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Department of Geography

 

Priti Mohandas MA (Cantab. ), MA, MPhil

PhD student

The Politics of Transformation: Improvement, gender and Transitional Housing in Cape Town, South Africa

Biography

Qualifications

  • MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (Distinction), University of Cambridge, King’s College, Cambridge, UK
  • MA by Project in The Architecture of Rapid Change and Scarce Resource (Distinction) Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design, London, UK
  • MA (Cantab. ) in Architecture, (High II.i, 68% overall) University of Cambridge, King’s College, Cambridge, UK

Awards

  • ESRC Doctoral Training Programme Studentship, 2020 – 2023
  • Ryland’s Art Prize (First Place), King’s College, Cambridge, 2021
  • Architecture Faculty Fieldwork fund, towards fieldwork in Cape Town, South Africa, 2019
  • King’s College Graduate Travel and Research Grant, for the undertaking of fieldwork related to the MPhil thesis in Cape Town, South Africa, 2019
  • Kettles Yard Travel Fund, to participate in a workshop at The College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley on inequality and infrastructural design, 2019
  • The Water Trust Scholarship and Bursary, for outstanding graduate achievement, 2017
  • The Jill Ricker’s Prize for Achievement in Architecture, for outstanding achievement in Architecture, 2015
  • Ferris Travel and Research Grant, towards a research trip to Belgium on industrial design, 2015
  • The Ferris Travel and Research Grant, for the undertaking of fieldwork related to the undergraduate dissertation in Gujarat, India, 2014
  • The Ryland’s Art Prize, Annual competitive Art prize held at King’s College, Cambridge, 2012

Career

  • September 2021 – February 2022: UN-Habitat, Global Solutions Division, Climate Change Team, Global Solutions Division, Nairobi Office, Kenya
  • January 2021 – Present: Co-founder of the Future Architects Front – FAF (A grassroots collective which works towards ending and addressing exploitative practices for architectural workers.
  • April 2021 – Present: Design Council Expert, Design Council, UK
  • September 2019: Network Partner, AHRC Filming Energy Research Network (FERN), Cambridge, UK
  • 2020 – 2023: PhD, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, King’s College, Cambridge, UK
  • 2018 – 2020: MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design, University of Cambridge, King’s College, Cambridge, UK
  • 2017 – 2018: MA by Project in The Architecture of Rapid Change and Scarce Resource, Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design, London, UK
  • 2012 – 2015: MA (Cantab.) in Architecture, University of Cambridge, King’s College, Cambridge, UK
  • Jun – Sept 2019: Development Action Group (NGO), Project Support and research consultant, Cape Town, South Africa
  • July – Sept 2017: Architecture Sans Frontières UK, Intern, Cape Town, South Africa
  • July – Sept 2017: Development Action Group (NGO), Intern, Cape Town, South Africa
  • July – Sept 2014: Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (NGO), Intern, Ahmedabad, India
  • 2018-2019: Thom Pierce Studio (Activist Photographer), Researcher and Studio Manager, Cape Town, South Africa
  • 2016 – 2017: Stanton Williams Architects, Part I Architectural Assistant, London, UK
  • 2015-2016: Mole Architects, Part I Architectural Assistant, Cambridge, UK
  • 2015 – 2018: Royal Academy of Art, Youth Outreach Worker, Education Department, London, UK
  • 2015: CAMbassador, University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2010: Granit Architects, Work Experience, London, UK
  • 2010: Allies and Morrison Architects, Work Experience, London, UK
  • 2009: Allies and Morrison Architects, Work Experience, London, UK

Research

This PhD study uses the case study of Pickwick Transitional Housing to offer insight into the ways in which housing models concerned with social, economic and physical “transition” connect with housing [in]security and South African state agendas for transformation.

In 2019, the residents of Pickwick Transitional Housing in Salt River shared a radical, collective experience of change when they moved from informal shack housing in Pine Road, Woodstock, to Pickwick Transitional Housing, Salt River. This material, social and political experience of “transformation” is at the core of debates in post-apartheid South Africa in policy, practice, and discourse, present in all spheres of both state and society.

This research is situated in scholarly debates around improvement, exploring the role of housing and gender within this context. This research will provide an insight into the interface between state and society when the state’s expectations of improvement programmes, through housing, both connect and contrast with the expectations and lived experiences of beneficiaries. Connecting the gendered experience of home with the supposedly genderless identity of the state, I investigate the implications of gender both inside and outside of the state on the expectations and lived experiences of transformation, through housing policy.

The qualitative enquiry of this work is guided by a feminist-decolonial approach. This approach centres participants to prioritise mutually constructed, reflective and empowering knowledge production processes. It is a direct response to the intertwined colonial histories, gender sensitivities and unequal power dynamics between the researcher and the researched in processes of knowledge production. With historical struggle and socio-spatial segregation embedded in South Africa, this work aims to contribute to both empirical and methodological investigations of transforming entrenched inequality in the post-colonial city.

Publications

Peer-reviewed publications

Other publications

Conference presentations and invited lectures

  • ‘The Politics of Transformation: Improvement, gender and transitional housing in Cape Town, South Africa’, Oral presentation at the Cambridge Land Economy Early Career Researchers’ Conference; April 2022, Cambridge, UK
  • ‘ARCSOC TALK: Future Architects Front (FAF)’, Oral presentation with C. Edmonds at Arcsoc talks, November 2021, Cambridge, UK
  • ‘Reuse, redevelop and Design’, Oral presentation and guest panellist, University of Cape Town, September 2019, Cape Town, South Africa
  • March 2019 “Legitimizing Anonymous Reporting”, Guest Panellist, University of Cambridge, UK
  • November 2019, Key Note Speaker, King’s College Annual BME dinner, University of Cambridge, UK
  • August 2017 “The Integration Syndicate”, Research Presentation, African Centre for Cities, Cape Town, South Africa

External activities

  • Global Energy Nexus in Urban Settlements (GENUS)
  • Design Council Expert
  • Network Partner, AHRC Filming Energy Research Network (FERN), Cambridge, UK

About

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About the University

Research at Cambridge