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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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. 

Yasemin Küblü is a doctoral researcher at Technical University of Munich. Her research examines urban topography through an anatomical lens, investigating the multi-layered structure of contemporary cities. She combines theoretical inquiry with digital modelling and cartographic analysis to develop new conceptual frameworks for understanding 21st century urbanism.

Gavaza Makamu is a Town Planner in the Development Management Department of the City of Cape Town and a doctoral researcher at the Technical University of Munich. Her research explores the regulation of Affordable Rental Flats as a spatially targeted intervention within Cape Town’s Planning By-Law. 

Paula Löffler is a student assistant in Urban Development and Spatial Planning at TUM and is currently working on her Master’s thesis in Architecture.

Lisa Njanji is a human geographer and prospective doctoral researcher affiliated with the Chair of Urban Development and Spatial Planning at the Technical University of Munich. Her proposed research intends to investigate how planning regulations may displace urban development beyond city boundaries, where they interact with peri-urban land systems to drive cumulative expansion, and what this means for urban sustainability. Her research will be done in the peri-urban areas of Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi in South East Africa.