Ms Melissa Kinnear

I am an architect who has an interest in integrating learning and working in the world of International Development and how this informs design and architectural responses and vice versa, strategies for urban resilience, participatory design and deepening democratic practice.

I studied architecture in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have worked in a variety of architectural offices in both South Africa and the United Kingdom, mostly focusing on housing projects with a strong commitment to sustainable design.

In 2004, I co-founded Architecture Sans Frontières - UK (ASF-UK) where I am currently the chairperson of the board of trustees. I have been tutoring at Oxford Brookes University since 2006. My focus for teaching is on encouraging students to investigate the impact of politics, resource choice, industrialised production, economic systems, discrimination, climate change, the ramifications of disasters on the urban context and heritage. I am deeply committed to social and economic sustainability and justice, especially when applied to the built environment.