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Our Story
Our Story
The MIT Urban Africa Club was founded out of a shared necessity to carve out a dedicated space for rigorous intellectual exchange on thematic and regional knowledge specific to the African context.
Historically, mainstream academic structures and international development paradigms have suffered from an "urban blind spot," frequently marginalizing the city as a primary unit of research and strategic engagement. Recognizing a critical gap in the existing curriculum regarding African urbanism, our club was formed to bring these essential perspectives directly to the MIT community.
We serve as an interdisciplinary hub where students and scholars from architecture, urban planning, political science, and development economics intersect to explore how the built environment actively shapes, and is shaped by, political behavior, institutional capacity, and socioeconomic networks on the continent.
Who we are
Who we are
To foster open collaboration and accommodate the unique circumstances of our student body, the MIT Urban Africa Club operates as a flat, horizontal organization. Rather than rigid corporate or institutional hierarchies, our executive team utilizes creative, action-oriented titles to distribute leadership across our core working teams:
Brandon Ndikumana
Master in City Planning (MCP) Student
Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), SA+P
Brandon Ndikumana is a Master in City Planning candidate at MIT, pursuing the degree as a Fulbright Fellow and BAEF Fellow. His work centers on post-conflict and post-disaster rebuilding, with a regional focus on the African Great Lakes region. He engages with spatial politics, reparative planning, and memory justice. His current research looks at colonial durabilities and the production of urban marginality in Bujumbura, Burundi. He holds a master's degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering from UCLouvain (Belgium).
Fadela Sadou Zouleya
Fadela Sadou Zouleya
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
Fadela Sadou Zouleya is a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at MIT. Her interests span political economy, comparative politics, and political methodology, with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. She is particularly interested in how urbanization reshapes governance. MIT. Her interests span political economy, comparative politics, and political methodology, with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. She is particularly interested in how urbanization reshapes governance. Science
Adeposi Adeogun
Adeposi Adeogun
PhD Candidate
Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), SA+P
Adeposi Adeogun is a doctoral candidate at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, where he is primarily interested in urban systems and networks in African cities. With a background in environmental design and architecture, his current academic objective is to better understand how varied knowledge systems define the infrastructure produced in cities.
Eva Klaus
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
Eva Klaus is a PhD student in Political Science at MIT, working on the politics of urban development. Eva's current research, Permitting Urban Development, examines rezoning and resident opposition in Nairobi, Kenya.
Ivan Shen
Ivan Shen
SMArchS Student
Department of Architecture, SA+P
Ivan Shen is a SMArchS Urbanism Student at MIT. His research centers on urban informality and transnational development in Nigeria and Kenya.
Gabby Bashizi
Gabby Bashizi
Master
Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), SA+P
Gabby Bashizi is an MCP student at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP).
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