Richard completed an honours degree in Geography at the University of Natal (1994) and a PhD at the University of Wales-Swansea (2012). He worked as a researcher at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on contract from 2000 to 2006. From 2006 to 2014, he held an academic position in the School of Development Studies, initially on Senior Lecturer level and then at Associate Professor level. He joined the Gauteng City-Region Observatory in 2015 as a Principal Researcher. He has published on the dynamics of race and urban desegregation, gated communities, social movements, participatory processes, local democracy, cross-border migrants, urban developers, megaprojects in the human settlement sector, the middle class and development, cash transfers, governance and development, and industrial restructuring.