Authors

Principal Authors

Rana Amirtahmasebi is an urban planner and architect with a passion for designing systems, policies, and products to improve and adjust the conditions of human settlements. Rana is experienced in policy analysis and design and program implementation in community and local economic development, conservation of historic cities, settlement design and upgrading, and land governance frameworks. Her professional affiliations, in addition to the World Bank, include Pelli-Clarke-Pelli; New York City government; Bavand Consultants, Tehran, Iran; and the Aga Khan Foundation. Rana holds master’s degrees in advanced urbanism studies and city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also graduated with a master’s degree in architectural engineering from Azad University in her hometown of Tehran, Iran. Follow her on twitter @amirtahmasebi.

Mariana Orloff is an associate at the Ross Center for Sustainable Cities at the World Resources Institute (WRI). She is part of the urban development team and coordinates among urban planning, land use, and transit-oriented development programs. Prior to joining WRI, Mariana worked as a consultant in the Urban Sector at the World Bank on both lending and knowledge projects (Latin America and Caribbean Region), and in the Global Urban and Resilience Unit on local economic development, slum upgrading, housing, and land use. Mariana holds a BA in political science and international relations from the Catholic University of La Plata, Argentina, and master’s degrees in public policy and urban planning from the University of Michigan.

Sameh Wahba is the Global Director for the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, Mr. Wahba served as the Director for Urban and Territorial Development, Disaster Risk Management and Resilience at the World Bank Group’s Social, Urban Rural, and Resilience Global Practice, where he oversaw the formulation of the World Bank’s strategy, design, and delivery of all lending, technical assistance, policy advisory activities, and partnerships at the global level. He also served as Practice Manager for the Urban and Disaster Risk Management unit in Africa and the Global Urban and Resilience Unit, and as Acting Director of Operations and Strategy for the Global Practice. He worked as Sustainable Development Sector Leader for Brazil, based in Brasilia, and as an urban specialist focused on housing, land, local economic development, and municipal management and service delivery in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the Middle East and North Africa Regions. Prior to joining the Bank in 2004, he worked at the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies in Rotterdam and at the Harvard Center for Urban Development Studies. Mr. Wahba holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in urban planning from Harvard University, and a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Architectural Engineering from Cairo University