Brock Hicks

Cities • Research • Climate

Based in Nairobi, I am a researcher and urban planner working on climate, health, housing and urbanization. I have spent the past 15 years working with local governments, international institutions, NGOs, grassroots movements, and consulting firms, including 5+ years each in East Africa, Latin America, and the US. My work focuses on interdisciplinary, engaged, and reflexive research to fill knowledge gaps by working with communities living in dense, vulnerable urban settlements. This entails holding different knowledges together to connect situated, lived experiences with broader systems, co-producing research for social, climate and research justice. Themes include integrated & inclusive urban planning, urban resilience and locally-led adaptation, urban upgrading, local integration of displaced people in cities, stakeholder engagement, and community-led research & planning. 

I excel at managing complex research projects and development programs, building strategic partnerships, and connecting the dots from the big picture to the details. I hold a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA and I am bilingual in English & Spanish, intermediate in Portuguese, and basic in Kiswahili.