Academic Staff

Nick Nowara, M.Sc.

Profile

From 2020 to 2024, I was part of the IPS research group. As a studied architect, with a focus on urban design and building construction, I dealt with topics beyond the classic job description at an early stage. For me, this includes accommodating the homeless, as well as housing victims of disasters, refugees in Germany, Europe and beyond. Last but not least, slums and informal settlements in the so-called global South and North are part of my research.

Regardless of the context, I am interested in the conditions under which people live and how we as planners can help to improve them. After working at architecture and planning offices as well as at an international organization, I pursued this approach as a member of the IPS research group.

Nick Nowara, profile picture — Nick Nowara (2022)

CV

Academic education:

2015 – 2017: M.Sc. Architecture, University of Kassel, Germany
2011 – 2014: B.Sc. Architecture, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

Work experience:

Since March 2020: Research assistant, IPS, Department of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund, Germany
2018 – 2020: Architect, Trucks Architekten, Berlin, Germany
2018: Intern, Sustainable Development of Metropolitan Regions, GIZ, Bonn, Germany
2016 – 2017: Junior architect, BAS Office for Architecture and Urban Design, Kassel, Germany
2015: Junior architect & freelancer, Mosaik Architekten, Hannover, Germany
2014: Junior architect, See Consult, Kumasi and Accra, Ghana

Scholarships & awards:

2018: Nomination, master thesis, Pfeiffer Foundation of Architecture
2017: Nomination, field research in Peru, Lieberum Foundation
2014: Scholarship, field research in Ghana, DAAD

Language skills:

German: Mother tongue
English: Business fluent
Spanish: Competent language use
Russian: Basic knowledge

Research

Research areas:

Informal settlements and slums in the Global South and Global North
Slum-Upgrading Programmes / Good Governance
Refugee-Camp Planning
Urban Development in the Global South
Urban Design & Urban Planning / Rapid Urbanisation

Research projects (at IPS):

Since 2021: Incremental Housing and Housing Co-production in the Barriadas of Lima, Peru (PhD project)

Publications:

Nowara, N. (2019) ‘Slum Upgrading in Nairobi und °349’, in Altrock, U. et al. (eds.) Jahrbuch Stadterneuerung 2017. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. doi: 10.1007/978-3-658-24153-7_7.