Work experience

Astrid is an Assistant Professor/Lecturer in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne. She also works as an Adjunct Professor in the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London (UCL) in London. Previously, she held posts at Cardiff University, Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL), University College London (UCL) and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where she lectured to students on comparative urbanism, development geography, globalization and postcolonial Africa.

Over the past 15 years, Astrid has been involved in studying and shaping the urban form of cities in Addis Ababa, Albacete, Ankara, Barcelona, Belgrade, Boston, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Chennai, Chicago, Dar es Salaam, Edinburgh, Erode, eThekwini, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Kampala, London, Madrid, Nairobi, New Orleans, New York City, Paris, Rio de Janiero, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Sarajevo, Shenzhen, Tshwane and Washington DC.

She has worked for city government – eThekwini (South Africa), Chicago (USA), New Orleans (USA), New York (USA) and Northampton (USA), as well as the private sector – SmithGroup Architects (Washington DC, USA) and Vanke Real Estate Development, Inc. (Shenzhen, China), and civil society – South African Cities Network (Johannesburg, South Africa), Civitas Nova Foundation (Albacete, Spain), the Institute for Financial Management and Research (Erode, India), National Association of Development Organizations (Washington DC, USA), Public Service Center at MIT (Cambridge MA, USA) and Worcester Community Housing Resources, Inc., (Worcester MA, USA).

Astrid has also been involved in a number of research initiatives, many of which enabled intellectual overlaps between academia, government and civil society. Projects include, “Living in the Mobility Transition” (RHUL, London, UK), “Mapping UCL’s Urban Expertise (UCL, London, UK), “Urban Uncertainty: Governing Cities” (LSE Cities, London, UK) and “Creative City Limits” (UCL Urban Laboratory, London, UK).