Benjamin Wilde

Ben Wilde is the Program and Research Coordinator for the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities (the Center). In this capacity, Ben manages the Center's initiatives, including developing scopes of work, planning and managing resources, setting milestones and deadlines, developing systems of monitoring and evaluation, and managing the relationship with strategic partners. He also contributes to Center-led research, including proposal development, literature reviews, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of the findings in the form of articles, working papers, and communication outputs. 

Before joining the Center, Ben spent ten years at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), working as a laboratory technician, doctoral candidate, and finally postdoctoral researcher. During this time, he managed an interdisciplinary team of researchers, private sector representatives, and community stakeholders in four different city-regions across Sub-Saharan Africa (Arba Minch, Ethiopia, Kamonyi, Rwanda, Bukavu, DRC, and Msunduzi, South Africa) with the aim of restructuring urban waste streams to support sustainable and equitable economic development. 

Prior to pursuing his doctoral work, Ben served in the Peace Corps, where he supported environmental education and water resource projects in Bolivia. Ben then obtained a master's degree in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico. As a broadly educated researcher, Ben has an appreciation for the complexities inherent in human-environment systems. He is interested in applied, transdisciplinary, and solutions-oriented research that endeavors to support sustainable and equitable community development.

Academic Research/Specialty Areas

  • Circular economies
  • Community-based planning and development
  • Resource oriented solid waste management and sanitation

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Publications (Selected)

  • Surchat, M., Irakoze, M., Kantengwa, S., Konlambigue, M., Späth, L, Wilde, B.C., Six, J., Stauffacher, M. (2023). "The bad job brings the good one": photovoice study with female and male waste workers in Rwanda. Local Environment. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2023.2287052.
  • Surchat, M., Irakoze, M., Hansmann, R., Kantengwa, S., Konlambigue, M., Späth, L., Wilde, B.C., Six, J., Krütli, P. (2023). Jobs in the circular bioeconomy under scrutiny: The challenging reality of compost production in Rwanda. World Development Sustainability.
  • Wilde, B.C., Lieberherr, E., Pereira, E., Odindo, A., & Six, J. (2022). A participatory assessment of nitrified urine fertilizer use in Swayimane, South Africa: Crop production potential, farmer attitudes and smallholder challenges. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:781879. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2022.781879
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