Qualifications:

• B TRP cum laude; M TRP cum laude, PhD (Town and Regional Planning) (UP)

Research Areas:

• Strategic development planning on national, provincial and municipal level;
• Youth development and the role of the State in this regard; and
• Mining and its interface with community development and strategic development planning by the State, notably at municipal level.  

Current Research Projects:

• The contribution of mining and beneficiation to economic, social and spatial development in localities with strong mining economies in South Africa;
• The development of a national economic network to boost national job creation and ensure functional urban-rural linkages; and
• The use of data and plans in long-term development planning in the City of Tshwane and Perth.   

Teaching Profile:

• Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning; Policy Analysis; Planning History; Development Planning Theories; Municipal Development Planning; Regional Development Planning; Rural Development Planning; Land Use Management; Planning Prospects and Futures; Supranational, National and Provincial Planning Interventions.  

Awards, Memberships, Positions, etc.

• Member of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law and Property Rights (PLPR); and
• Head of Department for three terms. Currently serving fourth term.

Outreach/Consulting:

• Providing a variety of consulting services to the Department of Regional Development and Land Reform, including the development of functional urban-rural frameworks; the preparation of Spatial Development Frameworks; and the review and preparation of policies aimed at enhancing equitable and sustainable land reform, agrarian reform and rural development; and
• Serving on a team headed by the CSIR tasked with enhanced spatial targeting for infrastructure investment and development spending by the State in support of the New Growth Path.  

Collaborations:

• Close to two decades of collaboration with the CSIR in the areas of national, provincial and municipal development planning;
• A new initiative with the Planning and Transport Research Centre (PATREC) at the University of Western Australia aimed at better understanding and enhancing strategic development plans in the City of Tshwane and Perth;
• Co-editing a book that seeks to record and make sense of the ways in which newly graduated planners in a selection of countries from across the globe experience and act in the world of planning practice; and
• Collaboration with colleagues in the Faculty of Humanities in one of UP’s formal Research Projects, the ‘Capital Cities’ Project.     

Qualifications:

• B Arch.Stud; B Arch (UFS); M (City Planning and Urban Design) (UCT); PhD (Urban Design) (Newcastle upon Tyne)

Research Areas:

• Main focus is on safe and sustainable housing and neighbourhoods. This incorporates a number of specific areas, including medium-density mixed housing, diverse housing and neighbourhoods, designing safer neighbourhoods, gated communities, the transformation of public open space towards safer and more sustainable spaces that would be more diverse and inclusive and urban resilience.

Current Research Projects:

• NRF Project (Incentive Funding), investigating the changing face of public open space in South African cities, with a specific focus on the city of Tshwane;
• A large NRF project under the leadership of Prof Chrisna du Plessis, investigating “The Urban Resilience of Aspirational African Cities”; and
• “Capital Cities” project coordinated by the Faculty of Humanities, under the leadership of Prof Alan Mabin.

Teaching Profile:

• Settlement concepts; Settlement planning & housing delivery; Spatial concepts; Urban interventions (with a focus on urban design); Design for sustainability; Design for safety; Introduction to Urban Design.

Awards, Memberships, Positions, etc.

National Research Foundation (NRF):  first evaluation, 2011 – Y1 researcher.

Membership:

• Member of the Editorial Board of Urban Design International, a UK based journal published by Palgrave Maxmillian (2009 – -ongoing);
• Member of the Nordic-Baltic Housing Research Network coordinated by the University of Göteborg Sweden, Chalmers Architecture, supported by NordForsk, (2009 – ongoing) http://www.chalmers.se/arch/SV/forskning/forskningsprojekt/visions-residential9530; and
• Member of CIB working group 69 on “Housing and sociology” (2008 – ongoing).  

Awards:

• AESOP Prize: Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) best paper published prize 2011: Roitman, S., Webster C.H., Landman, K.  (2010). ‘Methodological frameworks and interdisciplinary research on gated communities’, International Planning Studies, 15(1): 3–23.

Outreach/Consulting:

• Conducting research related in the fields of housing, urban design and planning, with a specific focus on the research focus areas mentioned above; and
• Preparing various research outputs including research reports and academic journal articles to disseminate the findings of the research.

Collaborations:

• Collaboration with the Department of Construction Economics on the NRF project, investigating “The Urban Resilience of Aspirational African Cities”; and
• Collaboration with the Faculty of Humanities on the “Capital Cities” project.

Qualifications:

• B TRP cum laude (UP); BA Honours (Psychology) (UNISA); MPhil (Social Science Methods) cum laude; DPhil (Social Science Methods) (SU)

Research Areas:

• Environment-behaviour studies, which focuses on the relationship between people and the (built) environment in terms of creating socially sustainable places; and
• Planning methods and techniques, which focuses on the use of different planning methods and techniques under South African planning conditions, including the application of research methods in both basic (theory driven) and applied (practice driven) forms of planning research.

Current Research Projects:

• Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD): Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), this project aims to better understand community members' current water consumption and conservation practices and their willingness to consider various WSUD measures at plot level, and how planners and designers can respond to community preferences within the broader framework of WSUD. Research is conducted in collaboration with the Department of Psychology, UP.
• The Engagement of Planning Scholarship with Practice: Drawing from the fields of research evaluation and utilisation studies, this project aims to develop a protocol to systematically and critically examine the relevance of planning research in relation to practice as well as broader policy issues in planning. Local as well as international scholarship is examined. Research is conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at Stellenbosch University.
• Students' experiences of near-peer mentoring: This project, funded by the Department of Higher Education's Peer-Enhanced Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) fund, focuses on students' experiences of a near-peer mentoring model in which master's students in research psychology act as mentors to final-year planning students who are writing their research reports on an interdisciplinary topic involving planning and environmental psychology. Research is conducted in collaboration with the Department of Psychology, UP.

Teaching Profile:

• Infrastructure planning; Professional practice; Research methodology; Coordinator of student research reports and mini-dissertations.

Awards, Memberships, Positions, etc.

• Plan Associates prize for the best final year research report (1997);
• Peer-enhanced Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) award (2013 & 2017) (Co-leading with Prof Claire Wagner, Department of Psychology, UP);
• Member of the Research Ethics Committee for the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, UP (2017 to date);
• Member of the Research Ethics Committee for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (2017 to date); and
• Departmental research coordinator (2005 to date).

Outreach/Consulting:

• Consults on a part-time basis as a researcher for private, governmental and nongovernmental -organisations as well as science councils; and
• Facilitates thesis/dissertation writing workshops for students from any field of study.

Collaborations:

• Collaborating on research projects with UP’s Department of Psychology and Stellenbosch University's Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST).

Qualifications:

• BA (Geography); M TRP (SU); PhD (Town and Regional Planning); Senior Management Programme (UP)

Research Areas:

• Spatial Development Planning;
• Municipal and Strategic Development Planning; and
• Rural Development Planning.

Current Research Projects:

• Strategic and integrated development planning across all three spheres of government in South Africa and broader regional socio-economic challenges associated with it. Research in this field aims to improve our understanding of how to deepen democracy, enhance sustainable development planning and implementation across government spheres, and establish accountability measures and systems.

Teaching Profile:

• Spatial Development Planning; Municipal and Strategic Development Planning; Rural Development Planning.

Awards, Memberships, Positions, etc.

Memberships:

• Corporate member of the South African Council for Town and Regional Planners;
• Corporate member of the South African Institute for Town and Regional Planners;
• Member International Association of Impact Assessment (IAIAsa); and
• Member of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law, and Property Rights (PLPR).

Awards:

• Part of team that was nominated for a professional award by the South African Planning Institution (SAPI) 2012 for the innovative presentation of the John Taolo Spatial Development Framework; and
• Invited by the Chamber of Commerce (Tennessee, USA) to visit Morristown and Athens, USA in 1999. Awarded the “keys to the city” by the respective Mayors of both Morristown and Athens.

Outreach/Consulting:

• Provide training on various aspects related to spatial planning and municipal development planning to various government institutions and local authorities; and
• Provide advisory, consulting and support services on various aspects related to spatial planning and municipal development planning to various government institutions and local authorities.