Ms Lodene Willemse: Lecturer
As a post-graduate, Lodene Willemse researched the extent and impact of land cover changes in Franschhoek and taking a class-differentiated approach to community/neighbourhood park use in Cape Town. The recommendations made in Ms Willemse’s master’s degree have been utilised by the City Parks Department to improve their service delivery. While studying she also worked as a student and research assistant for the Geography and African Languages (IsiXhosa) Departments. Following this, Ms Willemse was employed as a research intern for GIS and urban/human geography at the CSIR in 2009. She joined CRUISE in 2010 with her main research interests being the spatial evolvement of decentralised developments, social and human systems of space-place, urban liveability or quality of life, urban open space systems and socio-environmental sustainability, and applying GIS, statistics, and spatial statistics to geographical problems. Ms Willemse is currently in the process of working towards her doctorate in Geography and Environmental Studies and has published 14 journal articles and conference proceedings.