Bio
Saratu Mshelia is a PhD student in Architecture and Planning at the University of Cape Town, based at the African Centre for Cities (ACC). She serves as a Research Assistant on ParCity, an interdisciplinary and cross-regional research project examining how cities respond to contemporary challenges of democracy, governance, and trust through urban participatory innovations. She works with Anna Selmeczi on questions of grassroots alliances and community organising as modes of democratic participation and urban governance intervention.
Her doctoral research broadly examines democratic innovation emerging from grassroots collective action in urban settings. She also has interests in, and collaborates on projects examining, digital platforms and technologies, including artificial intelligence, and their implications for urban everyday life, particularly the opportunities and risks they present for citizens.
Saratu holds an MPhil in Urban Studies – Southern Urbanism from the University of Cape Town. Her master’s dissertation, #ReclaimTheCity: The Use of Facebook to Engage the State and the Public on Affordable Housing Delivery in Cape Town, South Africa, examined how housing justice organisations Reclaim the City and Ndifuna Ukwazi leverage Facebook as a complementary space for public mobilisation and engagement with the state on affordable housing delivery in Cape Town.
