Farnaz Arefian
Founder
Dr. F. Farnaz Arefian is the founder of Silk Cities. She holds leadership and management roles for its strategy, introduction and delivery of its projects.
She has an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Development Planning (UCL), M.A. in Urban Design and M. Architecture, and post-graduate training in Strategic Management and Leadership. Her doctoral studies brought together organisational studies, disaster management, and urban reconstruction programmes to investigate organisational design and management for post-disaster reconstruction programmes concerning participatory housing reconstruction, future disaster risk reduction and urban identity.
Farnaz has a diverse background. Her professional life combines experience in academic research and education with consulting and knowledge exchange in the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
In the last 13 years, she has worked on research, education, evaluation, and developing academic enterprise, with prestigious institutions. Among them are the Disaster Research Unit (DRU), FU Berlin, Germany; EU Horizon programme; Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction (IRDR) and The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), UCL, UK; University of Newcastle (UONS), Singapore; and International University of Catalonia (UIC Barcelona), Spain to name a few.
Within her consulting capacity, Farnaz advises urban stakeholders. She previously co-founded an award-winning consultancy company and delivered key urban development plans and projects, including large-scale post-disaster projects in Bam, Iran, a historic city along the Silk Roads, after its 2003 destructive earthquake. This was her first-hand encounter with disasters and urban recovery which motivated Farnaz to pursue her doctoral studies.
Farnaz is interested in identifying and investigating under-explored complex matters which nevertheless cities and communities deal with in real-world either in normal or disastrous situations; examining the question of ‘how’ not only ‘what’; and intellectual capacity and confidence building.
Among her publications are peer-reviewed books, papers, and professional reports. She is an advisory editor to Springer Urban Series and has recently established a book series, Cities, Heritage and Transformations, for which she is the scientific editor-in-chief.
Silk Cities’ journey is linked with Farnaz’s personal experience and commitment to the greater good.
In her early interactions with professional institutes in the UK, she came across a general misperception led by the media on those educated and active professionals in other countries - particularly developing countries - who use their knowledge to make meaningful contributions to their societies and cities, especially on female professionals.
From this, Farnaz envisioned organising an independent scientific conference on urbanism in contemporary Iran at a university in the UK. Knocking on doors for over two years did not go anywhere for a fresh immigrant but generated interest among some academics and student diaspora. Upon starting her doctoral research as a mature candidate, she shared her vision with DPU staff and later the Bartlett put their trust in her vision. She principally organised the conference Urban Change in Iran at UCL with those graduate students who gradually gathered around the vision (Mahya, Sepi, Maryam, Zahra, Puya, Atieh, Amin, and Salman). This became the landmark scientific and independent event that revealed multiple gaps mentioned in our story and organically led to the inception of Silk Cities.
Papers & Book chapters
Arefian, F., Covid-19 Global Response: Singapore Update, in ICPEM Journal ALERT Spring 2021, pp. 31-34, Available from https://www.theicpem.net/attachments/article/297/ICPEM%20Journal%20Alert%20Spring%202021.pdf
Arefian, F., Ryser, J., 2021, Introduction: Setting the Scene in Ryser, J., Arefian, F., (Eds), Prerequisites for Post-Disaster Regeneration of Historic Cities, Silk Cities
Arefian, F., Ryser, J., Hopkins, A., MacKee, J., Pre-disaster examination as post-disaster managerial thinking ahead for Hoi An, Vietnam, in Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Hopkins, A., MacKee, J., (Eds), Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters, Springer- to be released in 2021
Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Hopkins, A., MacKee, J., Introduction: towards multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary approaches, , in Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Hopkins, A., MacKee, J., (Eds), Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters, Springer- to be released in 2021
ArefianF., Moeini S.H.I. 2019, Introduction, in: Arefian F.F. and Moeini S.H.I. (Eds), Urban Heritage along the Silk Roads, Springer
Fayazi, M., Arefian, F. Lizarralde,G., Gharaati, M., Johnson, C., and Davidson, C., 2017. Institutional Fragmentation in Post-disaster Reconstruction: The Case of Bam, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Elsevier, pp. 340 - 349
Ryser, J. Arefian, F., 2017, Urban design as tool to reconnect people with their urban heritage, Special Topic: Conservation and Urban Design, Urban Design, Issue 144, UDG, London, pp. 19 – 22
Bosher, L., Von Meding, J., Johnson, C., Arefian, F., Chmutina, K., Chang-Richards, Y., 2016, Disasters and the Built Environment, Research Roadmap Summary, CIB General Secretariat , available from site.cibworld.nl/dl/publications/Publ%20410.pdf
Arefian, F.F., 2015 Getting Ready for Urban Reconstruction: Organising Housing Reconstruction in Bam, in: Arefian F.F. and Moeini S.H.I. (Eds), Urban Change in Iran, Springer, pp. 231 - 248
Johnson, C., Adelekan, I., Bosher, L., Arefian, F. Jabeen, H., Kataria, S., Marome, W.A. and Zerjav, B., 2012, Private Sector Investment Decisions in Building and Construction: Increasing, Managing and Transferring Risks, Geneva, UNISDR (a Background paper for the Global Assessment Report – GAR 2013)
Guest Editor of the Urban Design Quarterly, Special Topic: Urban Design in the Middle East, Issue 124 Autumn 2012, London
Arefian, F., 2004, Introduction of Strategic and Place-Making Approach in New-Towns, in: The Book of New-Towns’ Planning Programmes, New-towns Organisation, Housing and Urban Development Ministry of Iran
Examples of external invited talks
Session chair: Efficient Post-Disaster Recovery Phase that Supports Well-Being and Diversity at Frontier in Development Conference, Resilience Symposium, 1-4 March 2020 Istanbul, Turkey, organised by Royal Academy of Engineering
Panelist: Future Skills and Education in Southeast Asia, panel discussion at The Built Environment Forum, Australian High Commissioner, Singapore, 3-4 June 2019
Invited speaker: Post-disaster urban planning and management: Opportunities and limitations, in Urban Planning and Civic Design Conference, 18 November 2017, Iran Heritage Foundation, IHF, UK
Panel Chair & discussant: Heritage and disasters, expert panel discussion,9 March 2016, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, UCL, London
Invited speaker: Disaster risk reduction within urban reconstruction: top-down or bottom-up approach? UK-China Global Development Partnership; Experience and Lessons Learned from Earthquakes Workshop, 24th–26th September 2014, China (Invited speaker)
Panelist: Women’s role in disaster risk reduction, UCL- IRDR Fourth Annual Conference, 18th June 2014, UCL, London
Invited speaker: Urban design in the Middle East, Urban Design Group Seminar, February 2013, London