agency and reshape urban imaginaries

Speaker and discussant bios:

• Leon Krige is an architect, photographer, and lecturer at UJ. Known for nocturnal cityscapes of transformation, his work has been exhibited internationally, with recent solo shows in Johannesburg and Belfast, and features in books, journals, and award-winning photography projects.
• Dr Motshwaedi Sepeng is a postdoctoral researcher at UWC under the GoJUT project. With a background in Human Geography, he examines sustainable development and urban governance. He evaluates how informal enterprises in Setswetla access energy and water, to understand advancing equitable transitions that promote resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability in marginalised communities.
• Izak Potgieter is a VR (virtual reality) Developer and 3D specialist. He holds a Masters in Architecture (cum laude) and is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Johannesburg. He is also the director of Glassbox 3D, a VR company focused on developing VR exhibitions for museums and heritage sites.
• Dr Jhono Bennett

Jhono Bennett is a South African architect, urban researcher, and educator focused on reparative design, spatial justice, and Southern Urbanism. He is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at UCT, Visiting Lecturer with UCL’s Urban Laboratory and co-founder of 1to1 – Agency of Engagement. Jhono’s work reframes architecture through repair, maintenance and inclusive urban practices. 

• Dr Sarah Williams is Associate Professor of Technology and Urban Planning at MIT, where she directs the Civic Data Design Lab and the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism. Combining computation and design, she develops communication strategies that expose urban policy issues and drive civic change, a process she terms Data Action.
• Dr SechabaMaape is an architect and Senior Lecturer at Wits, directs Afreetekture and convenes the Master’s in Urban Studies. His work bridges climate adaptation, spatial practice, and digital technology. He advances digital technologies in African architecture and development, integrating it across academia, creative industries, and built environments to drive transformative, context-driven solutions. 

Everyday Life: Governance of Urban Safety; Practices of Care; Enterprises and Infrastructure

Speakers: Dr Paulo Moreira, Siphelele Ngobese (SACN), Prof Marie Huchzermeyer, Dr Christina Culwick Fatti (UWC)

Discussants: Dr Mercy Brown-Luthango (UCT); Prof Hannah Dawson (UJ)

Seminar synopsis:

Focusing on everyday practices in Alexandra and Stjwetla, this session considers how residents navigate questions of safety, care, and infrastructure individually and collectively. The conversation highlights grassroots initiatives, informal economies and governance arrangements that produce a certain level of resilience within the structural constraints of growing inequality. 

Speaker and discussant bios:

• Siphelele Ngobese is a researcher in the Inclusive Cities Programme at South African Cities Network and has a special interest in the interface between urban informality and the world-class aspirations of post-colonial Africa.
• Marie Huchzermeyer is a professor in the SoAP at Wits and Director of CUBES. She currently leads the Kelvin-Alexandra-Frankenwald City Studio. Marie’s research is on informal settlement, housing policy, the right to the city and spatial justice. Her writing has spanned South Africa, Brazil, Germany, Kenya and other African countries. 
• Dr Christina Culwick Fatti leads the Urban Governance programme at UWC's Politics and Urban Governance Research Group. Her research focuses on environmental sustainability and social justice within cities, focusing on policy oriented research that is generated through collaborative knowledge creation.
• Dr Mercy Brown-Luthango is a sociologist with 20 years’ experience in academia and NGOs in South Africa. Her research focuses on sustainable human settlements, urban land, and affordable housing. She works on participatory upgrading, safety, youth, and multi-country studies of everyday infrastructure, emphasising governance and community–state engagement in urban development.
• Hannah Dawson is an Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Anthropology and Development Studies department at the University of Johannesburg.  Her research grapples with the social, economic, and political shifts stemming from mass unemployment, and the ways in which the future of work and welfare is being imagined – and transformed – in South(ern) Africa. She is author of 'Making a Life: Young men on Johannesburg's urban margins' (Wits Press,2025).

Spatial Relations: The reproduction of the apartheid city and its contestations

Speakers: Paul Devenish and Quentin Rihoux

Discussants: Prof Pushpa Arabindoo (UCL); Dr Christopher Gevers (Wits)

Seminar synopsis:

This session examines how apartheid spatial legacies are reproduced and contested in the Alexandra-Kelvin-Frankenwald area. Drawing on archival research, mapping and interviews, it explores how interstitial spaces function as ambiguous zones of segregation and subversion – sites where planned and unplanned urbanisation collide, producing both intensified control and new forms of politicisation.

Speaker and discussant bios:

• Paul Devenish is an architect, lecturer, and PhD candidate at Wits with professional experience in housing, education, healthcare, and public environments. Through the City Studio, his research on Stjwetla and Alexandra’s northern edge examines boundary-making and shared infrastructures. His work reimagines boundaries as connective interfaces, challenging inherited divisions through ground-up practices of city-making.
• Quentin Rihoux, who holds degrees in architecture, planning and urban policies, is a PhD candidate in Urban Geography at the University of Lausanne and intern in CUBES. At the intersection of political economy and cultural theory Quentin studies the worldwide shift in urban planning and development discourse from ‘plan’ to ‘project’ and the spatial implications for urban politics in Paris and Johannesburg. 
• Pushpa Arabindoo is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at University College London. Trained in architecture in Chennai and urban design at Pratt Institute, New York, she later completed a PhD at LSE. Her Chennai-based research examines middle-class politics, subaltern activism, and ecological challenges within global and Southern urbanism debates.
• Christopher Gevers is an Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Wits). He has published widely in international law and held fellowships at Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard Law School. Gevers has participated in litigation in domestic and international courts, including the first prosecution of the crime of apartheid.

Engaged Pedagogies: Transcending the University's Enclosure by Learning in Solidarity

Speakers: Dr Paulo Moreira, Dr Sarita Pillay, Ethan Fredricks, Jabu Makhubu, Nqobile Malaza

Discussants: Dr Bernadette Johnson (Wits), Juan Cristaldo (UNA, Paraguay), Prof Claire Benit-Gbaffou (Aix Marseille/Wits) (tbc)

Speaker and discussant bios:

• Dr Paulo Moreira is an architect, researcher, and a Postdoctoral Centennial Fellow at the Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES), School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University. His work examines reciprocities in the Kelvin-Alexandra-Frankenwald City Studio, exploring how communities, materials, and urban infrastructures interact.
• Dr Sarita Pillay Gonzalez is a lecturer in Geography at Wits. Her work explores themes related to real estate, spatial justice, heterogenous and racialised financial and capital flows, and state polymorphism. Sarita was previously a popular educator and researcher in spatial justice campaigns in Cape Town.
• Ethan Fredricks, a BSc URP (Honours) student at Wits, is conducting research on commuting patterns. His 2024 coursework in the City Studio nurtured a strong interest in water and waste practices at the City Studio site and their role in shaping engaged pedagogies. Ethan follows activities of the City Studio, enriching them with incisive, critical questions.
• Jabu Makhubu is a lecturer, researcher, curator, architectural and urban designer, and PhD candidate with over ten years of teaching experience. His work investigates radical spatial pedagogies, African urbanism, decolonisation, and queer politics in architecture. Alongside teaching and publishing, he has been instrumental in international collaborations, secured research grants, and remain deeply involved in design practice.
• Nqobile Malaza is an urban and development planner who has over 15 years of experience in academia and practice in South Africa and Eswatini. Nqobile’s research is on the empowerment of women through small and medium enterprises. Her innovative and transformative teaching at Wits University has inspired and emancipated a generation of young planners.
• Dr Bernadette Johnsonis Director: Transformation and Employment Equity at Wits University and Research Associate in Education Leadership. With 30 years in higher education and senior management, she researches governance and development, supervises postgraduate studies, and advises internationally on urban development, leadership, mediation, and coaching. 
• Juan Cristaldo is the Research Director and cofounder of the Centre for Research, Development and Innovation (CiDi) at the Architecture, Design and Arts School in the National University of Asunción. His research covers urban policy, urban and territorial development, the catalytic potential of infrastructure and open source or open data cartography.
• Claire Bénit-Gbaffou is an associate professor at Aix-Marseille University and a researcher at CHERPA (Sciences-Po, Aix-en-Provence). She is a visiting researcher at CUBES at Wits. From 2010 to 2012, she directed the first City Studio in CUBES, the Yeoville Studio, and also directed CUBES for a period from 2011, when she was based at Wits.

Spatial Imaginaries: Lived Alternatives, Reimagined Housing Futures vs Planned Projects

Nomonde Gwebu (online), Prof Marie Huchzermeyer, Quentin Rihoux

Discussants: Prof Irene Molina (Uppsala); Msizi Khuhlane/Lungile Mtshali (CoJ) (tbc)

Synopsis:

What does it mean to teach and learn disciplines such as architecture, planning, urban studies and urban geography in solidarity with communities? What does it mean for communities to host such endeavours? This session reflects on engaged pedagogies emerging from the City Studio, considering how transect walks, collective ethnographic fieldwork, co-production and reciprocal learning unsettle the university’s boundaries, and whether it is possible for students, educators and residents to co-create new ways of thinking and making the city. 

Speaker and discussant bios:

• Miss Nomonde Gwebu is a practising architect, lecturer and researcher in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits. Through the application of design atelier to case studies, her research employs architectural design as a tool to contribute constructively to the discourse of low-cost housing in South Africa.
• Marie Huchzermeyer is a professor in the SoAP at Wits and Director of CUBES. She currently leads the Kelvin-Alexandra-Frankenwald City Studio. Marie’s research is on informal settlement, housing policy, the right to the city and spatial justice. Her writing has spanned South Africa, Brazil, Germany, Kenya and other African countries.
• Quentin Rihoux, who holds degrees in architecture, planning and urban policies, is a PhD candidate in Urban Geography at the University of Lausanne and intern in CUBES. At the intersection of political economy and cultural theory Quentin studies the worldwide shift in urban planning and development discourse from ‘plan’ to ‘project’ and the spatial implications for urban politics in Paris and Johannesburg. 
• Irene Molina is a professor in Human Geography and the co-coordinator of the research group ‘Housing and Urban Justice’ at the Institute for Housing and Urban Research, at Uppsala University. Her main areas of interest are the dynamics of racialization and urban segregation and the intersections between racism, patriarchy, and capitalism.
• Msizi Khuhlane, who has a background in social housing, serves in the Intergovernmental Relation Unit of the Human settlements Department of the City of Johannesburg. He previously worked on the inner-city housing challenges including responses to Inner City Housing Implementation Plans in the City’s Human Settlements Department. He has also served in the research and policy development unit.

City Forum: Exhibiting, sharing, debating (in-person event at the former Wits Science Park, Frankenwald, North Way corner Marlboro Drive)

Speakers and exhibitors: City Studio team including postgraduate students, collaborating with the UWC Governing the Just Urban Transition project research team from UWC.

City Forum synopsis:

For the City Forum, Wits architecture students transform and activate an unusual venue within the City Studio area into an exhibition space and platform for public dialogue. Bringing together students, researchers, local stakeholders, officials and a diverse public, the City Forum presents insights from the City Studio while facilitating space for debate and exchange with a wider urban public. 

For partners and funders directly contributing to the Kelvin-Alexnadra-Frankenwald City Studio, please see /cubes/city-studio/kelvin-alexandra-frankenwald-studio-2024-2026/

PARTNERS (in the Faces of the City Seminar Series)

• School of Architecture and Planning
• Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning
• Gauteng City Region Observatory
• CUBES

This quarter (11 February - 25 March 2025), the series is being run by CUBES and a provocation is posed to presenters to engage in some way with ‘Faces of the State in the City’. This invokes presenters and discussants to think through questions of state spaces, statecraft, bureaucracies and governance. This quarter’s series also aims to connect scholars and practitioners across geographies and disciplines to promote transnational dialogues, debate and collaborations.

In the first event of the series, Camila Saraiva, associate researcher at the Center for Favela Studies (CEFAVELA) at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), presented a historical and institutional analysis of the governance of informal settlements through in-situ upgrading policies in three Latin American cities: São Paulo, Medellín, and Buenos Aires. This was followed by a discussion from Marie Huchzermeyer, Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits University who drew parallels to the South African context. The presentation’s recording is available here.

In the second event, CUBES’ own Mfaniseni Sihlongonyane, Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at WITS, argued that the shifting nature of the Swazi Tribute Labour System in eSwatini represents a form of planetary urbanism. This was followed by some brief written reflections and questions by Solomon Benjamin, Professor in the Humanities and Social Science Department in the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. The presentation’s recording is available here (passcode: s9%nE%7%).

In the third event, Zhengli Huang, Research Associate at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield unpacked some of the main mechanisms of China’s infrastructural investments and their impacts on urban development in Africa, arguing that China’s infrastructure-led development model is not transferred to Africa in a complete and orchestrated manner but rather through a network of state capital apparatuses.  Evance Mwathunga, Associate Professor at the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, followed with a discussion. The presentation’s recording is available here (passcode: *TbqY55f).

Below are the next events of the series:

4 March | The varied (topological) power plays shaping smart city policy mobility in India – Harsh Mittal (Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani). Discussant: Andrea Pollio (Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino and African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town)

11 March | The Right to the City in Brazil from a Law Perspective: political struggle, constitutional and legislative processes, and production of space – Ana Maria Isar dos Santos Gomes (Observatório das Metrópoles). Discussant: Mandisa Shandu (Oxford University)

18 March | Authoritarian Algorithmic Management: The double-edged sword of the gig economies – Fikile Masikane (University of Pretoria). Discussant: Katie Wells (Groundwork Collaborative and Georgetown University).

25 March | Between struggle and ambiguity: experiences of peripheral feminisms in two African cities – Priscila Izar (School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University). Discussant: Nthabiseng Motsemme (Centre for Sociological Research and Practice, University of Johannesburg)