Christian Alexander

ABOUT

Hello and welcome! I'm a lawyer, planner, researcher, writer, and sustainability advocate interested in building and maintaining healthy, equitable, thriving communities. I wear a number of hats, but strategic projects that are focused on sustainability, innovation, or social transformation (and particularly all three!) are the right fit for me. Born and raised in the U.S., I spend much of my time now in Cape Town, South Africa.

Learn more about my work as a . . .

Planning Experience

I work as a consultant planner with experience in planning policy in local, national, and international contexts. I have worked on projects serving a range of clients, including national governments, international institutions, and non-profit organizations. The issues and topics I have worked on include urban development and sustainability, transportation, housing, food systems and peri-urban farming, and water. I also have design and data analysis experience, and am comfortable using a range of tools, including GIS mapping and design programs.

Certification

South African Council for Planners, Candidate Planner; Royal Town Planning Institute, UK, Licentiate Town Planner.

Education

Masters degree in City and Regional Planning (MCRP), with distinction, University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa).

Recognition

Recipient, Western Cape Government Prize for best Regional Planning Project; South African Planning Institute (Western Cape) Prize for overall best student MCRP and MCPUD (Urban Development) courses (both years); Carl Borckenhagen Memorial Prize for best MCRP student.

Legal ExperienceIn the U.S. I work as an attorney with a boutique U.S. law firm where I focus on the development and operation of public transit and infrastructure projects, particularly rail transit and airports. My practice also covers other related areas, including land use and environmental law. In the past I've dabbled in technology, entrepreneurial, and international law. I'm certified in the U.S. in Colorado (#43960) and the District of Columbia (#1006532). I obtained my Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado Law School (Boulder, Colorado). I've been recognized for the following: First Year Oral Advocacy Competition semifinalist; Deans List Fall 2010 semester; Resource Editor, Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law; "Promising Starts" attorney by the University of Colorado, 2013.Planning ExperienceI work as a consultant planner with experience in planning policy in local, national, and international contexts. I have worked on projects serving a range of clients, including national governments, international institutions, and non-profit organizations. The issues and topics I have worked on include urban development and sustainability, transportation, housing, food systems and peri-urban farming, and water. I also have design and data analysis experience, and am comfortable using a range of tools, including GIS mapping and design programs. I'm certified as a candidate planner by the South African Council for Planners (#C/8712/2018), and as a licentiate planner by the Royal Town Planning Institute (#86386). I hold a Masters degree in City and Regional Planning (MCRP), with distinction, from the University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa). I've been recognised in the following ways: Recipient, Western Cape Government Prize for best Regional Planning Project; South African Planning Institute (Western Cape) Prize for overall best student MCRP and MCPUD (Urban Development) courses (both years); Carl Borckenhagen Memorial Prize for best MCRP student.Research ExperienceI've been a member of a number of research teams at several universities helping to explore climate change mitigation on U.S. tribal lands, map food scarcity in Africa, explore corruption in the planning profession, and studying the impact of experimentation with drone technology in Africa. Most recently, I have conducted field research with a research team from the University of Cape Town's African Centre for Cities Cities of Integrity program to better understand the role of professional identity and integrity as a tool to fight corruption among South Africa's and Zambia's planners. Previously I've published in several academic publications (including NCRRP Legal Research Digest 3: Issues That Emerge When Public Entities Acquire a Real Property Interest in Rail Lines, 18,000 Americans without Electricity: Illuminating and Solving the Navajo Energy Crisis, and On-Site Renewable Energy and Public Finance: How and Why Municipal Bond Financing is the Key to Propagating Access to On-Site Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency). I received a B.A. in History, cum laude, from Amherst College.

SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability is a strong current running through my professional and personal lives. I’ve worked in a range of capacities to support forward-thinking solutions that address environmental issues while also enhancing human well-being. In the U.S. as an attorney with Kaplan Kirsch LLP I've helped implement public infrastructure projects that serve communities and promote sustainable and healthy lifestyles, such as the New York High Line, Denver Union Station, and the Atlanta BeltLine. I've also helped cities fight for healthy environments and climate resilience.

In Cape Town, I'm working with the PHA Food and Farming Campaign to produce an alternative vision for Cape Town's peri-urban agricultural land, one that promotes sustainable, local, small-scale agriculture in an environmentally sensitive manner. I've reported on water shortages in Cape Town and its impacts on food security and biodiversity.

I have also been involved in projects to hold multi-national corporations accountable for their climate change goals and to develop climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies for tribal communities in the United States. I have in-house legal experience with a leading U.S. residential and commercial photovoltaic solar installation company, and have worked as an advocate and community organizer for a range of environmental causes. I hold a graduate-level certificate in energy from the University of Colorado's Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute. I also write about the theory and philosophy of sustainability.

CITIES AND SOCIETY

My work on cities and society spans several disciplines and locations. In the U.S. as an attorney with Kaplan Kirsch LLP I help cities and government agencies navigate a range of complex legal issues in getting their infrastructure projects up and running smoothly. I'm proud of my involvement in many transportation projects, including rail-trails and transit lines, that allow people to move about efficiently and sustainably.

In my work as a planning consultant I tackle the obstacles to achieving healthy, equitable, thriving communities. Doing so requires consideration of how human needs can be harmonized with physical and social context. My unique mix of legal and planning experience enables me to assist clients and consultant teams in navigating legal landscapes and developing effective legal and governance structures to achieve spatial planning and urban governance goals. My experience includes developing implementation plans and frameworks for urban and regional spatial plans, reviewing governance and legal structures to enable effective spatial planning and urban governance, and developing strategies for improving public financial sustainability through land value capture mechanisms. I have worked as a legal planning and governance expert on consulting teams for a number of governments and international institutions in countries throughout southern and eastern Africa and the Middle East.

In Cape Town I work on ways to promote food and water security through my affiliation with the PHA Food and Farming Campaign. In 2018 I worked on research of the impact of drone technologies in Africa, and have been involved in projects looking at low-income urban housing in Rwanda and ethics in the planning profession in Zambia and South Africa.

My masters dissertation in spatial planning at the University of Cape Town looked at the effects and potential of technological innovation in Cape Town's public transport networks. I applied Actor Network Theory to map out the socio-technical assemblages surrounding a particular transportation scenario in a suburb of Cape Town, and assessed the prospects for new applications of information and communications technologies.