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University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment

 School of Geography and the Environment

Dr Ashley Gunter

Academic Profile

Ashley is a lecturer at Monash University South Africa Campus and is using his time as a Visiting Research Associate at the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, to conduct post-doctoral research working with Dr Tony Lemon. He completed his undergraduate and Masters at the University of the Witwatersrand and his D.Phil at the University of Johannesburg. Currently his research interests focus on issues in urban development, with a more specific concentration on local economic development (LED) and housing. His research focuses on three key topics in the urban landscape, namely: Local economic development as a tool for urban development, property tenure and its contribution to LED and the infrastructural legacy of mega events. Ashley is an active advocate and user of open source GIS doing much of his mapping using ILWIS.

Teaching Awards
  • Dean of Arts Commendation of Excellence in Teaching Monash University 2011
  • Winners Pro-Vice Chancellors Outstanding Teachers Award Monash South Africa 2010
  • Dean of Arts Commendation of Excellence in Teaching Monash University 2010
  • Nominated for the Vice Chancellors Outstanding Honours Supervision Award Monash University 2010
  • Deans of Arts Highly Commended Teaching Award Monash University 2009
  • Nominated for the Pro-Vice Chancellors Outstanding Teachers Award Monash South Africa 2009
  • Dean of Arts Commendation of Excellence in Teaching Monash University 2008
  • Nominated for the Vice Chancellor's showcase of Teaching Excellence Monash University 2008
  • Dean of Arts Commendation of Excellence in Teaching Monash University 2007
Professional societies and involvement
  • Advisory Board Member of the International Water Center, African Water Research Node.
  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
  • Corresponding member of the International Geographical Union's Local Development Commission
  • Member of The Society of Southern African Geographers
  • Member of the Geo-Informatics Society of South Africa
  • Member of the Open Source GeoAfrica society
  • Research Fellow of the University of Johannesburg
Reviewing and Editing
  • Associate Editor for the International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5(2), 2010.
  • Article reviewer for Applied Geography (1); South African Geographical Journal (3); South African Journal for Criminology (2); International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Science (3).
  • Abstract reviewer for the Africa FOSS GIS Workshop 2010 (6); the Free and Open Source Software for Geo-space Conference, UB, 2010 (4); Free and Open Source Software for Geo-space Conference, UWC, Cape Town, October, 2008 (4).

Selected Publications

  • Gunter, A., (in preparation, 2012) Renting zinc: barriers to self build informal property development in informal settlements in South Africa. Cities.
  • Gunter, A., (under review, 2012) Creating co-sovereigns and empowered citizens using social housing in Johannesburg, South Africa. Habitat International.
  • Gunter, A. and Scheepers, L. (in press, 2012) A Neo-liberal elucidation to urban housing poverty: the case of Johannesburg, South Africa. Urban Forum.
  • Gunter, A. (2011) Stadium upgrades as local economic development: The fallacy of FIFA 2010 stadium upgrade as LED within the Ellis Park sports precinct. South African Geographical Journal, 89(1): 79-89.
  • Gunter, A. (2011) Review article - "Sport, Culture and Leisure in the Postmodern City". South African Geographical Journal, 89(1): 98-100.
  • Gunter, A. (2010) Human development. In, Brouard, J. (ed.) Geography on the Go, Heinemann: Johannesburg.
  • Gunter, A. and Scheepers, L. (2010) Property tenure and local economic development: Community led LED in Johannesburg, South Africa. International Journal of Social Science, 5(2): 245-263.
  • Gunter, A. (2009) Getting it for free: using FOSS GIS to estimate dwelling frames in squatter settlements. IGRASS, 5(1): 385-391.
  • Gunter, A. and Scheepers, L. (2009) Low cost housing as a catalyst for local economic development. Rural Studies, 20: 157-164.
  • Gunter, A. (2009) Review article - "To the Bring: Democracy in South Africa". Cross Cultural Poetics, XCP(21): 295-302.
  • Gunter, A. (2007) People and places. In, Elser, E. (ed.) Spot on Geography. Heinemann: Johannesburg.
  • Gunter, A. (2005) Integrated development plans and local economic development: the case of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. African Insight, 35(4): 32-38.
Selected Conference Papers
  • Gunter, A., and Scheepers, L. (2011) Slum Housing as a Catalysis for Wealth Creation and Local Economic Development. IGU Regional Conference, 14-18 November, Santiago, Chile.
  • Gunter, A. (2011) Creating co-sovereigns though social housing. RGS-IBC Conference, 3-6 August, London, England.
  • Gunter, A. (2010) Selling Slums, reviewing De Soto's tenure debate. UrbanLand Mark Conference, 1-2 November, Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • Gunter, A. (2010) Property Tenure and Local Economic Development. International Conference of Social Science, 2-5 August, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
  • Gunter, A. (2010) Is this the end of Neoliberalism: The collapse of the housing market and the role of the state. School of Arts Seminar Series, Monash, South Africa.
  • Gunter, A. and Scheepers, L. (2009) Low Cost Housing: local wealth in property. IGU Local Economic Development Colloquium, 7-14 September, Warsaw, Poland.
  • Gunter, A. (2009) Using FOSS GIS to Map Squatter Settlements in Developing Countries. 8th Biannual Conference of the Southern African Geographical Society, 1-3 September, UNISA.
  • Gunter, A. and Scheepers, L. (2009) Exploring poverty elevation through housing provision. 8th Biannual Conference of the Southern African Geographical Society, 1-3 September, UNISA.
  • Gunter, A. (2009) Getting it for Free: Using FOSS GIS to estimate dwelling frames in Squatter Settlements. International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium, 13-17 July, University of Cape Town.
  • Gunter, A. (2009) Exploring Urban Africa: Field Excursions through Johannesburg Tshwane and Ekurhuleni Region, Geography and Environmental Science Seminar Series, Monash University, Clayton Campus.
  • Gunter, A. (2008) Investigating the Validity of an open source 3-D Urban Simulation Modeling Software (Metropolis) in the Urban Planning Environment. Free and Open Source Software for Geo-space Conference, UWC, Cape Town, 29 September - 3 October.
  • Gunter, A. and Scheepers, L. (2008) Investigating the Economic value of Slums and Squatter Settlements: A Case Study of Townships in Johannesburg, South Africa. 31st International Geographical Union Conference, Tunis, 12-15 August.
  • Gunter, A. and Scheepers, L. (2007) Determining the economic value of squatter settlements. 7th Biannual Conference of the Southern African Geographical Society, 12-14 July, NMMU.
  • Gunter, A. (2007) The Value of housing in Zandspruit, Empowering local communities. Monash School of Arts Seminar Series.
Workshops Delivered
  • GIS: The fundamentals: Ituka training series, Sandton, 7 April 2011.
  • Intermediate Map Interpretation: Heinemann Publishers teachers training series, Umtata, 7 March 2011.
  • Map interpretation: Heinemann Publishers teachers training series. Johannesburg, 23 and 30 October 2010.
  • Basics in Map Work: Gauteng Department of Education map work Training. Johannesburg, 21-23 July 2009.
  • Community and Development: Oasis Community Engagement Office. 4 November 2009.