Selected Published Work

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Writing is an important part of my reflexive practice, offering a space to reflect on project work, publish carefully, and ask critical questions. My published work spans journal articles, book chapters, and collaborative writing, addressing themes including Southern urbanism, spatial justice, informality, and Repairative Architectures.

Much of it draws on design-led and practice-based research, treating writing as a way of thinking through the challenges and responsibilities of working in South African cities. A full collection of my written and published work is available on my ResearchGate profile.

All Published Work

Southern Architectures & Urbanism

Bennett, J. (2026) ‘Working with Southern Architectures: Locating a Reparative Urban Design Praxis‘, in Catalina Ortiz and Chandrima Mukhopadhyay (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Southern Urbanism(s). Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 43–57. doi: 10.4324/9781003502579-5. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2025) ‘Architectures Beyond An Architect: Common Practices from the Uncommon Global Majority in Post-Apartheid South Africa‘, in Federica Goffi, Isabel Potworowski and Kristin Washco (eds) (Un)Common Precedents in Architectural Design. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 103–116. doi: 10.4324/9781003504283. ISBN: 9781032823102. ResearchGate

Ortiz, C., Talocci, G., Villamizar Duarte, N., Garcia Fernandez, L. and Bennett, J. (2022) Sheffield Otherwise – Report. Newcastle University ePrints

Bennett, J. (2022) ‘Spatial Design Practice in a Post-Post City: A Situated Southern Urbanist Inquiry Around How‘, in Urban ARC 2022 Conference Proceedings. Bengaluru, India: Indian Institute for Human Settlements. IIHS (PDF)

Bennett, J. (2021) ‘Contested Spatial Imaginaries of a post-post-Apartheid City: A design-led, southern urbanist exploration of spatial practice in Johannesburg, South Africa‘, in Caendia Wijnbelt and Paula Struden (eds) Communities of Tacit Knowledge Architecture and its Ways of Knowing. TACK Network

Bennett, J. and Valley, S. (2017) Not a “NO-GO” Zone, in Lokko, L. (ed.) Folio Vol. 1 PUPAE. 1st edn. Johannesburg, South Africa: GSA Imprints, p. 272. ResearchGate

Bennett, J (photographer). and Clarke, N. (2014) Architectural Guide South Africa Photos. University of Pretoria

Repairative Practice & Repair

De Carli, B., Mackay, R., Bennett, J., Cuyler, J., Molopi, E., Kahn, T., Riveros, V. and Royston, L. (2026)Repair and Maintenance: A Policy Brief on Inner-City Housing.Issuu

Bennett, J. (2025) Locating Southern Architectures: Situating a Reparative Practice in a post-post City. PhD Thesis. University College London. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2025) ‘Relational Resilience and Reparative Design: Participatory Practices and the Politics of Space in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg‘, Architecture, 5(4), p. 111. doi: 10.3390/architecture5040111. MDPI (open access)

Bennett, J. (2025) ‘Unmasking the Architect in a World of Repair‘, in Shriya Chaudhry, Emma Kaufmann, Giacomo Rossi and Qianer Zhu (eds) Unmasking Space: A Handbook for Student Activism. Barcelona: dpr-barcelona, pp. 140–144. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2024) ‘Repair as Practice: Expanding Architectural Approaches to Climate Justice in Southern Africa‘, Dimensions: Journal of Architectural Knowledge. doi: 10.14361/dak-2024-0815. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2022) ‘A Post-Post Positional Praxis: Locating Ideas of Repair in a Southern City‘, in Perspectives on Tacit Knowledge in Architecture. Zurich: ETH / TACK Network. TACK Network

Socio-Technical & Participatory Practice

Bennett, J., De Carli, B. and Shafique, T. (2025) ‘Socio-technical practices: Re-arrangements of Technical Knowledge for Just Cities – Introduction‘, Environment and Urbanization. doi: 10.1177/09562478251376998. SAGE Journals

Bennett, J., De Carli, B. and Shafique, T. (eds) (2025) Socio-technical practices: Re-arrangements of Technical Knowledge for Just Cities [Special Issue], Environment and Urbanization. doi: 10.1177/09562478251376998. SAGE Journals

Bennett, J. et al. (2025) ‘Engagements of Co-Production within Doctoral Research: Reflections on the Limitations and Opportunities‘, in Cassidy Johnson, Vanesa Castán Broto, Wilbard Kombe, Catalina Ortiz, Barbara Lipietz, Emmanuel Osuteye and Caren Levy (eds) Co-production of Knowledge in Action: Emancipatory Strategies for Urban Equality. London: UCL Press, pp. 267–291. doi: 10.14324/111.9781800088931. ISBN: 9781800088931. UCL Press (open access)

Bennett, J. (2023) ‘Participatory Design Won’t Fix Unequal Southern African Cities: But We Should Still Do It, Just Better‘, in Patrick Brandful Cobbinah and Eric Gaisie (eds) Reimagining Urban Planning in Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. and Ruchon, M. (2021) ASF Newsletters 22 – Planet Starship. London: ASF International. ASF International (PDF)

Bennett, J., Mitlin, D., Cuyler, J., Horn, P., Makau, J. and Masimba Nyama, G. (2021) A Framework to Scale Citizen Participation. Working Paper. Manchester: Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester. University of Manchester (PDF)

Mitlin, D., Bennett, J., Horn, P., King, S., Makau, J. and Masimba Nyama, G. (2020) Knowledge Matters: The Potential Contribution of the Coproduction of Research, The European Journal of Development Research, 32, pp. 544–559. doi: 10.1057/s41287-020-00277-w. ResearchGate

Mitlin, D., Bennett, J., Horn, P., King, S., Makau, J. and Masimba Nyama, G. (2019) Knowledge Matters: The Potential Contribution of the Co-production of Research to Urban Transformation, SSRN Electronic Journal. Elsevier BV. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3470133. SSRN

Horn, P., Mitlin, D., Bennett, J., Chitekwe-Biti, B. and Makau, J. (2018) Towards Citywide Participatory Planning: Emerging Community-Led Practices in Three African Cities, SSRN Electronic Journal. Elsevier BV. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3225770. SSRN

Bennett, J. (2018) Un-learning “community”: reflections on socio-technical spatial design support with Slovo Park, in Out-Of-The Box 2018 Conference Proceedings. Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Science and Technology and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). ResearchGate

Bennett, J., Morley, S., Wong, K. and De Trevau, C. (2018) Change by Design 2017: Cape Town – Methods and Tools for Socio-Technical Support. Edited by J. Bennett. Cape Town, South Africa. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2016) Local Studio – Introduction. Local Studio. Local Studio

Bainbridge, E., Bennett, J., Campkin, B., De Carli, B.A., Frediani, A.A., French, M., Macedo, C., Walker, J., Macgregor-Rourke, H., Issadeen, A., Matiashe, W. et al. (2016) Change by Design: Reimagining regeneration through participatory design in Cape Town. Edited by B. De Carli and A. A. Frediani. London: Oxford: Architecture Sans Frontiéres -UK & Development Action Group. ResearchGate

Cajilig, P. G., Bennett, J. and Pasta, F. (2016) Design from the passenger seat, Design Anthology, September, p. 45. ResearchGate

Osman, A. and Bennett, J. (2016) “Community” as the basic architectural unit: Rethinking practice through the experience of ASF, Ecuador, in Ayhan, B. (ed.) CUI ’16 IV. International Contemporary Urban Issues Conference. Istanbul, Turkey: Dergipark Akademik, pp. 100–112. ISBN: 978-605-9207-55-3. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2014) Participatory design beyond re-development: Johannesburg, South Africa. London: Architecture Sans Frontiere International, p. 9. doi: 10.13140/2.1.3110.6565. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2011) Platforms of Engagement: A process of critical engagement within a developing context. University of Pretoria. doi: 10.13140/2.1.1529.2161. UPSpace (open access)

Positionality & Practice Reflection

Bennett, J. (2025) Phrasebook Project: Futuring Visual Practices of Position, Situation, and Translation. Delft. Full text (PDF)

Bennett, J. (2025) ‘No Studio, No Office, No Problem‘, Journal of Architectural Education. doi: 10.1080/10464883.2025.2564834. ResearchGate

Bennett, J., Jack, O. and Cuyler, J. (2023) ‘Venting Practices: Navigating Interpersonal Dynamics of Socio-Technical Spatial Design Work in Neo-Apartheid Cities‘, in Amira Osman, John Nagle and Sabyasachi Tripathi (eds) The Urban Ecologies of Divided Cities. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, pp. 169–173. ResearchGate

Fell, S. and Bennett, J. (2022) Space: Reshared, in Nina Vollenbroker, Stephanie Fell and Jhono Bennett (eds) Bartlett PhD Research Projects 2022. London, United Kingdom: Bartlett School of Architecture, pp. 10–11. Issuu

Mulla, A. Al et al. (2022) Bartlett PhD Research Projects 2022. Edited by Nina Vollenbroker, Stephanie Fell and Jhono Bennett. London, United Kingdom: Bartlett School of Architecture. Issuu

Bennett, J. (2022) Community Caution. Design Justice Network: From the Desks of Designers and Researchers bringing Design Justice Principles to Work, 1, pp. 22–27. Design Justice Network

Bennett, J. (2022) Navigating the What-What: Spirit of the Order. Edited by Andreas Putz, Meike Schalk, Tijana Stevanović and Torsten Lange. Species of Theses and Other Pieces: Dimensions Journal of Architectural Knowledge 2(3). ResearchGate

Bennett, J., Cattapan, F., Lonergan, H., Mainardi, C., Sklavounos, I., Trubenbach, M. and Vorsel, A.L. (2021) Konvolutt Modules 1–3 Research Abstracts, Fragments, and Collective Bibliography. Edited by Paula Struden, Caendia Wijnbelt and Anna Livia Vorsel. TACK. TACK Network

1to1, – Agency of Engagement (2019) A Reflective Engagement: 2010-2018. Edited by J. Bennett. Johannesburg, South Africa: 1to1 – Agency of Engagement. Issuu

Pedagogy & Design Education

Bennett, J. (2021) ‘Teaching Design in a Post-Rainbow Nation: A South African Reflection on the Limits and Opportunities of Design Praxis‘, in F. Giuseppe, A. Fisher and L. Moretto (eds) African Cities Through Local Eyes: Experiments in Place-Based Planning and Design. 1st edn. Springer: The Urban Book Series, pp. 151–172. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-84906-1. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2018) Design Praxis in a post-Rainbow Nation City: a reflection on the limits & opportunities of spatial design led service learning in South African cities, in Through Local Eyes: Place-based approaches to emerging architectural, urban design and planning challenges in Africa and the Global South Proceedings. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Université libre de Bruxelles. ResearchGate

Bennett, J. (2017) Co-Designing the Driver’s Seat: A call for an “Open” Approach to Drawing Production in Spatial Design Practice, in The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South (SOTL) Conference Proceedings. Johannesburg, South Africa: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South, p. 121. ISBN: 978-0-86970-803-3. ResearchGate

Osman, A., Toffa, T. and Bennett, J. (2015) Architecture and Agency: Ethics and accountability in teaching through the application of Open Building principles, in Ethics and accountability in Design: Do they matter? – DEFSA Conference Proceedings. Johannesburg, South Africa: DEFSA, pp. 287–303. ResearchGate

Osman, A. and Bennett, J. (2014) People and Projects: The Importance of Catalysts In Teaching Community Architecture In South Africa, in UIA 2014 Durban Conference Proceedings. Durban, South Africa: UIA 2014 Durban, pp. 1442–1452. ResearchGate

Rights around Housing & ‘Informality’

De Carli, B., Risero, V. and ASF-UK (2025) The Right to Home. London: ASF-UK. ASF-UK

De Carli, B., Risero, V. and 1to1 – Agency of Engagement (2025) Making Home. London: ASF-UK. Issuu

Culpers, K., Ali, N., Bennett, J. et al. (2025) Cómo podría la mayoría urbana de África redefinir las agendas de sostenibilidad. IIED-Latin America. Ingenta Connect

De Carli, B., Khan, T. and 1to1 – Agency of Engagement (2024) Our Right to Adequate Housing – English/Zulu/Sotho. London: ASF-UK. Issuu

Culpers, K., Ali, N., Bennett, J. et al. (2024) ‘How can Africa’s marginalised urban majority reframe the sustainability agenda?‘, Environment and Urbanization. doi: 10.1177/09562478241230498. SAGE Journals

Combrinck, C. and Bennett, J. (2016) Navigating hostile territory? Where participation and design converge in the upgrade debate, in Cirolia, L. et al. (eds) Upgrading Informal Settlements in South Africa. 1st edn. Cape Town: UCT Press, p. 497. ResearchGate

Osman, A. and Bennett, J. (2013) Critical engagement in informal settlements: lessons from the South African experience, in QUT Proceedings. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland University of Technology, p. 13. UJ Repository (open access)

Breed, I. and Bennett, J. (2012) Architectural Design In Response to Vulnerable Networks, in Sustainable Human(e) Settlements: The Urban Challenge Conference Proceedings. Johannesburg, South Africa: University of Johannesburg, p. 67. ResearchGate

Breed, I., Claasens, M. and Bennett, J. (2012) The Design of Urban Form as Response to Elusive Patterns and Networks, Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies, 2(2), p. 30. ResearchGate

Bennett, J., Casson, C., Filipe, C., Makagubalane, L. and Van Wyk, I. (2011) Slovo Park Project 2010: A Process of Understanding. Edited by C. Combrinck and C. Filipe. Slovo Park, South Africa: University of Pretoria. Issuu