Thorsten Heitkamp is an urban planner and housing specialist with working experience in many countries in Africa, Asia, Central America and Southern Europe. As a consultant and researcher, he has been involved in projects in the fi eld of housing, informal settlements, migration dynamics and urban development and upgrading strategies. He has lectured at TU Dortmund University/Germany, at universities in Madrid/Spain and was formerly a professor at the German Jordanian University in Amman/Jordan. He is a co-founder and partner of a German housing and urban development consulting company. Currently he is working as a housing specialist for a public German development bank.