Sylvia Croese, UC Irvine assistant professor of global and international studies, has been named among the LGIU’s (Local Government Information Unit) inaugural international list of top 25 thinkers. The recognition spotlights scholars and practitioners who, through research and on-the-ground support, help local governments prepare for and respond to emerging challenges.

From LGIU: “Today, we’re releasing our first-ever list of 25 top thinkers in the sector. These impressive thought leaders are paving the way and seeking answers to some of the biggest challenges facing us today and tomorrow. With over 40 years of advocating for the sector, we know first-hand that local government is one of the most vibrant spaces for world-changing innovation that creates real-life impact and results.”

Trained as an urban political sociologist, with a Ph.D. in sociology from the African Doctoral Academy at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, Croese studies questions of urban power, politics and development, and decolonial knowledge production, particularly in contexts marked by deep social, spatial, economic or epistemic inequalities. She has conducted research in Angola, as well as South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania, using transdisciplinary approaches through long standing collaborations with city officials, urban practitioners, academics and community leaders. Her research has been published in journals including the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Studies, Urban Geography, African Affairs and Development and Change, and she has co-edited three books focused on urban knowledge production in and on African cities.

Croese joined the UCI faculty in 2023, following her post as a senior researcher in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits University in Johannesburg and as a researcher with the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, where her work examined the localization of global urban policies and investment flows in African cities. She draws on insights gained from her research in her teaching for undergraduate students, such as the “Global Cities and Slums” class for which she gained two consecutive teaching awards from the School of Social Sciences in 2024. She is currently completing her first book project entitled Local Power at Work: Law and Politics in Urban Angola, which examines the (un)making of local state power in the understudied context of African cities through the lens of the law. According to Croese, she is honored to have been featured on the list of thinkers, reinforcing her commitment to researching, thinking and advancing local action by, with and alongside local governments.

The LGIU, founded in 1983, is a UK-based independent, not-for-profit international membership organization working to make local democracy around the world collectively stronger, through shared ideas, resources and connections for local government.