- Assistant Professor (with Tenure-Track)
- Urbanism & Society
- Current Activity
- Dr. Lindsay Blair Howe conducts urban research in a comparative context, emphasizing the interstice between everyday spatial practices and built environment policies. Her transdisciplinary empirical work and design practice, primarily focused on Southern Africa and Central Europe, rely on a wide range of qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to pursue questions of mobility, equality, and sustainable urban development.
- Education
- 2019 — 2021
ETH Zurich, CAS in Spatial Information Systems
- 2014 — 2017
ETH Zurich, Ph.D. in Architecture
- 2009 — 2012
ETH Zurich, M.Sc. in Architecture
- 2002 — 2007
University of Virginia, B.Sc. in Architecture and Global Culture/Commerce
- Career
- 2020 — 2021
SCHOLARSHIP - Volvo Research and Educational Foundation (VREF) African Mobilities Grant for conducting a comparative VGI study connecting micro-dynamics and macro-processes of urbanization and city-making in the city centers of Johannesburg, South Africa and Maputo, Mozambique
- 2019 — 2020
SCHOLARSHIP - University of the Witwatersrand Postdoctoral Grant for developing doctoral research methods to investigate the mobility of mothers and families in Johannesburg
- since 2018
Howe Design Translations: Design consulting and German-English translation (translation since 2009)
- 2018 — 2021
ETH Zurich Department of Architecture: Lecturer and Senior Researcher at the Chair of Sociology for Prof. Dr.
Christian Schmid - 2018 — 2019
SCHOLARSHIP - Swiss National Science Foundation Agora Fellowship for transdisciplinary engagement with urban research about Zurich's Langstrasse
- since 2017
Resilient Civic Design Collective
Design Collective Member and Head of Research (2019-2021) - 2016 — 2018
SCHOLARSHIP - Gauteng City-Region Observatory Research Fellowship to collect volunteered geographic information using doctoral methods
- 2016
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg: Visiting Scholar with Prof. Dr. Philip Harrison
- 2015
SCHOLARSHIP - Swiss National Science Foundation Doc. Mobility Fellowship to support doctoral research fieldwork in Johannesburg
- 2015
SCHOLARSHIP - ETH Zurich Seed Money Grant to support construction of rammed earth building prototypes during a summer school in Mdabulo, Tanzania. Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich
- 2014 — 2017
SCHOLARSHIP - Sawiris Foundation Research Grant for doctoral research funding. ETH Global, Zurich
- 2014 — 2016
ETH Zurich Department of Architecture: MSc/BSc Studio Instructor and Research Scientist for Profs. Anna Heringer and Martin Rauch
- 2014
University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design: Visiting Scholar with Prof. Dr. Margaret Crawford
- 2014
SCHOLARSHIP - USAID Innovate Grant funding development of a mobility pattern tracking smartphone application. Development Impact Lab (DIL), University of California, Berkeley
- 2013 — 2014
Neff Neumann Architects, Zurich: Architectural Designer
- 2012 — 2013
Interior Concept AG, Zurich: Architectural Designer/Interior Architect
- 2009 — 2012
ETH Zurich Department of Landscape Architecture: Research Assistant for Prof. Günther Vogt
- 2008 — 2009
Jan Endemann Architect, Stuttgart: Junior Architect
- 2007 — 2008
Studio 109 PLC, Charlottesville Va: Intern Architect
- 2006
Studio 27 Architects, Washington, D.C.: Intern Architect
- Awards
- 2019
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study Research Fellowship finalist
- 2018
gta Verlag Architektonisches Wissen Publication Prize finalist
- 2017
Lee Schipper Memorial Scholarship finalist, WRI, Washington, D.C.
- 2012
UrbanSOS Aecom Frontiers Competition semi-finalist with Vanessa Joos
- 2012
Erich Degen Foundation Travel Grant, master's thesis award, ETH Zurich
- 2002 — 2007
Jean Holliday Scholarship, Deans List, Phi Beta Kappa, All-Academic Student Athlete Team awards for academic excellence, University of Virginia
- Schedule for SS 23
- B_Lands.: Gender- und Alltagsgerechte Planung (Project) Mackowitz, Howe
- Basic Studio Landschaft: "Us and Them?" Über eine gemeinsame Zukunft (Project) Stelter, Gnädinger, Hilti, Howe, Mackowitz, Sonea
- International Conference Participation and Paper Presentation (Module)
- Preliminary Study (Lecture / Exercise) Howe, Mackowitz, Schwarz, Mair, Stockhammer, Meister, Faisst, Alessi, Stelter, Kloeg, Hentschel, Wagner
- mobiLIty: Everyday Mobility at Uni Li
- FFF-Förderprojekt, October 2021 until August 2023
Mobility and sustainability are some of the most pressing challenges of our time. While socio-technical solutions are transforming the urban environments that characterize much of the globe today, ... more ...
- Rooting Architecture: Reviving the use of local and natural building materials in Bihar, India
- PhD-Thesis, since February 2021
This work is a search for ways to promote the use of local and natural building materials in the Indian state of Bihar. For this purpose, the vernacular building traditions of the rural town of ... more ...
- Re-Building the Alpine Rhine Valley - An Exploratory Case-Study of Sustainability Fixes and Densification Regimes
- PhD-Thesis, since September 2019
Urban densification as a heterogenous planning principle covering diverse concepts such as "the re-use of brownfield land, more intensive use of urban buildings, sub-divisions and conversions of ... more ...
Howe, L. B. (2021). Thinking through people: The potential of volunteered geographic information for mobility and urban studies. Urban Studies.
moreHowe, L. B. (2021). The spatiality of poverty and popular agency in the GCR: constituting an extended urban region. Urban Geography.
moreHowe, L. B., & Skjonsberg, M. (2020). The Landscape of Urban Research at the ETH Zurich. GeoAgenda, 2020/1, 27-30.
moreHowe, L. B. (2018). Paradigm Johannesburg: control and insurgency in South African urban development. International Development Planning Review, 40(4).
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Howe, L. B., Heringer, A., & Rauch, M. (2019). Upscaling Earth. Material, Process, Catalyst ( 1 ed.). Zurich: gta Verlag.
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Howe, L. B. (2020). Densification in Comparison: Alexandra and Marlboro South. In Philip Harrison & Alison Todes (Eds.), Densification Policies and Processes: Johannesburg in an international perspective (pp. 179-192). Cheltemham: Edward Elgar Press.
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Howe, L. (2017). Transdisciplinary Mobility Mapping with VGI in Johannesburg. Paper presented at the Nordic Geographers Meeting, Stockholm.
moreHowe, L. (2016). City-making from the Fringe: Control and Insurgency in the South African Housing Landscape. Paper presented at the UN-HABITAT NoCost Housing Conference, Zurich.
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Howe, L. (2021). Multi-Scalar and Trans-Local. Everyday Mobilities in Johannesburg and Maputo. Presented at the Association of American Geographers Conference, Seattle, Washington.
moreHowe, L. (2019). Inequalities within and without. How gender dynamics within families impact spatial footprints. Presented at the GenUrb: Feminist Explorations of Urban Futures International Conference, York University, Toronto.
moreHowe, L. (2019). Conceiving Territories of Inequality. Working from the outside to the inside in Johannesburg. Presented at the Association of American Geographers Conference, Washington, D.C.
moreHowe, L. (2018). Thinking through Peripheries and Centralities in Johannesburg. Presented at the Association of American Geographers Conference, New Orleans.
moreHowe, L. (2017). The Production of Extended Urban Regions: Johannesburg. Presented at the Association of American Geographers Conference, Boston.
moreHowe, L. (2016). Information as Contestation: The digital realm as a platform for underprivileged communities. Presented at the Association of American Geographers Conference, San Francisco.
moreHowe, L. (2016). City-making from the Fringe: Claiming a right to the city through everyday socio-economic practices. Presented at the San Francisco.
moreHowe, L. (2015). Networks of Communities: Analyzing Mobility with the myJozi Application. Presented at the Public lecture, Boundless City, Johannesburg.
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. (2019). Learning from Langstrasse. Exhibition of SNSF grant results Nach Zürich: Ein Anarchiv. [Exhibition]. Zentrum für Architektur, Zurich.
more. (2017). Spatial Transformation through Transit-Oriented Design. [Exhibition]. Exhibition of research results funded by Agence Francaise de Développement., Johannesburg.
more. (2017). Johannesburg: the Underprivileged Settlements of an Urban Region. [Exhibition]. , Exhibition of the ETH Zurich Department of Architecture.
moreAlfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner. (2015). Urban Earthworks. Concept design and project management for Anna Heringer, Mu Jun, and Martin Rauch [Exhibition]. Radical Urbanism UABB Bi-City Biennale on Urbanism and Design.
moreDavid Chipperfield. (2012). Un-common Venice. Project team of Prof. Günther Vogt and Case Studio VOGT [Exhibition]. Common Ground Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice.
more. (2012). UrbanSOS Aecom Frontiers Competition semi-finalist with Vanessa Joos for master's thesis research [Exhibition]. , Shanghai.
more. Market Values competition. Architectural designer for team Little Rhino Studio [Exhibition]. People's Choice Award Winner, Charlottesville.
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Howe, L. (2021). Collaborative Planning in Southern and Eastern Africa. Lecture series at the ETH Zurich Department of Architecture, Prof. Christian Schmid, ETH Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2021). Applying Qualitative Methodologies in Johannesburg. Lecture series at the ETH Zurich Department of Architecture, Prof. Christian Schmid, ETH Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2021). Peripheralization and Mobility in the Extended Urban Region of Johannesburg. Elective lecture series, Prof. Christian Schmid, ETH Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2020). Blended Finance and Transforming Urban Areas. Invited lecture at University of Zurich with Ben Mansfield (RCDC), Prof. Kern Alexander, University of Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2020). Leveraging Complexity for Adaptive Urban Transformation. Public lecture at UC Berkeley, Prof. Daniel Rodriguez, UC Berkeley.
moreHowe, L. (2019). Doing Qualitative Research. Methodological Contexts and Approaches for Landscape and Urban Studies. Doctoral colloquium lecture series presenter, ETH Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2019). Die Schönheit der Nachhaltigkeit. Podium discussion with Anna Heringer and Martin Rauch, Theater am Saumarkt, Feldkirch.
moreHowe, L. (2019). Learning Writing. Invited lecture at Skyrink Studios for the South African Arts & Culture Youth Forum, Johannesburg.
moreHowe, L. (2019). Families in the City. Public Lecture at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory, Johannesburg.
moreHowe, L. (2019). Urbanität statt Dichtestress. Workshop moderation and public lecture, Züricher Architektur Zentrum.
moreHowe, L. (2018). Decentering Design. Public lecture at the University of Southern California, Prof. Milton S.F. Curry, Los Angeles.
moreHowe, L. (2018). Reframing Sustainable Urbanism. Public lecture at the Louisiana State University Department of Architecture, Prof. Marwan Ghandour, Baton Rouge.
moreHowe, L. (2017). Learning from Johannesburg. Doctoral research with smartphone technologies. South African Academic Achievers Tour presenter, ETH Audimax, Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2017). Transdisciplinary Mobility Mapping with VGI in Johannesburg. PhD colloquium lecture series presenter, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel.
moreHowe, L. (2016). Towards a Cooperative Urbanism. A transdisciplinary analysis of structural inequality in Johannesburg. Research for Development Colloquium presenter at the ETH Zurich, Prof. Isabel Günther, Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2016). Constancy and Change: Marlboro South as an Interstice of Marginalization and Development in the Gauteng City-Region. University of the Witwatersrand lecture series "SARChi" in Spatial Analysis and City Planning, Johannesburg.
moreHowe, L. (2015). Between Observation and Representation: The Interstice of Quantitative and Qualitative Urban Research in Johannesburg. Evening lecture series at the University of Mendrisio Department of Architecture, Prof. Dr. Sonja Hildebrand, Mendrisio.
moreHowe, L. (2014). Towards a New Urbanism. Cooperative Development Strategies in Johannesburg's Interstitial. Brown-bag discussion with Prof. Dr. Swapna Banerjee-Guha the Urban Research Symposium, Zurich.
moreHowe, L. (2014). Johannesburg: Processes of Urban Transformation. BANBEE Lecture Series, Berkeley African Network for the Built Environment, Berkeley.
moreHowe, L. (2013). Qualitative Research in the South African Context. Approaches and Methods in Qualitative Research. Profs. Kathrin Wildner and Marie Glaser, Zurich.
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