Geoffrey Bickford is a programme manager at the South African Cities Network, managing integrated research and knowledge sharing in the built environment thematic areas of land, spatial planning, human settlements and transport. He previously managed the municipal finance research portfolio. He holds a masters degree in transport studies and a BSc in urban and regional planning and recently completed social entrepreneurship programme. He has a particularly strong appreciation of integrated and institutional developmental challenges facing urban areas. He has written extensively on Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the South African context and is increasingly interested in the institutional and organisational dimensions of city government.