Jhono Bennett Email & Phone Number

United Kingdom

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

Alongside Reham Elwakil, we led a masters studio group under the frame of Navigating the Betaa3//what-what that guided students through the social and political complexities of their chosen site and topic.

London Area, United Kingdom

Working with Diana Ibanez Lopez to guide master's students through practice orientated research and writiing methodologies on cities.

London, England, United Kingdom

In my role as a unit co-tutor for UG_Unit 2 - 1:1 Systems of Exchange, I co-lead the unit with Zachary Fluker. The unit explores reciprocal relationships between spatial practitioners and the built environment, focusing on 1:1 exchanges across different scales, from local hardware stores to algorithms on social media platforms. As a unit we co-produce tool sets and documentation to explore tensions between urban systems of exchange in both physical and virtual environments.

London, England, United Kingdom

I covered the Major Project Coordination and led a group of SitutatedPractice Master's students through their Major Project work towards submission and final exhibition.

London, England, United Kingdom

As a post-graduate teaching assistant for the Masters of Urban Historical and Urban Environments program at the Bartlett School of Architecture, my role is to support Professors Edward Denison and Lakshmi Priya Rajendran in delivering the course. This involves assisting in the preparation and delivery of lectures, leading seminars and workshops, providing feedback on student work, and facilitating discussions and group projects. Additionally I led a workshop series of Situated Field Methods for the 2022/2023 cohort that focused on questions of positionality and critical ethics-in-action for research in the field.

London, England, United Kingdom

As an initiative I was involved in alongside Zahira El Nazir, WIP+ was a student-led effort created by PhD students at the Bartlett School of Architecture to connect and support the doctoral cohort across all streams of the programme. The aim was to provide peer support and complement the existing training resources available. During my involvement, I worked with the team to develop the initiative, which provided a platform for new and current BSA PhD scholars to connect and share their knowledge, skills, and experiences. WIP+ was maintained through the volunteer efforts of previous PhD students who launched and sustained it from 2019 onwards. The initiative was structured through seasons, with yearly changing student conveners.

London, England, United Kingdom

I collaborated with Dr. Lakshmi Proya Rajendran on the Southern Indian Cities Public Space Project, providing research support through coordinating systemic literature reviews, managing the project, and contributing to research publications, including writing, editing, citation management, and coordinating fieldwork.

London, England, United Kingdom

Led by Dr Tania Sengupta and Dr Megha Chandra Ingles, I was a part of the team that organised the History and Theory Forum at The Bartlett School of Architecture, which focused on the theme of 'Race and the Architectural Humanities'. The forum included roundtables, show-and-tell presentations, and conversations that explored the interactions between these themes and design and technologies. It emphasized inclusive, anti-racist, socially equitable, environmentally just, and culturally nuanced approaches. The forum was open to all Bartlett School of Architecture staff and students and featured presentations from both internal and external researchers, designers, creative artists, and activists. Its goal was to bring the school community together to share efforts that addressed these questions and transformed practices in meaningful ways.

London, England, United Kingdom

As a postgraduate teaching assistant for the MASc in Global Urbanism at UCL Urban Lab, my role is to support the course instructors in providing a high-quality educational experience to students. This involves supporting tutorials, field trip co-ordination support, providing feedback, and assisting with research projects.

London, England, United Kingdom

With Lubiana Miraz, I have co-convened and initiated a Doctoral Reading/Doing Group, consisting of meetings, workshops, and action-research exercises where we collectively develop a shared understanding of Southern Urbanist Practice. Through this initiative, we explore various interpretations of Southern Urbanism and reflect on academic debates and support for scholars and practitioners. Our proposed structure involves monthly meetings in a hybrid/online format using Teams Group, with a shared SUP Resource as the database.

London, England, United Kingdom

I am a committee member of the Postgrad Urbanists network, which aims to provide a supportive and engaging space for doctoral and Master's level urban researchers. We organize monthly virtual events such as reading groups, writing groups, socials, and quizzes to facilitate lively discussions and community building. Our network is growing, and we are constantly planning new initiatives such as PhD workshops, urban walks, and expanding our digital #myurbanlab initiative

London, England, United Kingdom

I worked with Dr. Ann Thorpe and Dr. Rokia Raslan on co-ordianting a series of events that brought together industry experts the Bartlett Faculty and ARUP to engage with topics of : Retrofit at Scale, Nature Positive Urban Development, and Data Driven Construction.

London, England, United Kingdom

As a committee member and interim chair for the Bartlett Community of Engagers, I helped to create a collaborative network that promotes engaged research and learning. The network is open to all staff and students within The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, and provides a space for sharing engagement experiences, resources, and ideas.

London, England, United Kingdom

I collaborated with the Bartlett Faculty's Research Impact team to spearhead a research initiative. Together, we organized and executed a 'co-hackathon' series, bringing research practitioners from various disciplines within the faculty together. The aim was to foster a more collaborative research ethos across the entire faculty.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

I'm a co-founder and co-director of 1to1 - Agency of Engagement, a non-profit organisation aimed at promoting a socially driven approach to built environment spatial practice in South Africa. Over an 8-year period, I played a leadership role in the establishment of the organisation and now act as adviser to my co-founder Jacqui Cuyler and the rest of the 1to1 team. My current involvement includes overseeeing the Change by Design - Joburg: Housing Justice in the Inner-City project.

Johannesburg Metropolitan Area

My role as the convenor and co-editor of Jus't Spatial Design ZA is to oversee the development and publication of content on the website. I work closely with a team of design practitioners to ensure that the content aligns with our mission of promoting spatial justice in South Africa. This includes managing the editorial calendar, coordinating with contributors, and ensuring the accuracy and relevance of the published content.

Johannesburg Metropolitan Area

I have developed a publicly accessible digital platform called the South(ern) African Archi PhD Resource Platform. This initiative aims to support South(ern) Africans in undertaking a PhD in architecture or related spatial practice fields associated with the built environment, both on the continent and abroad. I gathered resources from amazing individuals and shared them on the website, which included funding resources and a doctoral scholar database. I invited contributors to expand and update the platform regularly and created a Twitter platform and a communal Slack channel for detailed discussions with a growing peer group.

Johannesburg, South Africa

As an Affiliate and Technical Advisor to Architecture Sans Frontieres - United Kingdom, I play a supportive role in providing guidance and support to the organization's efforts to promote socially responsible architecture and sustainable development practices.

London, England, United Kingdom

I served as a Module Lead within the Learning Environments MSc program, where I taught students about the complex interrelationships between learning, physical, and digital environments to enhance future educational spaces. My role involved providing expertise in learning space policies, development, design, management, and pedagogy, which is a valuable specialization in an emerging field, particularly in the current COVID-19 era.

London, England, United Kingdom

I assisted the BUDD programme by contributing to the development of digital content, organizing research data, and producing outputs for various aspects of their work.

London, England, United Kingdom

As a Post Graduate Teaching Assistant for the MSc Building and Urban Design Development under Dr. Catalina Ortiz, I provided support and guidance to students in various areas of the program. This included assisting with coursework, conducting tutorials and seminars, documentation and providing feedback to students. I also helped in the organization and coordination of their Field Engagement project , Sheffield Otherwise where I worked closely with the team to ensure that the course objectives were met and documented.

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

In 2022, I had the opportunity to be the guest Studio Lead for the City Research Studio on Homelessness held at the African Center for Cities (ACC). The course aimed to use a systems-level approach to explore the complexities of homelessness. Throughout the course, we engaged with stakeholders, visited sites, and used visual tools to better understand the issue. I learned that tackling wicked problems like homelessness is challenging, but the inclusion of diverse perspectives and a human-centered approach provided valuable insights. The course emphasized the need for political will and significant resources to address the issue.

London, England, United Kingdom

As a board member for Architecture Sans Frontieres International, my role was multifaceted and involved supporting various initiatives and projects of the organization. One of the key areas where I provided my expertise was in the Challenging Practice workshops. These workshops aimed to bring together professionals from different disciplines and backgrounds to discuss and address complex problems related to the built environment. My work also focused on issues related to building capacity for ASF members in Africa. This involved working with local partners and stakeholders to identify the specific needs and challenges faced by architects and designers in the region.As a board member, I was also involved in the governance of the organization. This involved participating in meetings, contributing to decision-making processes, and ensuring that the organization's goals and values were upheld.

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

As a Studio Leader in CEPT's Designing with People Studio under Dr. Jigna Desai, I designed and taught a critical, reflective, and speculative course grounded in participatory research and design methods. Throughout the course, I challenged the idea of participatory work as 'consensus building' and instead built a platform for dialogue with residents. Together with Harshil Parekh, the studio assistant, I co-designed studio tools, used action learning and visual thinking, and encouraged students to produce a comprehensive body of work that was well-received by critics and residents alike. We even put together a full Gujarati 'hand over' booklet titled Dreaming with Mandvi Ni Pol, which was given to the leadership in our final engagement with the Pol. Dr. Jigna Desai continues this work within her larger offering to the old City of Ahmedabad. *Studio was awarded with a merit from CEPT Dean.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

I worked as a researcher in the UJ DESIS Lab, which is an interdisciplinary design laboratory committed to promoting positive social innovation and sustainable living. Our work focused on social innovation, emerging sustainable ways of living, design for social innovation, and the role of design schools as agents of change. We aimed to address complex problems facing humanity, aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and believed that design could play a critical role in prototyping sustainable solutions. Our lab was based in FADA, and we believed that design schools had the potential to act as design laboratories for generating new visions for our future and fostering new collaborations. In 2021, we underwent a spiritual relaunch with a new name and website.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

I was involved in various teaching roles at the University of Johannesburg's Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture. These roles included leading the 2nd Year design studio, providing computer training in BIM and Photoshop, supporting the 3rd year design studio, running the Introduction week for the whole Architecture Department (Creativity Week), and organizing the interdepartmental Tlhakantsha Week. During my time as a design studio leader, I was responsible for guiding students through various design projects, helping them develop their skills in conceptualization, research, and presentation. This included teaching in the professional practice of the masters programme.

Johannesburg Metropolitan Area

I was the critical practice lead and a faculty member at UJ's Post Graduate School of Architecture. From 2012, I developed the course from Dr. Amira Osman's original structure and adapted it to cater to the changing needs of the school. This involved several workshops with different stakeholders, critical debates and seminars with local socio-technical and grassroots development practitioners. The course oversaw the co-development a set of principles and guides for architects and designers to work with vulnerable groups in Johannesburg. All work has been documented and available on the Just Spatial Design ZA - student contribution section of the platform.

Johannesburg Metropolitan Area

As the Unit tutor for GSA Unit 14: Rogue Economies, I co-led a design-research unit based at the University of Johannesburg's Graduate School of Architecture with Thiresh Govender and Tuliza Sindi. Over the course of a year, our work delved into the hidden world of economic transactions in Johannesburg and the resulting impact on the city's architecture. It was a privilege to guide and support the students as they explored this fascinating topic.

Johannesburg Metropolitan Area

As a co-tutor under Dr. Amira Osman in UJ Unit 2 Architecture and Agency, I helped students understand the Built Environment as a social/physical ecosystem that was never finished but rather transformed part by part. This unit was in line with international trends and resonated strongly with present-day South African concerns. It offered students the opportunity to engage with an international network of thinkers and practitioners in the field of Open Building, Urbanism, and Human Settlements.

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

As a researcher with the South African Cities Network, my role was to provide socio-spatial visual support to a current program under the network's portfolio. During my fellowship as a Mandela Washington Fellow, I worked as a tactical intern and supported the development, initiation, and execution of a methodology that summarized the conference proceedings from the 2017 Urban Conference in Durban. My task was to create a short video story summarizing the proceedings and to be presented the next day. The video was completed under great stress but on time, with the help of local artists and a registered futurist, Marius Oosthuzien, who guided the summary from the conference.

Sheffield,United Kingdom

I served as a visiting lecturer for the Sheffield Urban Design Masters programme for a number of years. My role involved teaching a course on a novel spatial research method that I had developed. This technique involved using projectors, physical models, and facilitated engagement to explore complex ideas and perceptions of space. To enhance the learning experience, we created a projected mapping tool that could be used in various formats. This tool proved to be effective in the collaboration between students from the University of Sheffield and the University of Johannesburg, facilitating remote co-design and resulting in more inclusive and contextually relevant design solutions. The tool also supported community involvement in grassroots urban development projects, allowing us to create more equitable and sustainable urban spaces that catered to the needs of all residents. By visualising and communicating complex spatial concepts in a more accessible manner, the projected mapping tool played a significant role in facilitating this process.

Pretoria Area, South Africa

I worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Pretoria's Architecture Department, assisting Carin Combrinck in teaching the Housing and Urban Environment Module in the postgraduate school. My role was to guide students through the process I had undergone in Slovo Park in 2010, focusing on Socio-Technical Design. This experience helped me identify gaps in architectural education and develop teaching and design methods to bridge them.The students in the module excelled and developed integrated designs that gave the Slovo Park Community Development Forum a clear plan to take to the government. I also took students to visit other projects across Johannesburg, such as Marlboro South. In subsequent years, the students continued to work on design-build projects, including a playground for children in Slovo Park and a community development program with the Rehoboth Church in Mamelodi.

Johannesburg, South Africa

In 2014, I had the opportunity to assist Costanza La Mantia at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Planning School in teaching the design module for the 2nd year planning students under the ARPL 2015 module. The module's main approach was through research and participatory engagement with various community-based organisations that work within Kya Sands. Kya Sands is situated in an uncomfortable tension with its suburban neighbor of North Riding.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

As a socio-technical support, I had the opportunity to work with the South African Shack/Slum Dwellers International Alliance (SASDI), which is the South African affiliate of the Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI). My role was to advise, document, and facilitate technical projects that make up the 6 rituals of the SDI. These projects were specific technical projects put forward by residents of various informal settlements in Gauteng, and required intermediary technical support in their longer development goals. Through this process, we aimed to bring residents together around a tangible output that benefits the community as a whole, and create a platform for the community to engage local council through demonstrating their organization and mobilization towards larger development goals in their future.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

As an architectural technician, I worked with Bettina Woodward on project development in Cape Town through Open City, focusing on creating designs that were both functional and aesthetically pleasing. My responsibilities included drafting plans and render, coordinating the 3D BIM Models nd suppliers, and aensuring that projects met building codes and regulations.

Durban Metropolitan Area

I had the opportunity to work on a large-scale project in Mumbai, India with Don Albert and Gordon Jubber, both of whom are experienced architects. We were collaborating with ARUP engineers, who were also involved in the project. My primary role was to develop the BIM model for the project, which involved creating a comprehensive digital model that included all aspects of the design, from structural elements to mechanical and electrical systems.

Windhoek, Khomas, Namibia

I had the opportunity to work as a design fellow for Architecture for Humanity (AFH) on Football for Hope Project in 2010. I was assigned to the Special Olympics Sports Center project in Namibia. It was a fulfilling experience to be part of the team that contributed to the successful completion of the project. Tommy Calhoun was instrumental in overseeing the tender phase after I had left, and the project was completed brilliantly under his leadership.

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

While working at Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects (SAOTA), I gained valuable experience in the professional architectural world and learned important lessons from a well-managed practice. One of my contributions was establishing the initial BIM protocols for Revit, which the office still uses today. Adapting BIM to the South African context and developing systems for a multinational office taught me essential skills that have been useful in my current teaching and practice work.

Doctor Of Philosophy | Phd By Design, City/Urban, Community And Regional Planning

Activities and Societies: WIP+, Southern Urbanist Practice Reading Group, Community of EngagersI am a doctoral candidate at the University.

Goldman School Of Public Policy | Summer Programme, Civic Leadership

Activities and Societies: City of Berkeley, Planning Department PlacementI was selected as one of 63 South Africans to join the 2016.

Masters Of Architecture (Professional), Architecture, Design Distinction

During my Masters project, I researched the role of architecture in developing areas and analyzed the cement brick makers' network.

Bachelor Of Architecture - Honours, Architecture, Design Distinction

Activities and Societies: AZA Master Class: Convertible CitiesDuring my honours year at the University of Pretoria, I completed my.

Exchange Semester, Architecture

I had the incredible opportunity to spend a year studying abroad at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. This experience allowed me.

Bachelor Of Architectural Studies, Architecture

During my undergraduate studies in architecture, I had the opportunity to learn from professors such as Derek Van Heerden, Lindsay Busche.