visiting scholars 2008 / 2009

	► prof. iman amat, ph.d. Iman Amat, an architect, is ass. professor and the head of the Department of Architecture at the university of Nablus, Palestine. After her BSc studies in Architecture in her home town Nablus she continued with a M.Arch. at the Mackintosh School of Architecture/ Glasgow University/UK, where she also competed her PhD.  Her research interests embrace Architectural Conservation, Urban Conservation and Regeneration, Sustainability in the Built Environment, Housing Studies and Design, Traditional Houses, Traditional Arab Cities.
	► prof. peter brand, ph.d. Dr Peter Brand studied geography at the University of Leeds, UK (BSc.) and architecture at Oxford Brookes University, UK (M.Sc. and Ph.D.). Before becoming university professor at the National University of Colombia in Medellin in 1982, where he is head of the Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning today, he worked as urban planner for the English New Town Harlow. His research interests are directed toward overcoming the rural urban dichotomy and in the analysis of neoliberalism in urban spatial and social formation.  Prof. Brand published 3 books over the last 7 years, and wrote 18 papers for other books, journals or international conferences.
	► prof. bernard gauthier, ph.d. Bernard Gauthier is Professor of Economics at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Montreal. He has15 years experience in teaching, research, and analysis of countries like Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Jamaica, Namibia, South-Africa, Uganda while being based at the Washington University in St. Luis (USA); Université d'Auvergne (France), Università Tor Vergata in Rome (Italy); University of California,  Berkely (USA); University of Oxford (UK) among others. As a consultant he mostly worked for the World Bank apart from DFID and several others. His fields of Research include: Development Economics, Public Finance, Public Sector Economics, New Economics of Institutions. Internationally, Bernhard Gauthier is a leading analyst of corruption and economic development.
	► prof. emilio haddad, ph.d. After his Bachelor undergraduate studies at the university of Sao Paulo, Emilio Haddad completed his MSc. in civil engineering at Stanford University (1973) and in Urban and Regional Planning at the  University of California Berkeley (1975). At the University of Sao Paulo, where he obtained his PhD from the faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning (1987) he is director of an MBA program in real estate development.  Emilio Haddad has written 5 books, 40 chapters in edited books and many more published papers. He has organized 5 international Real Estate congresses and was speaker at 122 other congresses.
	► prof. clara irazabal, ph.d. Clara Irazábal, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, New York. She received a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, and has two Masters in Architecture and Urban Design and Planning from the University of California at Berkeley and the Universidad Central de Venezuela, respectively. She cultivates research interests in both domestic and international arenas. A native Venezuelan, she has worked as consultant, researcher, and/or professor in Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the USA; and has lectured in many other countries. Her work is concerned with exploring the politics of cultures and the cultures of politics of urban design and planning processes and practices in specific places and times, particularly in comparative terms. Irazábal is especially interested in uncovering the dialectic tensions among issues of power, knowledge, and subjectivities as they relate to space-the politics of 'place making'. In addition, Irazábal places critical value on the political implications of her work, promoting whenever possible the connection from knowledge to action for the betterment of communities. Irazábal is the author of City Making and Urban Governance in the Americas: Curitiba and Portland (2005), and the editor of Ordinary Places, Extraordinary Events: Citizenship, Democracy, and Public Space in Latin America (2008). She has published articles in scholarly journals such as International Planning Studies, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Journal of Planning Literature, Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, Journal of Urban Affairs, Journal of Urban Design, Planning Practice & Research, Planning Theory, and Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, among others.
	► prof. barbara jekot, ph.d.   Barbara Jekot, a Polish born Architect, is associate professor of the University of Pretoria, South Africa.  Previously she taught at the University of Natal in Durban, S.A. As an academic, Ms Jekot was member of the accreditation commission for a number of important architecture faculties in South America. As a practicing architect, she has designed more than 20 buildings in Poland and South Africa. AS an author, she published four books: 2007 The coexistence of the 'third' and 'first' world in South African architecture : the inclusion of the 'underdeveloped' in 'developed' technologies in the age of globalization 2007 Selective samples of the mainstream Western perception of beauty as a category in architecture - tracing physical beauty connected with mind, emotions and spirit 2008 Reinterpreting public places and spaces : a selection of Krzysztof Wodiczko’s public artwork 2008 Selected study of architectural envelopes controlling sun radiation - the integration of nature into design
	► gulelat kebede, ph.d. Dr. Gulelat Kebede received his PhD in Economics from the Academy of Social Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria. He also holds a MSc. in Environmental Economics from the University of London and a B.A. from Addis Ababa University. His professional work experience extends for over twenty years of which about fifteen years as international expert. Since 1996 he is working for UN-HABITAT at the headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, primarily in the field of training and capacity building. In that capacity, Mr. Kebede prepared and/or coordinated the development of a number of training tools and curricula, developed and managed global capacity building programmes and courses, provided technical support to projects and activities in all major regions of the world, designed and delivered training workshops at country, regional and international levels including teaching at universities and academic institutions; facilitated partnerships with over 60 national training and academic institutions and multi lateral agencies including ILO and the WB,  and supported member states in developing national  policies and strategies for capacity building for  local governments, NGOs and CBOs. His accumulated substantive professional experience includes, among others, the areas of governance, environment and local economic development.
	► prof. xiang li, ph.d. Xiang Li is a Chinese Architect and Urban Designer. He is Associate Professor in History, Theory and Criticism at the Tongji University in Shanghai, where he also is Assistant Dean for International Collaborations. He also acts as Secretary General of the Sino-Africa Urban Forum on Sustainable Development 2008 among other honorable duties. In 2006, he was visiting scholar at the MIT School of Architecture in Cambridge, Mass., USA. Since 2004, Xiang Li is member of the editorial board for Architectural Magazine Architectural Images. His past and present research projects are dedicated to 'Criticism on Contemporary Chinese Architecture' and 'A Study on Urban Culture, in the Case of Shanghai'. He has published for books and chapters in books and 23 journal articles in China plus 5 international publications.
	► yatin pandya. m.arch. Yatin Pandya is an author, activist, academician, researcher as well as the practicing architect from India with his firm FOOTPRINTS E.A.R.T.H. As a graduate of CEPT University, Ahmedabad he has availed Master of Architecture degree from McGill University, Montreal where we member of the legendary Minimum Cost Housing Unit – discovering the concept of appropriate technologies for architecture. Back in India, he was invited to join the Vastu Shilpa Foundation for studies and research in environmental design to which he belonged for 23 years and was Associate Director. Together with the renowned Indian Architect Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi he worked on many architectural projects including the Aranya housing scheme which won the famous Aga Khan Award in 1995. Yatin Pandya also taught housing and architecural design classes at the CEPT University in Ahmedabad for 17 years. Furthermore was invited to lecture in many countries all over the world, including Switzerland, South Korea, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, USA, Canada, Hungary, and, of course, all over India. Pandya wrote five books, and over 50 articles in professional and academic journals. As an architect and urban planner he designed more than 30 houses, institutional buildings and museums.