Prof. Dr. Lindsay Blair Howe
Lindsay Blair Howe is Full Professor of Urban Development and Spatial Planning at the Department of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) School of Engineering and Design, where she leads the Centre for Urbanisation and Peripheralization (CUSP). Her research program examines the urban in a comparative context, emphasizing the interstice between people, planning policies, and the built environment. Lindsay’s approach includes original digital and mixed-method tools, such as the use of volunteered geographic information, alongside established qualitative urban research methods from the social sciences that emphasize the importance of everyday life in theorizing urban space. Her transdisciplinary empirical work is primarily located in
Southern Africa. She teaches and publishes on a wide range of topics related to urbanization and how it can be applied to design across multiple scales.
Lindsay was born in Berkeley, California and completed her undergraduate degree in Architecture and Global Culture & Commerce at the University of Virginia. After several years practicing in the United States and Germany, she completed her master’s and PhD degrees in Architecture at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland. She was a master’s thesis student at the chair from 2011-2012, a doctoral student from 2014-2017, and a lecturer and research associate from 2018-2021 until being appointed Professor of Architecture & Society at the University of Liechtenstein in 2021. She was appointed to TUM in 2025.
Dr. Lindsay Sawyer
Lindsay Sawyer is a Senior Researcher at the Chair of Urban Development and Spatial Planning at TUM, and an editor at City: Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action. Her research into the urbanisation processes of Lagos, Nigeria focusses on urban informalities, contextual urban theory and comparative methodologies.
Dr. Nina (Nadia) Alaily-Mattar
Nina (Nadia) Alaily-Mattar is a Senior Research Associate and Lecturer at the Chair of Urban Development and Spatial Planning at TUM. Her research explores the interplays of architecture and media, and the broader role of architecture in processes of urban transformation. She is currently completing her habilitation at TUM, where she examines how architectural representations of urban futures are deployed as instruments for expanding, consolidating, and exercising power.
Dr. Yiqiu Liu
Yiqiu Liu is an architect, urban researcher, and currently a Research and Teaching Associate at TUM. Her research examines planetary urbanization with a current focus on the spatial impacts of AI’s cloud, asking how territorial and architectural strategies can transform the invisible, extraction-driven cloud infrastructures into more equitable and adaptive forms of public infrastructure.
Dr. Samkelisiwe Ntandoyenkosi Khanyile
Samkelisiwe Ntandoyenkosi Khanyile is a Senior Researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), working at the intersection of research and policy. Her work explores urban sustainability in a changing climate, using GIS, remote sensing, and similar data analytics technologies to inform more just and resilient urban development.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Ottmann
Matthias Ottmann is Professor of honorary since 2010 at the TUM. His topics are Urban Economics, Planning Theory (Stakeholder Management, Behavior Economics) and Real estate Management (Strategic management, Negotiation, Project und Asset Management). With a theoretical background as an economist, he is also engaged at the Center of Sustainable Real Estate (CSRE) at TUM and CEO of his company Urban Progress GmbH, based in Munich.
Dr. Jhono Bennett
Jhono Bennett is an architect, urban researcher, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, working across design practice, teaching, and research. His work explores reparative architectures, spatial justice, and participatory design practices in Southern urban contexts.
Lelentle Ramphele
Lele Ramphele is a researcher associate, architectural designer, artist and also none of those things. His work uses relatively accessible architectural and photographic tools as well as flash fiction and facsimile to coax a more inclusive reading of both personal and collective processes and histories.
Alina Gabriela Frick-Dinu
Alina Gabriela Frick-Dinu is a PhD researcher in Architecture at the University of Liechtenstein/ Technical University of Munich and an architect in professional practice. Her work focuses on rural decline, (de)urbanization, and the limits of architectural agency, with a particular emphasis on the Danube Delta in Romania.
Anne Schlumbohm
Anne Schlumbohm is a student assistant in Urban Development and Spatial Planning at TUM and is currently working on her Master’s thesis in Architecture "Anne Schlumbohm is a student assistant in Urban Development and Spatial Planning at TUM and is currently working on her Master’s thesis in Architecture.