Alexis Schaffler

Berkeley/Johannesburg/Cape Town

Alexis is a doctoral student from UC Berkeley’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning (LAEP), at the College of Environmental Design (CED). Her research interest is the shift towards multifunctional infrastructure, a framework that connect commonplace services such as transport, potable water, sanitation, housing with other functions, such as ecosystem services, climate action and sustainable resource use. Her work introduces multifunctional infrastructure to evaluate the shifting societal values for urban services and the context in which this transition occurs. Her focus is how the meaning of infrastructure is undergoing changes in the way it is theorized and practiced in response to the changing environmental conditions, value systems and visions of urban sustainability. Alexis’ prior work has been sustainable service delivery in urban regions, primarily in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) in South Africa where she assisted and analyzed local governments’ ability to adopt more sustainable ways of governance and operations. Her experience includes various sustainability projects in the GCR and, ranging policy advisory work to academic publications conducting and publishing research on green infrastructure, ecosystem, urban resource analyses and the green economy. More recently, she conducts research on urban sustainability trends taking place in the Bay Area, California, where she assesses how planning structures respond to the need for multiple urban services amidst development and environmental change. Previously, Alexis received a Masters and Honors of Philosophy in Sustainable Development cum laude and a BA in Economics, Politics and Decision-Making cum laude from Stellenbosch University. She is an avid runner, cook and traveler.