About me
Jodi Allemeier
I started my career as a social worker in 2006, with a toolkit of theoretical skills and 4 years of part-time practical training and very little awareness of my own social identity, negotiating complex inequalities, domestic violence and gang violence on the Cape Flats as a 21 year old. Having taken additional majors in development studies and public management, I took what was meant to be temporary leave to enjoy an internship at a well-known medium sized urban economics consulting firm in 2007, and this launched my career in urban development. My practice has remained rooted in social justice, social sciences and citizen experiences, and I am a fierce believer in the connections between city planning, city governance and social outcomes.
I have experience working across the private, public and non-profit sectors, with a focus on city development, governance, infrastructure delivery and cross-sector partnerships. I previously worked as the Central City Development Manager at Cape Town Partnership and later as a Programme Lead focused on urban partnerships at the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership. More recently, my work has included leading and advising on complex urban resilience, infrastructure and governance programmes in South Africa and the Middle East. This has included governance-focused work on devolutions of authorities, establishing local government policies and processes, and operationalising data strategies. More recently, I have been leading a donor-funded technical assistance programme focused on municipal project preparation, institutional reform, infrastructure investment readiness and urban systems transformation. I understand the complexity of interests involved in development processes, as an experienced facilitator and programme manager, working between the private sector, public sector and civil society groups.
I hold a BA in Social Work, Honour’s in Public Administration and a Master’s in Development Finance, all achieved cum laude. I’ve built statistical models for long-term debt financing of complex infrastructure and land value projects; I’ve chaired cross-sector committees focusing on land and housing issues, managed data and tech product development processes, I’ve built organisations, managed teams and run large international donor funded programmes, but my favourite thing to do is still a site visit or a “walk and talk” with project champions and community members.
In 2014, I was a Harvard University Kennedy School Young Leader, in a 2016 holder of the Kistesfos Fellowship for Leading Economic Growth at the Centre for International Development, Harvard, and in 2018 a Global Governance Futures 2030 Fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute.
I am co-founder of Open Streets Cape Town, and have served on various non-profit boards largely with a focus on urban management and social development related mandates.
Previous Work
Strategy, Research & Systems Change
Advisory and research support on municipal governance, infrastructure financing, land development, resilience, digital transformation and alternative service delivery models.
Author of handbooks on city development, asset management and capital planning for Arab city leaders through the Arab Urban Development Institute.
Strategic advisor on municipal data governance, service delivery dashboards, asset management systems and digital infrastructure initiatives.
Contributor to urban governance and devolution research focused on the future role of cities, governance systems and the devolution of mandates and functions.
Publications
State of Cities Report 2022, Productive Cities chapter, SACN
Nurturing SMMEs, SACN Papers Series, 2023
Resilience of SMMEs, SACN Papers Series, 2023
Future Role of Cities in global challenges, 2018. The output of a one year fellowship in Futures Studies applied to Global Governance.
The (re)turn to decentralisation and hybrid governance systems in cities”, LGIU
“Data driven cities: adjacent possibilities or giant leaps”, LGIU
Urban Governance, Infrastructure & Resilience
Technical leadership of the UK FCDO-funded Urban Resilience Programme (URP), supporting intermediary cities in South Africa with infrastructure project preparation.
Governance and urban regeneration advisory support to the Royal Commission for AlUla, including municipal governance reform, development planning and urban regeneration delivery models.
Deputy Team Lead and Cape Town Lead for the UK FCDO Future Cities South Africa Programme, supporting urban development, mobility, township development, digital governance and Covid response initiatives across Johannesburg, eThekwini and Cape Town.
Infrastructure strategy and sector planning support to the City of Cape Town, including development of long-term sector planning approaches across infrastructure and public services.
Climate finance and infrastructure strategy assessment work for the International Finance Corporation relating to municipal infrastructure investment pipelines and climate strategy alignment.
Volunteer work
Co-founder of Open Streets Cape Town, a citizen-led movement that seeks to create streets that embody respect for all. I served on the board from its creation in 2012, until January 2017.
Chairperson of the Observatory Improvement District (OBSID) from 2019-2021, and served on the Board since December 2017. The OBSID prides itself on delivering traditional CID services as well as additional public-spaces and social development programmes.
Served on the boards of other organizations including the Service Dining Rooms – Cape Town’s oldest “soup kitchen”.
Partnerships, Facilitation & Institutional Development
Designed and facilitated multi-stakeholder processes involving local government, civil society, donors, infrastructure agencies and the private sector.
Programme Lead at the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership, leading partnership-based initiatives relating to resilience, open data, transit-oriented development, housing and precinct development.
Former Central City Development Strategy Manager at the Cape Town Partnership, leading urban regeneration initiatives and cross-sector collaboration platforms.
Lecturer and facilitator on sustainable cities, adaptive governance and systems approaches to urban development.
Earlier Career & Technical FoundationsFormer urban economist involved in infrastructure, property and municipal finance feasibility studies across South Africa.
Led and contributed to complex economic and financial modelling in support of development projects relating to transit-oriented development, land value capture, social housing, infrastructure investment and economic development.
Early professional experience as a social worker on the Cape Flats continues to shape an approach grounded in social justice, citizen experience and implementation realities.