Dr Amir Gohar

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About me

Dr. Gohar is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for the MSc Planning & Urban Leadership at the University of the West of England. He teaches graduate courses in planning practices, urbanisation, and environmental planning within the Department of Geography & Environmental Management. Before joining this institution, Dr. Gohar designed and taught graduate design and planning courses at the University of Huddersfield, Kansas State University, San Francisco State University, and the University of California at Berkeley.

As a practitioner, Dr. Gohar brings nearly two decades of experience as an urban planner, landscape architect, designer, and sustainable urbanism expert. His professional background includes work with municipal governments, research institutes, international development agencies, private sector firms, and local community organizations. He has extensive experience in public space planning in congested cities, coastal settlements, dense urban forms, and historic urban centres across the Middle East and Africa.

Dr. Gohar earned his doctorate in Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley, where his research focused on coastal development and its impacts on local residents and the environment. His peer-reviewed research seeks to balance rapid urbanisation trends with the ecological integrity of urban open spaces. He is passionate about community engagement in public spaces and has delivered numerous lectures on the subject. He teaches design and planning studios and urban and environmental studies seminars.

In addition to his academic roles, Dr. Gohar strives to connect academia with practice. He is a co-founding member of "AMAKEN Placemaking," a non-profit network dedicated to transforming public spaces into vibrant places. He is an academic member of the Landscape Institute (AMLI), a co-founder of the Egyptian Society of Landscape Architects (ESLA), and an active researcher at Berkeley's Tourism Studies Working Group (TSWG). He is the founder of the initiative: Celebrate Your Local Jane Jacobs, an initiative aiming to recognise women with contribution in sustainable urbanism. His recent book is titled: Tourism Governance: A Critical Discourse on a Global Industry and can be found here.

Dr. Gohar holds a BSc in urban planning from Cairo University, an MA in urban design from Oxford Brookes University, and a diploma in Land Management from Erasmus University.

Area of expertise

Urban Planning  |  Urban Design  |  Placemaking  |  Landscape Planning  |  Tourism Planning  |  Tourism Sustainability  |  Tourism Governance  |  Ecotourism  |  Land Use Planning    

Publications

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