Carina Kanbi

Biography

I am a Ghanaian and Scottish spatial practitioner, researcher, and creative producer dedicated to exploring the intersections of culture, migration, and urban space. My work focuses on African spatial justice and mobility through the arts, examining how creatives build community and navigate cities like Accra and Lagos. With a background in urbanism and migration studies, I am particularly interested in the translocal movement of people and ideas across borders.

I am an Associate Lecturer on the MA Cities programme at Central Saint Martins, where I contribute to conversations on design, place-making, and community-led infrastructure. My practice is deeply embodied and rooted in movement, making, and lived experience as critical methodologies for understanding spatial dynamics. I prioritise alternative, non-textual research methods that centre community practices, including aural and material forms of recording.

I founded Edan, a city-building laboratory in Accra, exploring the role of craftsmanship in shaping inclusive and innovative urban spaces. Through skills exchanges, research, and experimental labs, Edan brings together artisans, designers, and researchers to interrogate how material culture and making can drive new models of urban development.

Currently, I am involved in Crafting Common Imaginaries Spatial Networks (University of Amsterdam) and The Atlas of Uncertainty (University of Witwatersrand), which explore collective spatial storytelling and alternative urban mappings. I have also worked with various international cultural organisations on projects at the intersection of urbanism, migration, and artistic practice.

Beyond these, I co-founded Aya Editions and WATWOMXN, platforms celebrating artistic and cultural production and advocating for equitable, community-driven creative futures.