Prof Alan MABIN was born in Johannesburg and studied at Wits University, Ohio State University, USA, and Simon Fraser University, Canada. He is a Corporate Member of the South African Planning Institute. He taught at Wits from October 1981, and from 2005 to 2010 headed the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits. In 2014-15 he was a Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria leading the programme ‘Capital cities – space, justice and belonging’. Alan is now Emeritus Professor associated with the Wits City Institute. He is a member of the Council of the International Planning History Society and of the Board of RC21 – Research Committee on Urban and Regional Research, International Sociological Association. Alan has held visiting positions at Yale (USA) Queen’s (Canada) Université de Paris Ouest -Nanterre-La Défense, Laboratoire Architecture Ville Urbanisme Environnement, and Sciences Po in Paris, France and Universidade de São Paulo in Brasil. He holds visiting appointments at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Stellenbosch. His urban development experience includes being founding chairperson of Planact in Johannesburg, 1985, an urban development NGO with which he has been linked for 30+ years. He has worked with numerous departments of national, provincial and local government in South Africa and with multilateral organisations. His publications include 3 edited books and over 100 research articles and chapters.