Current Research Interests

I am currently completing a PhD in Urban Planning that investigates the extent to which Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) interfaces with urban change and spatial restructuring in the South African context. For this I draw on a relational perspective in interrogating the actors, networks and agency interests that are implicated in the establishment, management and planning of networked infrastructures in African urban spaces. I aim to use this learning and research to develop a deeper conceptual engagement with the interface between urban governance and space and the many actors implicated in that relationship.

My work with the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS) is a continuation of an interest in all that is urban and African. The 'Revitalising Planning Education' Project is collaboration with 29 Planning Schools across the Continent and aims to make input into revised curricula in planning schools to facilitate more relevance in the training of urban and regional planners. I am interested in the methodological and pedagogical shifts necessary to enable contextual relevance and local engagement in African planning education.

Teaching Interests

I do not currently teach at UCT. However, I have 8 years experience as a Senior Lecturer on the UKZN Planning Programme in its School of Architecture, Planning and Housing. My teaching interests were (and still are): Planning Theory, Integrated Development Planning and Development and Planning of Cities. I was Academic Coordinator of the Planning Programme for 3 years.

Recent Publications

• Odendaal, N. (2007) Integrated Development Planning: an opportunity for planners to enable transformation? In Stads- en Streekbeplanning/Town and Regional Planning/Meralo ya Ditoropo le Mabatowa, No 51, May 2007.
• Odendaal, N. (2007) The Cato Manor Development Project in Durban, South Africa: Urban Development through Innovation, in American Behavioral Scientist, 50.7.
• Odendaal, N. (2006) Towards the Digital City in South Africa: Issues and Constraints, in Journal of Urban Technology, Volume 13, Number 3, pages 2948.
• Todes, A., Odendaal, N. & J. Cameron, Integrated Local Area Projects: Working towards innovation and sustainability, in Urban Forum, January 2005.
• Odendaal, N. (2003) Information and Communication Technologies (ICT's) and local governance: Understanding the differences between cities in developed and emerging economies, in Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 27 (2003) 585-607.
• Odendaal, N. (2002) ICTs in Development Who benefits? Use of Geographic Information Systems on the Cato Manor Development Project, South Africa, in Journal of International Development, 14, 89 100 (2002).

Book Chapters:

• Odendaal, N. (2008) Creating an Analytical Lens for Understanding Digital Networks in urban South Africa, in Foth, M. (Ed.) Urban Informatics: Community Integration and Implementation, Hershey: IGI Global.
• Odendaal, N. (2008) (D)Urban Space as the Site of Collective Actions: Towards a Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Digital City in Africa, in Aurigi, A. & F. de Cindio (Eds). Augmented Public Spaces: Articulating The Physical And Electronic City. Aldershot: Ashgate.
• Masson, A., Ferguson, F. & N. Odendaal (2004) Spatial Planning as a tool for integration, in Robinson, P; J. McCarthy and C. Forster (eds). 2004. Urban Reconstruction in the Developing World: Learning through an International Best Practice, Sandton: Heinemann.