Meet our Liveable Cities panellists

Richard Holden

Richard Holden trained as an Architect at the University of the Witwatersrand and subsequently obtained a research Masters Degree in Architecture from the University of Pretoria. After practising architecture for 17 years, he spent two years as Editor of "Planning" magazine, and the next sixteen years in the service of the City of Johannesburg, as statutory Building Control Officer and as a specialist in the integration of built environment and town planning approval processes.

He served as a member of the City of Johannesburg Planning Committee and subsequently the Gauteng Development Facilitation Tribunal. In addition, he was responsible for the development of Policy Guidelines and Criteria for the integration of Energy Efficiency and Resource Sustainability into Land Use Development assessment processes and he has addressed conferences and summits, both locally and internationally, on sustainable approaches to development and the built environment.

Richard resigned from the City of Johannesburg in May 2010 in order to concentrate on his practise as an Urban Specialist and freelance writer.

Richard has written numerous specialist articles on architecture, town planning, urban design, construction technology and sustainable approaches to the built environment. He is presently writing a series of twelve articles for The South African Property Review entitled "A Tale of Two Cities", which examines the urban development dynamics in Sandton, in Johannesburg, and in the suburbs that lie between these two hubs.

Richard has participated in workshops targeting Energy Efficiency, Resource Sustainability and Spatial Planning that have been organised by Sustainable Energy Africa for both the private and public sectors. Since leaving the City of Johannesburg, he has also advised Property Developers and Professionals regarding the legal and spatial implications of municipal town planning and building plan.

Professor Edgar Pieterse

Edgar Pieterse is holder of the DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Urban Policy. He directs the African Centre for Cities and is Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, both at the University of Cape Town. Professor Edgar Pieterse previously served as Special Advisor to the Premier of the Western Cape Provincial Government (2004-2007) and directed a number of urban policy think tanks before his stint in government.

His most recent books are: African Cities Reader II: Mobilities & Fixtures (co-edited, Chimurenga, 2011); City Futures: Confronting the Crisis of Urban Development (Zed Books, 2008); Counter-Currents: Experiments in Sustainability in the Cape Town region (edited, Jacana, 2010); The African Cities Reader: Pan-African Practices (co-edited, Chimurenga Lab, 2010); Consolidating Developmental Local Government (co-edited, UCT Press, 2008) and a notable earlier book: Voices of the Transition: The Politics, Poetics and Practices of Development in South Africa (co-edited, Heinemann Publishers, 2004). Edgar's research stem from the boderzone between geography, planning and cultural studies with a strong orientation towards political philosophy.

As a result his research is wide-ranging covering themes such as African urbanism, cultural planning, regional development, governance, infrastructure transitions, and macro development issues.

He is a founder member of Isandla Institute; serves on the Boards of Magnet Theatre, the Sustainability Institute and the Cape Town Partnership; and is a member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Gauteng City-region Observatory, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, LSE Cities, and the Low Carbon Mobility Stakeholder Board of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford.

He regularly provides advisory services to various development agencies such as: UN-Habitat, African Development Bank, DBSA, National Planning Commission, OECD urban division, UNEP, amongst others. Edgar serves on an international Advisory Committee for Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (Smithsonian) curating an international exhibition, Critical Mass: Cities. He also serves as a Faculty Member of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership.

Edgar holds a PhD from London School of Economics, an MA in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies (The Hague, The Netherlands) and BA-Honours from the University of the Western Cape. More info is available at: www.africancentreforcities.net

Professor Phil Harrison

Philip Harrison is the South African Research Chair in Development Planning and Modelling hosted by the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand. Prior to this he was the Executive Director: Development Planning and Urban Management in the City of Johannesburg.
He has also lectured at the University of KwaZulu Natal where he holds a doctoral degree. He has authored and co-authored books in the fields of urban planning, development and tourism. Currently his research relates to changing city form in the Global South.