Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Mark is Research Group Leader: Housing and Urban Studies at the CSIR in Pretoria with 30 years’ experience in research and policy development for human settlements and urban land in South and southern Africa. He was Programme Director of the Urban Land Markets Programme Southern Africa, funded by UKaid, from 2006 until 2013. He is project lead for the design and management of the “Urban Knowledge Exchange Southern Africa” - an online knowledge-sharing platform. Mark trained and practised as an architect before going into research firstly in the area of housing and then broadening that to land and market issues.
Research Group Leader of Housing and Urban Studies
Exploring new opportunities in urban land and shelter in the African context.
Visiting Professor, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Centre for Development Support, University of the Free State
Setting up and managing the programme which was funded by DFID Southern Africa (UKaid) with fiduciary oversight by FinMark Trust. The organisation was mandated to build evidence and advocacy around “making urban land markets work for the poor” in the southern Africa region
Establishment of new competency area in housing and urban development, institutional design and organisational development for settlement delivery, housing finance, infrastructure funding, and urban property market interventions
Seconded to establish and manage a new Chief Directorate: Research in the Policy and Programme Management Branch of the Department.