Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters

Dr. Fatemeh Farnaz Arefian is an interdisciplinary expert in development planning, urban design, and architecture. She combines academic research and education with extensive practice-based experience in the Middle East, UK, and Southeast Asia.

As a private sector consultancy director, her first-hand encounter with disasters in the historic city of Bam motivated her to return to academia and pursue her multidisciplinary Ph.D. research and further academic activities at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), University College London (UCL), where she is also associated with. She is the founding director of Silk Cities initiative on contextual contemporary challenges cities in countries along the historic Silk Roads face within the process of urban transformations. She is an invited speaker for international conferences and workshops. Her industry experience in post-disaster reconstruction has been featured in a guidance for humanitarian organisations. Farnaz has published academic and professional books and papers, such as Urban Heritage Along the Silk Roads (Springer 2020), Organising Post-Disaster Reconstruction Processes (Springer 2018), and Urban Change in Iran (Springer 2016). The latest publication Farnaz currently leads on is Historic Cities in the Face of Disasters. Her past knowledge exchange activities received special attention from UNESCO Director General.

Judith Ryser qualified architect and urbanist with a social sciences MSc, Judith’s cosmopolitan professional life in London, Paris, Berlin, Geneva (United Nations), Stockholm and Madrid is focusing on built environment sustainability and researching, reviewing, writing on cities in the knowledge society. She is a life member of ISOCARP (International Society of City and Regional Planners), ex-Vice President, General Rapporteur of the 50th anniversary congress 2015, editor and writer of several publications (e.g. "ISOCARP, 50 Years of Knowledge Creation and Sharing"; with Teresa Franchini 5th & 6th editions of the International Manual of Planning Practice) and member of the Chartered Institute of Journalist. She is senior advisor to Fundacion Metropoli, author and editor of many books and participant in urban projects; senior adviser, book co-editor and co-reviewer of Silk Cities; co-editor and coordinator of CORP (International Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development in the Information Society); editorial board member, reviewer and topic editor of the Urban Design Group and has written and edited numerous books and articles. She taught at University College London and other universities, is on various scientific committees and mentoring mature students and young planners.

Andrew Hopkins FSA is professor and chair of architectural history at the University of L'Aquila. Architecture and urbanism, together with how people use city spaces in an historical context, is a long-standing interest. His earliest and latest books are Santa Maria della Salute: architecture and ceremony in baroque Venice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000; and La città del Seicento, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2014. Having taught at L'Aquila since 2004, in the last, post-earthquake, decade he has been involved in several initiatives to do with understanding the issues facing historical cities vis-à-vis disasters, including the exhibition and conference held in the ducal palace of Venice in 2010: L’AQUILA 2010, Luogo, Identità, Etica, Ricostruzione, Salone del Piovego, Palazzo Ducale, Venezia 28 Agosto 2010; and recently he was thrilled to be able to welcome the Silk Cities conference of 2019 to the Department of Human Sciences (Dipartimento di Scienze Umane), University of L’Aquila.

Jamie MacKee 's most recent research has focused on the way in which risk of climate change impacts can be assessed to better protect our cultural heritage. This has resulted in the development of a Cultural

Heritage Risk Index (CHRI) that allows stakeholders involved in the management, protection and conservation of cultural heritage to assess risk and plan and manage interventions to mitigate against any potential impacts. The results of this are being published in a forthcoming journal paper.

Jamie's broader interest in "old buildings' stems from his eight years teaching in a University and living in Sri Lanka and two years studying in Singapore. His teaching and research work on disasters arises from his work during the Asian Tsunami in Sri Lanka sponsored by the University of Newcastle in 2005. He has two books specifically on cultural heritage and one recent book and book chapter on cultural heritage conservation theory fusing the concepts of Buddhism and Systems theory proposing an alternative to the traditional Eurocentric ideals of conservation theory for dealing with the rich and very unique heritage of the Asian region. Jamie is a co-leader of the School of Architecture and Built Environment's Disaster Research Group, University of Newcastle, Australia.