Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Department of Architecture and Design (ArD) at the American University of Beirut. 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 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 where she is also co-founder and research lead at the Beirut Urban Lab. Her research investigates governance and territoriality in contexts of contested sovereignty; urban activism and oppositional politics; and how people make collective life in fragmented cities. She is the author of Le Hezbollah à Beirut: de la banlieue à la ville, co-author of Leisurely Islam: Negotiating Geography and Morality in Shi’i South Beirut (with Lara Deeb), co-editor of Local Governments and Public Goods: Assessing Decentralization in the Arab World (with Sami Atallah), and co-editor of Refugees as City-Makers (with Mona Fawaz et al.). She serves on the editorial boards of MELG, IJMES, EPC, and CSSAME.

Antoine's research focuses on urban disasters and resilience, economic policy, social vulnerabilities and gender inequalities. He holds a Master’s degree in Architecture, an MSc. Urban Economic Development and is finishing a double master's in Geopolitics and Public Administration. Before joining the Lab, Antoine has worked and studied in France, Lebanon, the USA, Vietnam, and the UK.

Nour Zoghby Fares is an architect and urban designer. She graduated from Columbia University where she was awarded both the school’s highest design award and the prize for excellency in design. Her passion and research aim to provide resilient, innovative, sustainable and inclusive design solutions in challenging situations. At the Lab, she coordinates the Critical Mapping team.

Chaza Jazzar is a GIS expert with more than 20 years of GIS experience. She holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunication Networking from the Saint Joseph University and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the Lebanese University. She has worked with renown companies, including Khatib and Alami and is now a part of BUL’s GIS Consultants team. 

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.

Jawad holds an engineering degree in surveying from the Islamic University of Lebanon and a research master’s degree in Geography with an emphasis on environmental and regional planning from Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He’s passionate about cartography and data management. At the lab, Jawad is a link to both the GIS team and the mapping and visualization team. 

Dana Mazraani is an urbanist and architect. She holds a double master’s degree in international cooperation in urban development and planning from Université Grenoble Alpes and TU Darmstadt. Her current projects are focused on Beirut’s post-blast recovery and on examining ways of reclaiming public spaces and vacant properties in the city for shared use. Her previous research covers inclusive design, urban informality, and the transformation of Beirut’s relationship to street and outdoor life. 

Soha Mneimneh’s research focuses on Beirut’s real-estate development activities and their heavy reliance on social networks, land and real-estate financing sources, social protection and housing vulnerabilities for low and middle class residents, and their connection to the city's class, sectarian and territorial divisions. She also worked on housing, land, and property issues in the areas affected by the Beirut port explosion. She holds a Master's in Urban Planning and Policy from the American University of Beirut and a Master's in Architecture from the Lebanese University.

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

Batoul Yassine is an urban designer who received a Master’s degree in Urban Design from the American University of Beirut in 2020 and a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Lebanese University in 2012. She is a member of District D, 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.

Urban planning researcher and architect. She received her Bachelor's in Architecture and Master's in Urban Planning and Policy from the American University of Beirut. 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.

Ali holds an Early Career Fellowship through the Arab Council for Social Sciences and the Carnegie Corporation of New York with an affiliation to Beirut Urban Lab. He also teaches in the Department of Sociology at the University of Sussex, UK where he received his PhD in 2020. His main interests are in post-, anti-, and decolonization work, modern inequalities, and mobilities on which he has published a number of peer-reviewed and non-academic articles and essays.

Hayfaa Abou Ibrahim is a researcher invested in housing justice and the right to the city. At the Beirut Urban Lab, she is currently involved in two projects: (i) housing production in the urban peripheries of Beirut and (ii) the impact of housing financialization on vulnerable households and their access to social protection. Hayfaa holds a Master's in Urban Planning and Policy (2020) from the American University of Beirut and a Master's in Architecture (2018) from the Lebanese University.

Abir Cheaitli holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Lebanese American University, and a master’s degree in urban design from the American University of Beirut. She also holds a Pro-Green diploma in green technologies and buildings. She is interested in socio-spatial practices, urban graphic representations, and emergent ways of visualization. Her work at the lab encompasses research on the post recovery framework for Karantina after Beirut’s Port explosion. 

Luna Dayekh holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and Politics from the University of Sheffield. Her current work focuses on the post-blast recovery and mapping COVID-19 responses in Lebanon.

Leyla holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture with a minor in Arabic Literature from the American University of Beirut, and a Master's in Architecture and Digital Theory from The Bartlett - University College London. Her research falls at the intersection of historical architectural urban narratives and the boom of the digital age. She researches, teaches, and writes about digital philosophy and architecture.

Ali Ghaddar is an urban planner, designer, and architect. He holds a master’s in urban planning and policy from the American University of Beirut (2020). His thesis looked on performance-based planning and its adaptability to the Lebanese context, working on the intersection of strategic planning, urban regulations, and governance. He has also worked on developing soft mobility strategies. Ali co-founded District D, a multidisciplinary collaborative initiative of urbanists primarily devoted to designing and implementing "tactical" interventions in public spaces, particularly with the vision of higher inclusion. Since September 2020, Ali has joined the urban recovery track at the Beirut Urban Lab. 

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 (ArD) at the American University of Beirut.

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.

Mohamad El Chamaa

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

Advisor: Howayda Al-Harithy 

 

Ranime Nahle (MUD 2021)

Thesis Title: Activating Public Life in Neighborhoods though Soft Mobility and a Network of Open Spaces: The Case of Badaro, Beirut

Thesis Committee: Mona Harb (adv.), Mona Fawaz, Serge Yazigi

 

Rania Nouaihed (MUPP 2021)

Thesis Title: Vacant Properties as Opportunities to Enhance Neighborhood Public Life: The Case of Badaro, Beirut

Thesis Committee: Mona Harb (adv.), Mona Fawaz, Serge Yazigi

 

Majd Al-Shehabi (MUPP 2021)

Thesis Title: Agent-Based Modelling of the Real Estate Market in Beirut: The Effect of Vacancy Tax as a Case Study

Thesis Committee: Ibrahim Alameddine (adv.), Mona Fawaz, Ahmad Gharbieh, D. Robinson

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