Farnaz Arefian
Founder
Dr. F. Farnaz Arefian founded Silk Cities and leads its strategy and project delivery. She is an honorary research fellow at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) at University College London (UCL), an international development consultant, and the scientific editor-in-chief of the “Cities, Heritage and Transformations” book series with Springer Nature.
Her work spans research and evaluation, teaching, urban development and post-disaster reconstruction, and knowledge exchange and capacity building across Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, including collaborations with the EU Horizon programme, DRU (FU Berlin), Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at UCL (IRDR), DPU/ UCL, the University of Newcastle (Singapore), and UIC Barcelona, to name a few.
She holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Development Planning (UCL), an M.A. in Urban Design, an M.Arch., and postgraduate training in Strategic Management and Leadership. Her doctoral research examined organisational design for post-disaster reconstruction, including participatory housing, risk reduction, and urban identity, informed by practice—such as her first-hand post-disaster reconstruction experience in Bam, Iran (2003). Her interests include under-explored urban challenges and opportunities in everyday and crisis contexts, a focus on “how” as well as “what,” and building intellectual capacity. She has published peer-reviewed books, papers, and professional reports.
Silk Cities’ journey is rooted in Farnaz’s experience and her commitment to the greater good.
Upon moving to the UK, her early engagement with professional institutions revealed a media-driven misperception of educated professionals from developing countries—especially women. Too often, their work in their home countries is unseen, along with their efforts and contributions to their societies and cities.
She then envisioned an independent scientific conference on urbanism in contemporary Iran at a UK university. After more than two years of persistence as a newly arrived immigrant, she was encouraged by a small group of academics, students, and diaspora members. When she began her doctoral research as a mature candidate, she shared the vision with staff at the DPU, and later The Bartlett placed their trust in her and the initiative. She led the Urban Change in Iran conference at UCL, hosted by The Bartlett, with a growing group of graduate students (Mahya, Sepi, Maryam, Zahra, Puya, Atieh, Amin, and Salman). The conference became a landmark independent event, highlighting many gaps described in our story and organically led to the formation of Silk Cities.
Selected Publications
- Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Cabannes, Y. (Eds), 2026. Recognising Intangible Heritage in Urban Transformations, Springer Nature
- Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Linking Intangible Heritage to Urban Transformations, in Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Cabannes, Y. (Eds), 2026. Recognising Intangible Heritage in Urban Transformations, Springer Nature
- Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Hopkins, A., MacKee, J. (Eds), 2021. Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters, Springer Nature
- Ryser J., Arefian F.F. (Eds), 2021. Prerequisites for Post-Disaster Regeneration of Historic Cities (eBook), Silk Cities
- 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., Pre-disaster examination as post-disaster managerial thinking ahead for Hoi An, Vietnam, in Arefian F.F., Ryser, J., Hopkins, A., MacKee, J., (Eds), 2021. Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters, Springer
- 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), 2021. Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters, Springer
- Arefian F.F. & Moeini S.H.I. (Eds), 2019. Urban Heritage Along the Silk Roads, Springer Nature
- Arefian F.F., 2018. Organising Post-Disaster Reconstruction Processes, 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
- Arefian F.F. & Moeini S.H.I. (Eds), 2016. Urban Change in Iran, Springer, Switzerland
- 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
Selected Invited Talks
City & Business in the Face of Disasters, at the International Conference "Integrated Economy Ecosystems for Sustainable Development in the Global Era", HOICEB 2025, Universitas Halu Oleo, Indonesia
Urban Reconstruction: International Managerial Approaches, What About Ukraine? New Ukraine Perspectives Workshop, REAL CORP 2022, Vienna, Austria
Corona Workshop Series: Social aspects of vaccination against COVID-19, 2022, FU Berlin Germany
From Policy to Practice: Layers of Engaging with Cultural Heritage in Complex Situations, at the Workshop series, 2021, DFG Research Training Group 1913, Germany
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
Future Skills and Education in Southeast Asia, panel discussion at The Built Environment Forum, Australian High Commissioner, Singapore, 3-4 June 2019
Post-disaster Urban Planning and Management: Opportunities and Limitations, in Urban Planning and Civic Design Conference, 18 November 2017, Iran Heritage Foundation, IHF, UK
Heritage and Disasters, expert panel discussion,9 March 2016, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, UCL, London
Disaster Risk Reduction Within Urban Reconstruction: Top-down or Bottom-up Approaches? UK-China Global Development Partnership; Experience and Lessons Learned from Earthquakes Workshop, 24th–26th September 2014, China
Women’s Role in Disaster Risk Reduction, UCL- IRDR Fourth Annual Conference, 18th June 2014, UCL, London
Urban Design in the Middle East, Urban Design Group Seminar, February 2013, London