Lochner Marais is Professor of Development Studies at the Centre for Development Support (University of the Free State). Marais’s research interests lie in three different though related themes: housing policy, small urban areas (including secondary cities, mining towns and their economies) and urban health. In addition to concentrating on each of these themes separately, he largely focuses on integrating them. He has authored, co-authored and compiled more than 200 research reports, including more than a 120 refereed articles in peer-reviewed journals or books (90 journal articles, 29 chapters in books and three inclusions in conference proceedings). He has also co-edited five books. In the past six years, he has been the PI or Co-PI of research grants to the value R20m. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal for Housing and the Built Environment (Indexed in the Web of Science) and of the International Advisory Committee of the International Journal of Housing Policy (Indexed in IBSS).
Books edited
Marais, L. and Nel, V., (eds), 2019. Space and Planning in Secondary Cities: Reflections from South Africa. Stellenbosch: African SunMedia.
Marais, L., Burger, P., and Van Rooyen, D., 2018 (eds). Mining and Community in South Africa: from Small Town to Iron Town. Routledge: London.
Marais, L., Nel, E., & Donaldson, R., 2016 (eds). Secondary Cities and Development. Routledge: London.
Donaldson, R., & Marais, L., 2012 (eds). Small Town Geographies in Africa: Experiences from South Africa and Elsewhere. Nova Publishers: New York.
Marais, L., & Visser, G., 2008 (eds). Spatialities of Urban Change. Selected Themes from Bloemfontein at the Beginning of the 21st Century. Sun Press: Stellenbosch.
Donaldson, R., & Marais, L., 2002 (eds.). Transforming Rural and Urban Spaces in South Africa during the 1990s: Reform, Restitution and Restructuring. Africa Institute of Southern Africa: Pretoria.
Papers, book chapters and peer-reviewed conference proceedings (2013 - )
2019
Abrahams, G. and Marais, L., 2019. Polokwane: a secondary city with a vision. In Marais, L. and Nel, V., eds. Space and planning in secondary cities: Reflections from South Africa. Stellenbosch: African Sunmedia.
Litheko, O., Marais, L., Hoekstra, J., Cloete, J. and Lenka, M., 2019. Housing and asset building among black middle-income households in Mangaung, South Africa. Urbani Izziv, 30, 129-144.
Marais, L., Awusie, B., Cloete, J., Napier, M. and Greyling, E., 2019. A tale of two markets: unequal access to the property market in a South African city. Tijdschrift for Economische en Sociale Geografie (Accepted).
Marais, L., Denoon-Stevens, S. and Cloete, J., 2019. Mining towns and urban sprawl in South Africa. Land Use Policy, (accepted).
Marais, L., Cloete, J., van Rooyen, D., Denoon-Stevens, S and Nel, V., 2019. Place attachment and social disruption in Postmasburg, a rapidly growing South African mining town. GeoJournal, 84(1), 71-83.
Marais, L., Nel, V. and Cloete, J., 2019. Complexity theory and spatial change in ten secondary cities. In Marais, L. and Nel, V., eds. Space and planning in secondary cities: Reflections from South Africa. Stellenbosch: African Sunmedia.
Marais, L., Du Plessis, D., Nel, V. and Cloete, J., 2019. Secondary cities and spatial transformation in South Africa. In Marais, L. and Nel, V., eds. Space and planning in secondary cities: Reflections from South Africa. Stellenbosch: African Sunmedia.
Skinner, D., Sharp, C., Marais, L., Serekoane, J., Lenka, M., 2019. A qualitative study of teachers’ perceptions of their learners’ mental health problems in a disadvantaged community in South Africa. Curationis. (Accepted).
Van der Walt, P. and Marais, L., 2019. Normalizing mining company towns in Emalahleni, South Africa, The Extractive Industries and Society, (accepted).
Venter, A., Marais, L., Morgan, H., 2019. Informal settlement upgrading in South Africa: A preliminary regenerative perspective. Sustainability, (accepted).
2018
Amisi, M., Marais, L., Cloete, J., 2018. The appropriateness of a realist review for evaluating the South African Housing Subsidy Programme. South African Journal of Science, 114 (11/12), 53-61.
Brown, J.L., Sales, J.M., Sharp, C., Cloete, J., Lenka, M., Rani, K., Marime, P., Ditlhare, I., Moqolo, R., Peterson, D., & Marais, L., 2018. Cultural consensus modelling to understand the reproductive health needs of South African Adolescent girls. South African Journal of Child Health, 12 (2 Supplement 1), S40-S43.
Hendriks, C. and Marais, L., 2018. Mining and municipal finance. In Marais, L., Burger, P. and van Rooyen, D., eds. Mining and Community in South Africa: from Small Town to Iron Town. London: Routledge, pp. 109 – 122.
Louw, H. and Marais, L., 2018. Mining and municipal finance in Gamagara, an open mining town in South Africa. The Extractive Industries and Society, 5(3), 278-283.
Marais, L., 2018. Housing policy in mining towns: issues of race and risk in South Africa. International Journal of Housing Policy, 18(2), 335-345.
Marais, L., Cloete, J., Denoon-Stevens, S., 2018. Informal settlements and mine development: reflections from South Africa’s periphery. The Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 118, October, 1103-1111.
Marais, L., Haslam McKenzie, F., Deacon, L., Nel, E., Van Rooyen, D. and Cloete, J., 2018. The changing nature of mining towns: Reflections from Australia, Canada and South Africa. Land Use Policy, 76, 779-788.
Marais, L., Haslam McKenzie, F., Nel, E., Burger, P., van Rooyen, D. 2018. The way forward for Postmasburg. In Marais, L., Burger, P. and van Rooyen, D., eds. Mining and Community in South Africa: from Small Town to Iron Town. London: Routledge, pp. 229 – 242.
Marais, L. Hoekstra, J., Napier, M., Cloete, J. and Lenka, M., 2019. The housing careers of black middle-class residents in a South African metropolitan area. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 33(4), 843-860.
Marais, L. Ntema, J., Cloete, J. and Lenka. M., 2018. Informal settlement upgrading and poverty alleviation: evidence of longitudinal research in South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 35(1), 105-125.
Marais, L. and Ntema, J., 2018. The literature on mining communities and mining growth and decline. In Marais, L., Burger, P. and van Rooyen, D., eds. Mining and Community in South Africa: from Small Town to Iron Town. London: Routledge, pp. 23 – 38
Marais, L., Wlokas, H., De Groot., J., Dube, N., and Scheba, A, 2018. Renewable energy and local development: seven lessons from the mining industry. Development Southern Africa, 35(1), 24-38.
Marais, L., Rani, K., Sharp, C., Skinner, D., Serekoane, J., Cloete, J., Pappin, M. and Lenka, M., 2018. What role for community? Critical reflections on state-driven support for vulnerable children and orphans in South Africa. In Shevellar L. and Westoby, P., eds. The Routledge Handbook of Community Development Research. London: Routledge.
Marais, L., Van Rooyen, D., Burger, P., Lenka, M., Cloete, J., Denoon-Stevens, S., Mocwagae, K., Jacobs, M. and Riet, J., 2018. The background to the Postmasburg study. In Marais, L., Burger, P. and van Rooyen, D., eds. Mining and Community in South Africa: from Small Town to Iron Town. London: Routledge, pp. 5 – 22.
Matebesi, Z., and Marais, L., 2019. Social licensing and mining in South Africa: Reflections from community protests at a mining site. Resources Policy 59, 371-378.
Ntema, J., Massey, R., Marais, L., Cloete, J., Lenka, M., 2018. Informal settlement upgrading in South Africa: beneficiaries’ perceptions over nearly twenty-five years. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 11(4), 460-479.Sharp, C., Penner, F., Marais, L., Skinner, D., 2018. School connectedness as psychological resilience factor in children affected by HIV/AIDS. AIDS Care 30, 34-41.
Sharp, C., Shohet, C., Givon, D., Marais, L., Rani, K., Lenka, M., Boivin, M., 2018. Early Childhood Development Interventions: A focus on responsive caregiving. In Tomlinson, M. (ed.), Child and Adolescent development: An Expanded Focus for Public Health in Africa. Netherlands: Springer.
2017
Jardin, C., Marais, L., Bakhshaie, J., Skinner, D., Neighbors, C., Zvolensky, M. and Sharp, C., 2017. Caregiver alcohol use and psychological adjustment among orphaned children in South Africa, AIDS CARE , 29(3), 399-407 (IBSS).
Marais, L. and Cloete, J, 2017. Housing policy and private sector housing finance: policy intent and market directions in South Africa. Habitat International, 61, 22-30. (ISI)
Marais, L. and Cloete, J., 2017. The role of secondary cities in managing urbanisation in South Africa. Development Southern Africa, 34(2), 182-195. (ISI)
Marais, L., Van Rooyen, D., Nel, E. and Lenka, M., 2017. Responses to mine downscaling: evidence from secondary cities in the South African Goldfields. The Extractive Industries and Society, 4(1), 163-171. (Scopus).
Ntema, J., Marais, L., Cloete, J. and Lenka, M., 2017. Social disruption, mine closure and housing policy: Evidence from the Free State Goldfields, South Africa. Natural Resources Forum, 41(1), 30-41. (ISI).
2016
Fongwa, S. and Marais, L., 2016. University, knowledge and regional development: Empirical analysis of key factors affecting knowledge transfer in a developing region, Africa Education Review, 13(3-4), 191-210. (IBSS).
Hoekstra, J. and Marais, L, 2016. Can Western European home ownership products bridge the South African housing gap? Urban Forum, 27(4), 487-502. (IBSS).
Marais, L., 2016. LED outside the centre: reflections from South Africa’s secondary cities, Local Economy, 31 (1-2), 68-82. (IBSS)
Marais, L., Lenka, M., Cloete, J., Grobler, W., 2016. Emfuleni. In Marais, L., Nel, E., and Donaldson, E., eds. Secondary Cities and Development. London: Routledge, pp. 83-100.
Marais, L. and Mehlomakhulu, T., 2016. Seriously ill? Diagnosing the state of medical geography in South Africa. South African Geographical Journal, 98(3), 439-449. (ISI).
Marais, L., and Nel, E., 2016: The dangers of growing on gold: Lessons from the history of the Free State Goldfields, South Africa. Local Economy, 31(1-2), 282-298. (IBSS)
Marais, L., Nel., E., and Donaldson, R., 2016. Secondary cities in South Africa: National settlement patterns and urban research. In Marais, L., Nel, E., and Donaldson, E., eds. Secondary Cities and Development. London: Routledge, pp. 1-26.
Marais, L., Nel, E., and Donaldson, R., 2016. The role of secondary cities in South Africa’s development. In Marais, L., Nel, E., and Donaldson, E., eds. Secondary Cities and Development. London: Routledge, pp. 159-178.
Marais, L., Ntema, L., Rani, K., Lenka, M., and Cloete, J., 2016. Reinforcing housing assets in the wrong location? The case of Botshabelo, South Africa. Urban Forum, 27(3), 347-362. (IBSS)
Nel, E., Marais, L., and Donaldson, R., 2016. Secondary cities: reflections form the literature. In Marais, L., Nel, E., and Donaldson, E., eds. Secondary Cities and Development. London: Routledge, pp. 27-48
2015
Marais, L. and Cloete, J., 2015. Financed homeownership and the economic downturn in South Africa. Habitat International, 50, 261-269. (ISI).
Pappin, M., Marais, L., Sharp. C., Lenka, M., Cloete, J., Skinner, D., and Serekoane, J., 2015. Socio-economic status and socio-emotional health of orphans in South Africa. Journal of Community Health, 40(1), 92-102. (ISI).
Sharp, C., Jardin, C., Marais, L., Boivin, M., 2015. Orphanhood by HIV-related causes and child mental health. A developmental psychopathology approach. Journal of HIV and AIDS, 1(3), doi http://dx.doi.org/10.16966/2380-5536.114
Venter, A., Marais, L., Hoekstra, J. and Cloete, J., 2015. Reinterpreting South African housing policy through State Welfare Theory. Housing, Theory and Society, 32(3), 346-366. (ISI).
2014
Fongwa, S., Marais, L., and Atkinson, D., 2014. Universities and regional development: lessons from the OECD regional assessment of the Free State, South Africa. Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 12(2), 29-52. (IBSS)
Marais, L. and Cloete, J., 2014: "Dying to get a house?” The health outcomes of the South African low-income housing programme. Habitat International, 43, 48-60. (ISI).
Marais, L., Ntema, J., Cloete, J. and Venter, A., 2014. From informality to formality to informality: extralegal land transfers in an upgraded informal settlement of South Africa. Urbani Izziv, 25, supplement, DOI: 10.5379/urbani-iziv-en-2014-25-supplement-00x (IBSS),
Marais, L., Sefika, S., Cloete, J., Ntema, J. and Venter, A., 2014: Towards an understanding of the outomes of housing privatisation in South Africa. Urban Forum, 25, 57-68. (IBSS).
Marais, L., Sharp, C., Pappin, M., Rani, K., Skinner, D., Cloete, J., Lenka, M., and Serekoane, J. 2014. Community-based mental health support for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa: A triangulation study. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 9(2), 151-158. (Scopus).
Marais, L., van Rooyen, D., Lenka, M., and Cloete, J., 2014: Planning for economic development in a secondary city? Trends, pitfalls and alternatives for Mangaung, South Africa. Bulletin of Geography: Socio-economic Series, Special edition, No 26.(IBSS).
Ntema, J. and Marais, L., 2014: Regulating informal home-based trade in South Africa: xenophobia or a policy requirement? Africa Insight, 44(2), 125-141. (IBSS).
Serekoane, M., Sharp, C., Skinner, D. and Marais, L., 2014. Untold stories of fieldworkers working amid adverse conditions. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, 8(3), 157-172.
Sharp, C., Venta, A., Marais, L., Skinner, D., Lenka, M. and Serekoane, J., 2014. First evaluation of a population-based screen to detect emotional-behavior disorders in orphaned children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Aids and Behaviour, 18, 1174 – 1185. (ISI)
Skinner, D., Sharp, C., Marais, L., Serekoane, J., and Lenka, M., 2014. Assessing the contextual and cultural acceptability of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in evaluating mental health problems in HIV/AIDS affected children. International Journal of Mental Health, 43, 76-89. (Scopus).
2013
Marais, L., 2013: The impact of mine downscaling in the Free State Goldfields. Urban Forum, 24, 503-521. (IBSS)
Marais, L., 2013: Resources policy and mine closure in South Africa. The case of the Free State Goldfields. Resources Policy, 38, 361-372. (ISI)
Marais, L. & Cloete, J., 2013: Labour migration, settlement and mine closure in South Africa. Geography, 98(2), 77-84. (ISI)
Marais, L. & Matebesi, Z., 2013: Evidence-based policy development in South Africa: the case of provincial growth and development strategies. Urban Forum, 24(3), 357–371. (IBSS)
Marais, L. & Ntema, J., 2013: The upgrading of an informal settlement in South Africa: Two decades onwards. Habitat International, 39, 85-95. (ISI)
Marais, L., Sharp, C., Pappin, M., Lenka, M., Cloete, J., Skinner, D., and Serekoane, J., 2013: Housing conditions and mental health of orphans in South Africa. Health & Place, 24, 23-29. (ISI).
Ntema, J. & Marais, L., 2013: Comparing low-income housing outcomes in self-help and contractor-driven projects: the case for longitudinal research. Ur