Amanda Lloyd is the Director for Global Programs at the Penn Institute for Urban Research. She has over twenty years of strategic planning and applied research experience on U.S. and global urban planning, development, and capacity building.  Her work focuses on understanding the diversity of global urban perspectives and experiences as they relate to urban management, particularly nature and nature-based solutions, climate finance and policy, urban resilience, and innovation. She also runs the Fellows in Urban Leadership program, bringing exceptional undergraduates and urban leaders together to discuss the future of cities.  She holds a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Barnard College in Cultural Anthropology (East Asia).