Mona Fawaz

Mona Fawaz is Professor in Urban Studies and Planning at the American University of Beirut and a research lead/ co-founder of the Beirut Urban Lab, a regional research center invested in working towards more inclusive, just, and viable cities. Mona’s research spans across urban history and historiography, social and spatial justice, informality and the law, land, housing, property and space, as well as planning practice, theory and pedagogy. She is the author of over 60 scholarly articles, book sections, and reports in Arabic, French and English. She has also worked as a consultant, advising on urban and regional development, housing, land, and property issues. In addition, Mona has been tightly involved in Beirut’s ongoing transformations by publishing in the local press and speaking in numerous local venues where she advocates for upgrading informal settlements, protecting the urban commons, improving urban livability, adopting more inclusive planning standards, and more generally, defending the right to the city for the urban majorities. Mona holds a BArch (AUB 1995), a MCP (MIT 1998) and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies and Planning (MIT 2004). She was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies at Harvard University during the 2014/15 academic year and in Summer 2017. She has served on numerous national, regional and international juries, including the Aga Khan awards in 2019.