Jabu Makhubu is a lecturer and researcher at the department of architecture and the graduate school of architecture, University of Johannesburg (UJ). He is interested in the politics of space and in re-imagining urban public space in and around Johannesburg and the continent at large. He holds a Master’s degree in urban design from the University of Witwatersrand and finds the often-conflicting relationship between architecture and urbanism both inspiring and challenging. His research interests are in architectural pedagogy, transformation, African cities, politics of (public) space, urban resilience, and sustainability.

Karuni Naidoo graduated in 1988 from the University of Natal (now UKZN). In 1992 she registered with the South African Council for Architects (SACA) and became a member of the Institute of South African Architects (now SAIA). She co-founded CNN Architects in 1995, a practice that she now leads as sole Principal. Between 1995 and 2001 she lectured in Architecture at the ML Sultan Technikon (now DUT).

Karuni was instrumental in initiating the Women in Architecture initiative in South Africa, and continues to drive this within the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA), where she chairs the Transformation Committee, working with a structure of Regional Transformation Champions from the SAIA regions. Her current work within the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) involves chairing the Transformation Collaborative Committee which is focussed on Women Empowerment & Gender Equality. She also leaves her work at the Transformation Committee of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP).

Through advocacy, she continues to highlight the under-representation of black women in a traditionally white male-dominated architectural profession in South Africa and continues to lobby for empowerment and work opportunities for black persons and women.

Amina Kaskar is a South African architect, having obtained a Masters in Architecture from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2014, Johannesburg and completed a Masters in Human Settlements from KU Leuven, Belgium in 2018. She started her own architecture practice, Amina Kaskar Studio in 2020. She co-foundered Counterspace, a collaborative architectural studio dedicated to architectural projects, exhibition design, art installations, public events curation, and urban design. During her time at Counterspace, 2014-2020, Counterspace was commissioned to design the Serpentine Pavilion 2020 and was listed in the top 100 architecture firms in the world by Domus Magazine. She has also been involved in various curatorial projects with the Women’s Living Heritage Monument and The Cradle of Humankind. She is a lecturer in the Wits School of Architecture. Her work is predominantly formed with ideas towards gender and migration, exploring new categories in which the city can be investigated. She is a PhD fellow at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER). She was awarded the Global Minds scholarship in 2020 to complete a PhD at KU Leuven. Her proposed PhD is entitled “Afro-Indo Agendas: South Asian female migration to South Africa and the shaping of urban space”.