Overview
I am an urban geographer who has worked on sustainability transitions at the academia-policy interface for the last ten years. During this time, I have worked closely with government officials, private sector, and civil society in the United Kingdom and South Africa to produce applied research and policy outputs on urban infrastructure transitions, focusing on water, sanitation, and energy. I have also directly contributed to the development of national, regional, and municipal policies on infrastructure, nature-based solutions, mining waste landscapes, and urban water management.
I previously worked as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences (CLES) (July 2021- July 2022) on the UMBANE project (Funder: BEIS/GCRF Newton Fund). The UMBANE project implemented seven solar-powered mini-grids in Qandu-Quandu, an informal settlement in Cape Town, to provide residents with stable and reliable refrigeration services. The project also offered business training to female entrepreneurs to help them set up sustainable solar-powered businesses. My role included conducting qualitative and quantitative fieldwork and disseminating knowledge via written outputs (academic and policy), social media, and in-person sessions.
I am currently an Associate at CLES (July 2022 onward). I am affiliated with the following projects: EDI-GEN: Equality, diversity, and inclusion in energy systems: community and gender perspectives (Funder: UKERC), and Smart energy justice in cities: Off-grid renewable energy for (re)defining energy access and use in urban settings (Funder: British Academy).
BROAD RESEARCH SPECIALISMS
Urban sustainability transitions, urban infrastructures, nature-based solutions, climate change, resilience, socio-environmental justice.
Qualifications
PhD Development Planning (University College London, United Kingdom)
MSc Geography (Rhodes University, South Africa)
BSc Honours Geography (Rhodes University, South Africa)
BSc Geography and Botany (Rhodes university, South Africa)
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Journal articles
Caprotti F (In Press). Rethinking the off-grid city.
Urban GeographyAbstract:
Rethinking the off-grid city
There has been a resurgence in interest in the off-grid city, with a focus on off-grid urban spaces in the Global South, and on how the off-grid functions as a collection of places, lived spaces, and dynamic infrastructural configurations. As scholars and practitioners working in the off-grid urban context in South Africa, we contend it is necessary to question the assumptions of the “off-grid” concept in urban geography in terms of its implications for conducting research. We thereby identify four areas for further conceptual and empirical elaboration. The first area concerns the importance of continuing to redefine academic and practical understandings of the “grid”, ultimately moving to redefine its meaning in the city. The second is a need to decolonise and decentre the relationship between global and technocratic urban development “standards”, practices and discourses, and the granular off-grid context. The third area is the imperative of critically engaging with narratives of inadequacy and imperfection as often applied to off-grid, informal urban spaces. The fourth is the priority of moving towards a needs-based approach to off-grid development, with a focus on co-production of urban knowledge with local communities to ensure their needs and interests are met.
Abstract.
Bobbins K, Diep L, Hofmann P, OkoWilliams A, Campos LC, Steenmans I, Lakhanpaul M, Mate-Kodjo DW, Parikh P (2023). Accelerating progress towards the SDGs: Collaborative policymaking in sanitation for integrated benefits in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development Sustainability, 2, 100037-100037.
Bobbins K, Caprotti F, de Groot J, Pailman W, Moorlach M, Schloemann H, Densmore A, Finlay K, Fischat E, Siwali S, et al (2023). Beyond the Grid: the Micropolitics of Off-Grid Energy in Qandu-Qandu, South Africa.
Antipode: a Radical Journal of GeographyAbstract:
Beyond the Grid: the Micropolitics of Off-Grid Energy in Qandu-Qandu, South Africa
In this paper, we argue using smart technologies beyond the grid disrupts the access and use of existing energy sources, with profound impacts on everyday social life. We show how off-grid smart energy solutions constitute their own politics when considering existing conceptualisations of urban infrastructures in geography and the social sciences. To expose its politics, or “micropolitics”, we consider how tensions occur at the interface between infrastructures, where there are additions and modifications. We draw on an empirical example of Qandu-Qandu, an informal settlement in South Africa, to highlight how the placement, technical capabilities, and flexible financing options associated with off-grid solar energy create micropolitics with profound implications for everyday life. To conclude, we reflect on the value of using disruptions for understanding and enhancing equity in off-grid settings, contributing to the broader sustainability transitions narrative, and its “liveliness”.
Abstract.
Bobbins K, Caprotti F, de Groot J, Pailman W, Moorlach M, Schloemann H, Densmore A, Finlay K, Fischat E, Siwali S, et al (2023). Smart and disruptive infrastructures: Re-building knowledge on the informal city.
Urban Studies, 004209802311725-004209802311725.
Abstract:
Smart and disruptive infrastructures: Re-building knowledge on the informal city
Smart urbanism is an established research area in geography and the social sciences. We draw on ‘worlding-provincialising’ strategies identified in an Urban Studies Special Issue from February 2021 to explore how smart infrastructures, a form of smart urbanism, disrupt representations of informality and urban development in new and productive ways. Focussing on the disruptive or troublesome implications of smart infrastructures reveals site-level considerations for developing policy and practice, where acknowledging the nuanced context for its use can present opportunities for not only understanding energy transitions in the Global South, but also creates opportunities for cross-learning. Drawing on our collective insights on a solar mini-grid project in Qandu-Qandu, Cape Town, we sketch out three ways the disruptive aspects of solar energy can be helpful for re-building knowledge on the informal city by: (i) re-positioning notions of ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ infrastructure(s) in urban planning and policymaking; (ii) highlighting new avenues for citizen autonomy; and (iii) recasting the informal city as a site for continuous innovation and learning.
Abstract.
Publications by year
In Press
Caprotti F (In Press). Rethinking the off-grid city.
Urban GeographyAbstract:
Rethinking the off-grid city
There has been a resurgence in interest in the off-grid city, with a focus on off-grid urban spaces in the Global South, and on how the off-grid functions as a collection of places, lived spaces, and dynamic infrastructural configurations. As scholars and practitioners working in the off-grid urban context in South Africa, we contend it is necessary to question the assumptions of the “off-grid” concept in urban geography in terms of its implications for conducting research. We thereby identify four areas for further conceptual and empirical elaboration. The first area concerns the importance of continuing to redefine academic and practical understandings of the “grid”, ultimately moving to redefine its meaning in the city. The second is a need to decolonise and decentre the relationship between global and technocratic urban development “standards”, practices and discourses, and the granular off-grid context. The third area is the imperative of critically engaging with narratives of inadequacy and imperfection as often applied to off-grid, informal urban spaces. The fourth is the priority of moving towards a needs-based approach to off-grid development, with a focus on co-production of urban knowledge with local communities to ensure their needs and interests are met.
Abstract.
2023
Bobbins K, Diep L, Hofmann P, OkoWilliams A, Campos LC, Steenmans I, Lakhanpaul M, Mate-Kodjo DW, Parikh P (2023). Accelerating progress towards the SDGs: Collaborative policymaking in sanitation for integrated benefits in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development Sustainability, 2, 100037-100037.
Bobbins K, Caprotti F, de Groot J, Pailman W, Moorlach M, Schloemann H, Densmore A, Finlay K, Fischat E, Siwali S, et al (2023). Beyond the Grid: the Micropolitics of Off-Grid Energy in Qandu-Qandu, South Africa.
Antipode: a Radical Journal of GeographyAbstract:
Beyond the Grid: the Micropolitics of Off-Grid Energy in Qandu-Qandu, South Africa
In this paper, we argue using smart technologies beyond the grid disrupts the access and use of existing energy sources, with profound impacts on everyday social life. We show how off-grid smart energy solutions constitute their own politics when considering existing conceptualisations of urban infrastructures in geography and the social sciences. To expose its politics, or “micropolitics”, we consider how tensions occur at the interface between infrastructures, where there are additions and modifications. We draw on an empirical example of Qandu-Qandu, an informal settlement in South Africa, to highlight how the placement, technical capabilities, and flexible financing options associated with off-grid solar energy create micropolitics with profound implications for everyday life. To conclude, we reflect on the value of using disruptions for understanding and enhancing equity in off-grid settings, contributing to the broader sustainability transitions narrative, and its “liveliness”.
Abstract.
Bobbins K, Caprotti F, de Groot J, Pailman W, Moorlach M, Schloemann H, Densmore A, Finlay K, Fischat E, Siwali S, et al (2023). Smart and disruptive infrastructures: Re-building knowledge on the informal city.
Urban Studies, 004209802311725-004209802311725.
Abstract:
Smart and disruptive infrastructures: Re-building knowledge on the informal city
Smart urbanism is an established research area in geography and the social sciences. We draw on ‘worlding-provincialising’ strategies identified in an Urban Studies Special Issue from February 2021 to explore how smart infrastructures, a form of smart urbanism, disrupt representations of informality and urban development in new and productive ways. Focussing on the disruptive or troublesome implications of smart infrastructures reveals site-level considerations for developing policy and practice, where acknowledging the nuanced context for its use can present opportunities for not only understanding energy transitions in the Global South, but also creates opportunities for cross-learning. Drawing on our collective insights on a solar mini-grid project in Qandu-Qandu, Cape Town, we sketch out three ways the disruptive aspects of solar energy can be helpful for re-building knowledge on the informal city by: (i) re-positioning notions of ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ infrastructure(s) in urban planning and policymaking; (ii) highlighting new avenues for citizen autonomy; and (iii) recasting the informal city as a site for continuous innovation and learning.
Abstract.
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