Koen de Wandeler

Background

About Koen de Wandeler

Koen De Wandeler obtained a Master in Architecture from the St. Lucas School of Architecture in Ghent (now integrated in the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture) and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. While working with the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok), he acquired first-hand experience in urban issues in Asia. He later fine-tuned these insights through policy research, in-house training and consultancies in Africa and Asia for various NGOs, the governments of Flanders, Belgium, and Finland, the FAO, UN-ESCAP and the World Bank. At present, his academic activities revolve around research and teaching at the Faculty of Architecture of the KU-Leuven (formerly: St. Lucas Department of Architecture). He has been extensively guest-lecturing at the School of Architecture and Design (KMUTT) and other universities in Thailand, as well as in Cambodia, Laos, Slovenia, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. His current research interests are on urban transition processes and temporality. Given his extensive work experience in development issues in the Global South, he remains actively involved in various action research and consultancy networks. Most recently, Thammasat University (TH) awarded him a Bualuang ASEAN Fellowship to conduct research on the potential of systems thinking in dealing with urban crises. In January 2020, he assumed the chairmanship of the KU Leuven Regional Committee Southeast Asia which advises the KU Leuven International Policy Council on fostering cooperation with alumni, partner universities, as well as public and private agencies in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and possibly other ASEAN countries in the future.