Beatrice Hati Gitundu

is a storyteller-scholar whose expertise sits at the crossroads of cities, people, and governance. She is a doctoral researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Trained as an urban development specialist, her work bridges transformative (urban) planning, informality, grassroots innovation, disaster governance, and resilience. As a pracademic, she constantly moves between the worlds of research and practice, weaving together technical expertise, scientific knowledge, indigenous knowledge and alternative ways-of-knowing.
Bea believes cities thrive when the people who live in them are seen, heard, and meaningfully recognized. Storytelling and creative arts offer multiple possibilities to reconfigure what we know about today’s world, its past, and future(s).