PEOPLE

Naomi Roux currently convenes the MPhil programme in Conservation of the Built Environment at the University of Cape Town’s School. At the time of the Studio, she was a sessional lecturer in Architecture in the School of Architecture and Planning during the Studio. She was appointed the Studio administrative coordinator in 2010, seconding Claire Bénit-Gbaffou in organising events. She led numerous architecture class projects on the neighborhood, leading the the crafting of several tour guides. Together with Sophie Didier, she coordinated community workshops on Yeoville Stories, and participated in several interactive events during Yeoville Africa Day and Yeoville Studio exhibition in 2010, that she curated with Claire Bénit-Gbaffou.

Simon Sizwe Mayson is currently completing an NRF-funded PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand. At the time of the Sdudio, he was a master’s student in the School of Architecture and Planning. He was appointed Yeoville Studio administrative coordinator in 2011, where he assisted Claire Bénit-Gbaffou in coordinating the Studio, created a newsletter, assisted in organising public and community events. He focused his masters research on housing practices in Yeoville, participated in many events debating his research with policy-makers and the broader society. He subsequently was employed by the City of Johannesburg in the field of housing, before starting his PHD on the broader topic of "well-being" in the city.

Sarah Charlton is an associate professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand and in 2019 is the Associate Director for its Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES). At the time of the Studio, she led several planning class projects on housing in Yeoville, and coordinated a series of Housing roundtables, where research results were discussed with officials and housing professionals. She is also one of the co-editors of the book on Yeoville Studio.

Sophie Didier is a professor at the Paris School of Planning, University Paris-Est, France, and a researcher at Lab’Urba. At the time of Yeoville Studio she was Director of Research at the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS, UMIFRE 25). Interested in urban memory, she coordinated several research projects and community workshops on the theme of Yeoville Stories. With Naomi Roux, she organised a series of community workshops on "Yeoville Stories", facilitated many public interactive events during Yeoville Africa Day and Yeoville Studio exhibition in 2010. She organised the conference Memory and the City at Wits, together with Mfaniseni Silhongonyane, including a series of guided tours of Yeoville based on the tour maps developed by students and community members. SHe is also one of the co-editors of the book on Yeoville Studio.

Obvious Katsaura is a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand and a senior fellow in the Volkswagen Foundation’s funding initiative for postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities in Africa. At the time of Yeoville Studio he was a PHD candidate in the School of Architecture and Planning, Wits University. He focused his research on Yeoville community politics, with a specific interest for issues of community safety.

Kirsten Dörmann is a lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand and currently working on her PhD about the transformation of the Victorian/ Edwardian bungalow in Yeoville and Rosettenville. At the time of the Studio, she led several architecture class projects on housing in Yeoville, including participatory workshops on housing residential trajectories. She organised street trading stall design workshops in Yeoville, with Architecture students and street traders. She was very involved in the final Yeoville Studio exhibition, and is also one of the co-editors of the book on Yeoville Studio.

Eulenda Mkwanazi is currently working for the City of Johannesburg. At the time of the Studio, she was completing her honours degree in Planning and her master’s degree in Urban Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. She focused her Honours research in planning on the issue of community participation in Yeoville, and then her master's research on the issue of local leadership. She was actively involved in the Studio, participating in many of its outreach and community workshop activities, and present in most of Yeoville public meetings.

Mamokete Matjomane is currently a junior researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) and is pursuing a PhD in the Wits School of Architecture and Planning. At the time of the Studio, she was an honours student in Planning and then a master’s student in Urban Studies at Wits. She focused her honours research report on spaza shops in Yeoville, and their politics; and continued researching street trading organisations and policy at Masters and at PHD level. She was an active member in the Yeoville Studio support team for integrated trading in Yeoville, and later the CUBES research support team to street trader organisations.

Abdul Abed recently started his own urban design company. At the time of Yeoville Studio, he was a Planning honours student and an Urban Design master’s student in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand . He focused his Master's thesis in Urban Design on street trading, actively participating in Yeoville Studio support team for integrated trading in Yeoville and imagining street design that is friendly to street trading and pedestrian activity. In particular he developed a number of trading design typology, based on an inner city tour organised by our street trader leader partner, Edmund Elias (SANTRA).

Astrid Ley is a professor of International Urbanism at the Institute for Urban Planning and Design at the University of Stuttgart. At the time of the Studio, she was a sessional lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning. She was actively involved in the start of the Studio, coordinating with Claire Bénit-Gbaffou the inaugural workshop to define joint themes, with Wits staff and students and Yeoville community members, in the form of Café Yeoville. She led a master class project in Urban design (Accessible City Studio), with a participatory workshop to re-design Yeoville soccer field.

Nqobile Malaza is a lecturer in the Wits School of Architecture and Planning. At the time of the Studio, she co-organised, with CLaire Benit-Gbaffou, a planning class project around public spaces in Yeoville, on the theme "Eating, Trading, and Playing". This led in particular to a play by Cheikh Anta Diop school learners on love stories in a time of migration; and to a Yeoville African restaurants tour guide.

Aly Karam is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at University of the Witwatersrand. At the time of the Studio, he supervised many students working on Yeoville, in the fields of housing and informal economies, and participated in the Yeoville Studio support team for integrated trading in Yeoville.

Hilton Judin is an architect and curator working in Johannesburg and an Adjunct Professor in the Wits School of Archtecture and Planning. During the Studio, he coordinated an architecture class project on "re-imagining Yeoville", presenting students' ideas in several exhibitions at WIts and in Yeoville.

Sally Gaule is a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. During the studio, she led a photography class for Architecture students. One project focused on local activists portraits, that subsequently fed a poster project on "life and times of activists" by Planning students Eulenda Mkwanazi and Nicolette Pingo. A second project focused on street photography, in Muller street, that grew, together with Claire Benit-Gbaffou and planning students, into an interactive street exhibition.

Alan Mabin is a research fellow at the Centre for Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria, South Africa. At the time of the Studio he was heading the Wits School of Architecture and Planning, where he greatly encouraged and supported the Yeoville Studio as a whole School strategic project.

Hannah le Roux is an architect, educator and curator and an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand. During the Studio, she led an architecture class project on street design, working on the interface between public and private spaces in Yeoville.

Neil Klug is an urban planner and designer, and a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. At the time of the Studio he focused several planning class projects around the issue of land management in Yeoville. He also conducted research on community land trusts, exploring its relevance for Yeoville.

Garth Klein is a senior lecturer in the Wits School of Architecture and Planning. During Yeoville Studio, he led several planning class projects on urban design and integrated planning in Yeoville.

Gerald Chungu, lectures Building Construction and Computer Aided Design in the School of Architecture and Planning at University of the Witwatersrand. For Yeoville Studio, he coordinated with Kirsten Doermann an architecture students project on street vending stall design, including two participatory workshops with Yeoville street traders.

Mpho Matsipa was a lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits University when she participated in Yeoville Studio. She is a researcher at WISER and lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits University. She is the curator of the African Mobilities project. At the time of the Studio, she co-organised, together with Kirsten Doermann, an architecture class project on Housing that incldued interactive workshops on residents' housing trajectories. She also coordinated an architecture class project on the issue of urban regeneration in Yeoville.

Solam Mkhabela is a lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand and is currently completing his PhD in Urban Design. At the time of the Studio, he ran a photography class for Architecture students, around street photography in Natal and Saunders street. His students presented and debated their photographs in an interactive street exhibition, that he co-organised with Claire Bénit-Gbaffou.

Margot Rubin is a Senior Researcher at the South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning. During the time of Yeoville Studio, she taught, together with Claire Bénit-Gbaffou, a planning and politics class on the politics and governance of buildings in Yeoville. She was actively involved in community outreach, participating in the Housing rountables to discuss the relevance of housing research for inner city housing policy, and developing, in partnership with the Socio Economic Rights Institute, a series of housing booklets presenting the rights and duties of tenants, landlords and owners. 

Potsiso Phasha was a Wits University master’s student at the time of Yeoville Studio. Currently, he is Deputy Director of Municipal Integrated Development Planning in the Gauteng Department of COGTA. At the time of the Studio, he was a post graduate student in the School of Architecture and Planning at WIts University. He focused his honours report on youth perception and practices of space in Yeoville.

Ophélie Arrazouaki was completing her master’s degree in Urban Socio-Anthropology at Lille University when she joined the Studio on a field-work grant from the French Institute for South Africa (IFAS). She currently works on therapeutic itineraries and the representations of disease in Northern Morocco, as well as on disease and the analysis of the social and political framing of exile in Syria.

William Dewar is an architect and musician living in Berlin. The urban environment of Yeoville and its connection with music formed a major part of his master’s thesis as an architecture student at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Pauline Guinard joined the Studio while in residence at IFAS, as part of the completion of a PhD in Geography. She is now is associate professor of Geography at the École Normale Supérieure (Paris, France) and a member of two research units, UMR LAVUE-Mosaïques and UMR IHMC.

Willy-Claude Hebandjoko is currently working in the logistics industry. At the time of the Studio, he was a master’s student in Development Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. He focused his research on the relationship between South African and non South African residents of Yeoville. He also researched, together with Shahid Vawda and Claire Bénit-Gbaffou, stories of love encounters in Yeoville.

Clara Pienaar-Lewis researched the Voëlvry music movement as part of her MA in History at the University of the Witwatersrand. She now works as a writer and illustrator in Cardiff, Wales.

Nicolette Pingo works at the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), focusing on inner-city projects. At the time of the Studio, she was a master’s student in Development Planning at Wits University.

Maria Suriano is a senior lecturer in African History at the University of the Witwatersrand. During the time of Yeoville Studio, she researched, together with her Master student Clara Pienaar, the history of the Voëlvry music movement.

Shahid Vawda currently holds the Archie Mafeje Chair in Critical Humanities and Decoloniality, and the directorship of the School of African and Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Cape Town. At the time of the Studio, he was head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. He supervised Willy Claude Hebandjoko's research on love stories in times of migration, in Yeoville.

Antionio Pezzano, now at University of Naples L'Orientale was a visiting researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand. At the time of the Studio, he was conducting research on street trading in Johannesburg, and actively participated in the Yeoville Studio support team for integrated trading in Yeoville.