Emmanuel C. P. Awohouedji

Emmanuel is interested in the urban phenomenon and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). As a PhD candidate in Human Geography and Urban Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), his research, defended in June 2025, explores urban place-making, urban masculinities, and citizen-led practices in the Republic of Benin.

He employs a transdisciplinary approach and ethnographic methods to analyse Rue de l’Espoir, a Street in Abomey-Calavi. He suggests that the street, along with the municipality in which it is located (Calavi), offers an example of urban development that can be observed through local languages and masculinities.

Emmanuel has also worked on issues of environmental policy, household solid waste management, and electronic waste. In this field, he earned a Master's in Global Environmental Politics as a Fulbright Scholar in 2017 and has conducted research with various Beninese organisations.

He brings together several years of experience in environmental education, non-governmental engagement (with CiAAF, the Civic Academy for Africa’s Future; and SANUS, Santé pour tous dans l’Unité et la Solidarité), as well as in academic and policy-oriented research.

Academic

Emmanuel is a scholar engaged in the study of urban and urbanising spaces that have received limited scholarly attention particularly in the Global South. His work draws on the literature on urban infrastructure, peripheries, masculinities, and place-making in different geographies. In his PhD thesis, Emmanuel proposes an examination of urban phenomena through an angle that centres on local considerations.

His teaching philosophy is centered on promoting critical thinking, as well as experimental, relational, and reflective pedagogies, drawing directly from his research to engage students with pressing global challenges in urban studies, citizen participation, human geography, environmental politics, and African studies. Emmanuel strives to use evidence-based pedagogical practices to cultivate critical thinking, strong research skills, and a commitment to learner-centered initiatives.

Non-Academic

Though Project management skills are required for pursuing and finishing a PhD, Emmauel highlights these as a non-academic expertise for practical reasons. He has successfully applied and secured funds from various organisations and for various research individually, and as team member. He is committed to translating academic inquiry into tangible outcomes, having designed and implemented environmental education projects for participants across a wide age range (12-60 years) in various community settings.

His technical proficiency covers Microsoft Office, NVivo, Canva, and WordPress. He has successfully used other software such as QGIS, and R for specific projects, but keeps expanding his capabilities with these two digital tools.

Selected Publications

• February 2025. Participation citoyenne et urbanisation à Abomey-Calavi, République du Bénin. Policy Brief. Civic Academy for Africa’s Future (CiAAF) & London School of Economics and Political Science.
• 14 January 2020. Le mystère humain de la vente ambulante et au bord des voies ou comment les boursouflures de l’économie durent dans le temps. Read paper.
• 5 February 2020. Loving the past, losing the present, wasting the future or the environmental paradox of wants and desires. Read paper.
• 4 July 2020. Politiques environnementales et Villes vertes: le Vrai du Faux. Read paper.
• Tying a New Rope to an Old One: Developing an Environmental Education Curriculum in Benin. 2019. Read paper.

Awards

• Urban Studies Foundation Seminar Series Award
• LSE Knowledge Exchange Impact Fund
• LSE Studentship
• USA Ambassador’s Self Help Fund For Environmental Education
• SIS Deans / Fulbright Award / American University

Research interests

1. Precolonial and actual urban planning/life in Africa
2. Geographies of mental health support, battling through inequality and equity
3. Alternatives to the historicity and coloniality of planning and sustainable development
4. Shaping attitudes through languages, values, religion
5. Theorizing or not theorizing UPE in the global south

Affiliations
Santé pour tous dans l’Unité et la Solidarité (SANUS) NGO ;
Civic Academy for Africa’s Future (CiAAF)

Supervisors
Prof Claire Mercer

Dr Ryan Centner