People

Penn IUR is affiliated with more than 200 experts in the field of urbanism. Its Faculty Fellows program identifies faculty at the University of Pennsylvania with a demonstrated interest in urban research; the Penn IUR Scholars program identifies urban scholars outside of Penn; and the Penn IUR Fellows program identifies expert urban practitioners. Together, these programs foster a community of scholars and encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration.

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Fellow

Sameh Wahba

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Regional Director, Sustainable Development, Europe and Central Asia, The World Bank

About

Sameh Wahba is the Regional Director for Sustainable Development at the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region. In this capacity, he oversees all World Bank lending, technical assistance, partnerships, and policy advisory work in sustainable development in the region, including agriculture and food, climate change, environment, natural resources and the blue economy, social inclusion and sustainability, water, urban, disaster risk management, resilience, and land. He oversees a portfolio of $10bn in lending commitments and a team of 200 professionals based in DC and 23 regional offices. Previously, he worked as Global Director for Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice. He holds a Ph.D. in urban planning from Harvard University and has 25 years’ experience in urban development, land, housing, disaster risk management, infrastructure, and sustainable development. His publications on cities, housing, land, infrastructure, and finance include books, chapters in edited volumes and articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Cities Council and is part of the advisory boards for Resilient Cities Network, the WRI Ross Center for Cities, and the Penn Institute for Urban Research. He also serves as Commissioner in the Global Commission for Urban SDGs Finance chaired by Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Selected Publications

Mohieldin, Mahmoud, Sameh Wahba, Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez and Miral Shihata (2022). Business, Government, and the SDGs: The Role of Public-Private Engagement in Building a Sustainable Future. Palgrave MacMillan.

Wahba, Sameh N. (2022). The Elusive Quest for Affordable Housing: Five Principles of a Comprehensive Approach. In Brears, Robert (Ed). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures. Palgrave MacMillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51812-7_341-1

Wahba, Sameh (2022). Can cities bounce back better from COVID-19? Reflections from emerging post-pandemic recovery plans and trade-offs. Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 34, Issue 2, October 2022. DOI: 10.1177/09562478221102867

Wahba, Sameh, Maitreyi Das and Yuna Chun (2022). Building Back Stronger: Urban Resilience through Post-Conflict Reconstruction. Columbia University, Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 74, No.1, Fall/Winter 2022. [Available at: https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/building-back-stronger-urban-resilience-through-post-conflict-reconstruction]

Wahba, S., Lall, S., and Lee, H. (2022). Infrastructure and the Poor. In Gómez-Ibáñez, Jose A., and Zhi Liu (eds). Infrastructure Economics and Policy: International Perspectives. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, pp.59-87

Wahba, Sameh and Yuna Chun (2021). Orange is the New Color for City Competitiveness: The Role of Local Governments in Promoting Cultural and Creative Industries. Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal.  Vol. 15, No. 2, 136-149

Lall, Somik V. and Sameh Wahba (2021). Crowded Cities: New Methodology in COVID-19 Risk Assessment. Sustainability. Vol. 13, 7167. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su13137167

Bhardwaj, Gaurav, Thomas Esch, Somik Lall, Mattia Marconcini, Maria Edisa Soppelsa and Sameh Wahba (2020). Cities, crowding and the coronavirus: Predicting contagion risk hotspots. Washington, DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33648

Kaw, Jon Kher, Hyunji Lee, and Sameh Wahba, eds (2020). The Hidden Wealth of Cities: Creating, Financing, and Managing Public Spaces. Washington, DC: World Bank. https:// doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1449-5

White, Roland and Sameh Wahba (2019). Addressing Constraints to Financing Urban (Climate) Infrastructure in Developing Countries. International Journal for Urban Sustainable Development. https:// doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2018.1559970                                                                       

Lead Author: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; The World Bank (2018). Culture in City Reconstruction and Recovery. Paris: UNESCO. [https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/30733 License: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.]                                                                       

Amirtahmasebi, Rana, Orloff, Mariana, Wahba, Sameh and Altman, Andy (2016). Regenerating Urban Land: A Practitioner’s Guide to Leveraging Private Investment. Urban Development Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0473-1

Faculty Fellow

Richard Weller

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Professor

Co-Founder, The Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism & Ecology

About

Richard Weller is the Martin and Margy Meyerson Chair of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania. Throughout his career he has worked simultaneously as an academic and a consultant specializing in the formative stages of projects ranging from gardens to plazas, memorials, museums, suburbs and waterfronts. He is former director of the design firm Room 4.1.3 and the Australian Urban Design Research Center. His research projects have involved scenario planning for cities, megaregions and nations. His current research concerns urbanization in the world’s biodiversity hotspots. In over 30 years practice he has received a consistent stream of international design competition awards at all scales of landscape architecture and urban design. He has published 4 books and over 90 single-authored papers. Weller sits on the board of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) in Washington and is the founder and Creative Director of the interdisciplinary journal of landscape architecture LA+. A devoted teacher, he was honored with an Australian National Teaching Award in 2012 for “sustained commitment to inspiring and enabling students to engage creatively and critically with complex design problems.” He teaches in three subject areas: advanced design studios at all scales, urban design history and theory, and historical and contemporary ideas of Nature. Weller’s designs, research and writing can be found here.

Selected Publications

Weller, Richard. 2017. “Atlas for the End of the World.” http://atlas-for-the-end-of-the-world.com/.

Weller, Richard. 2014. “Stewardship now? Reflections on Landscape Architecture’s raison d’être in the 21st century.” Landscape Journal 33(2).

Weller, Richard. 2013. Made in Australia: The Future of Australian Cities. UWA Publishing.

Weller, Richard. 2009. Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City. UWA Publishing.

Weller, Richard. 2005. Room 4.1.3: Innovations in Landscape Architecture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 

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