About

I’m an architectural anthropologist with ten years of experience researching housing retrofit and resident engagement in Romania and the UK. Over the last five years at University College London, I have explored how retrofitting aging housing stock addresses climate change while reshaping the social fabric of buildings and communities.

Trained in visual anthropology at the University of Oxford (MSc, DPhil), my work combines ethnographic immersion and visual storytelling, including The Block, an award-winning observational documentary about life in a block of flats in Northern Romania, and a forthcoming book, An Anthropology of Architectural Transformation: The Changing Fabric of a Romanian Block of Flats (UCL Press, March 2025). I have also conducted postdoctoral research at Durham University about people-centred approaches to urban infrastructure, in collaboration with Durham County Council. I have written about this work in the open access volume Speaking for the Social (Knox and John 2022).

As Housing Retrofit Strategy Coordinator at Lewisham Council, I bring anthropological insights to retrofit projects, focusing on resident engagement and collaborative design. To me, retrofitting is not just a technical process but an opportunity for social transformation. My work underscores how decisions about insulation, structural repairs, and energy efficiency intersect with identity, well-being, and community dynamics.

If any of your interests resonate with mine, I would love to hear from you!