Karen Botes

Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at University of Pretoria

Karen Botes is a landscape architect and PhD candidate. Her research focuses on producing traditional African vegetables in outdoor living walls to address household-scale food security in South Africa. She completed her Master of Technologiae (Horticulture) Cum Laude at the Tshwane University of Technology in 2007. Karen joined the Department of Architecture at the University of Pretoria as a lecturer in January 2019. Career highlights include the 2020 Department of Architecture and EBIT Faculty Teaching and Learning awards and winning the World Building Council 2022 abstract competition for her abstract titled "Traditional African vegetables in modular living walls: a novel approach towards smart cities".

New Study Finds That Growing African Vegetables on Buildings Can Save Space & Feed Cities

As cities grow, more people need food. However, space for farming is limited in cities. Building facades can offer a solution for growing food. We asked landscape architect Karen Botes to tell us about her research — cultivating traditional African vegetables on walls.

Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at University of Pretoria

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New Study Finds That Growing African Vegetables on Buildings Can Save Space & Feed Cities

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