Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Department of Architecture and Design (ArD) at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Her research focuses on urban heritage. Her current research theorizes socio-spatial practices and conceptualizes urban recovery in relation to processes of historical editing, urban trauma, and protracted displacement.

Professor of urban studies and planning and Coordinator of the Masters in Urban Planning, Policy and Design at the American University of Beirut. She writes about urban history and historiography, social and spatial justice, informality and the law, property and space, as well as planning practice, theory and pedagogy. She researches, teaches, and advocates strategies for more inclusive cities.

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut. His scholarly work explores mapping as a method of researching, representing and analyzing socio-spatial phenomena. His work in critical cartography has covered many subjects including urban security, public space and, most recently, refugee practices in the city. At the Lab, he directs the Critical Mapping team.

Professor of urban studies and politics at the American University of Beirut. Her ongoing research investigates the public domain, local governance and displacement, as well as urban activism and oppositional politics. She is the author of many publications on decentralization and public goods, cultural geography and piety, and Islamist urban politics. She serves on the editorial boards of MELG, IJMES, and IJURR, and is a trustee of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. She is the founder and co-editor of the Cities Page on Jadaliyya.

Michelle Moawad majored in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, which is her area of interest and passion. She enjoys working with large data and its annoying details and hence is currently handling and coordinating many of the lab's projects, datasets, and logistics.

Ismail Hutet obtained his bachelor of Architecture from AUB in 2017. With a professional background in architecture and lighting, he is part of the Critical Mapping team working on several on-going projects while taking the lead on the neighborhood-level recovery mapping as part of the Beirut Urban Lab multi-track program in response to the Beirut Blast on August 4.

Shareef Tarhini is a perceptive and motivated geomatics engineer adept at mapping and data management. He is passionate about showing a new perspective on reality through spatializing and visualizing data. At the Lab, he is the Built Environment Database guardian, and uses ArcGIS tools to combine information, find patterns, and make new connections.

Ali Khodr is an architect, urban designer and historian whose work intersects research, education and practice. He received his Bachelor in Architecture from AUB and completed his Masters of Science in Architectural Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2017). Khodr has work, research and teaching experience across Lebanon, Poland, Spain, Italy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United States. He currently coordinates the Imagining Futures project and Levant Carta.

Dana Mazraani is an architect and urbanist. She holds a Bachelor’s of Architecture and a double master’s degree in International Cooperation in Urban Planning from TU Darmstadt and Université Grenoble Alpes. She currently coordinates a research project on shared spaces that examines ways of reclaiming public spaces and vacant properties in the city. Her previous research covers the transformation of Beirut’s relationship to street and outdoor life, inclusive design and environmental access, and urban informality.

Najmeh H. Viki is an instructor and urban researcher who works on the urban regeneration of historic cities. She earned her Bachelor in Architectural Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (2006) and her Masters in Urban Design from AUB in 2018. Her current research focuses on cultural heritage and participatory approaches for the recovery of cultural heritage.

Batoul Yassine is an urban designer that achieved her master’s from the American University of Beirut in 2020 and a master’s in Architecture from the Lebanese University in 2012. She is a member of District D which is a collaboration between urban planners and designers. Her research focuses on forced displacement within the discourse of informality. She is interested in residual private/public spaces and their appropriation by different communities.

Soha Mneimneh’s research focuses on the impact of public planning policies, particularly housing finance, on developers’ building activities and middle-class residents’ struggle to secure shelter in Beirut. Her research has also looked at the intersection of market activities and sectarianism, demonstrating that heavy reliance on financial networks has exacerbated urban territorial divisions in Beirut. She holds a Master of Urban Planning and Policy from AUB’s MSFEA.

Abir Zaatari is an urban planning researcher and architect. She received her Bachelor in Architecture and Masters in Urban Planning and Policy from AUB’s MSFEA. Abir’s research draws from the related fields of urban planning and economics, focusing on the impacts of state policies on housing justice and affordability in Beirut’s housing market over the past decade.

Isabela moved to Beirut to study architecture and has been in awe of the city ever since. As a researcher at BUL, she has worked on projects that contribute to reclaiming Beirut’s coast for the public and advocating for innovative housing strategies in the city. She is currently developing her research on housing production into an urban planning thesis project within the MUPP/MUD graduate program at the department of Architecture and Design at AUB.

Zeina El-Hoss is a translator, editor and copywriter who holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Language from the American University of Beirut. She has worked with several marketing and advertising agencies, educational institutions, and multi-disciplinary research companies in Lebanon and GCC Countries.

Hayfa Abou Ibrahim

Thesis Title: Multiple Housing Strategies: Doha Aramoun as a Case-Study

Advisor: Mona Fawaz

Mohammad Al-Chamaa 

Thesis Title: Urban Recovery through Community-based Planning: The Case of Karantina

Advisor: Howayda Al-Harithy

Ranime Nahle

Thesis Title: TBA

Advisor: Mona Harb

Rania Nouaihed

Thesis Title: TBA

Advisor: Mona Harb

Majd Al-Shihabi

Thesis Title: TBA

Advisor: Ibrahim Alameddine

Lea Al Chaa (Summer 2020)
Myriam Khoury (Summer 2020)
Tala Chehayeb (Summer 2020)