Dr. Barbara Lipietz is Associate Professor at the Development Planning Unit where she directs DPU’s MSc in Urban Development Planning and convenes the DPU Research Cluster on Urban Transformations.

I am an interdisciplinary planner with a formal background in history and development studies. At the DPU, I lead the MSc in Urban Development Planning and am convener of the DPU's Urban Transformations research cluster. I also co-ordinate the DPU/ACHR (Asian Coalition for Housing Rights) Junior Professional Internship Programme. I am Co-Chair of UCL's Grand Challenges of Sustainable Cities and sit on UCL's Urban Lab Steering Committee. Outside UCL, I am member of the Urban Planning Advisory Group (UPAG) for UNDRR, the United Nations' Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. I am part of the editorial collective of the journal CITY.

Before joining the DPU, I straddled the worlds of research and practice, working as a research fellow at the LSE and collaborating with a number of international and local institutions such as UN-Habitat, the Green Group of the European Parliament, Isandla Institute, John Hopkins University, the Gauteng Provincial government and the City of Johannesburg. This work has spanned monitoring and evaluation, policy recommendations, and strategic planning input in the fields of (urban) governance, participatory governance, partnership-based service delivery, urban poverty, urban regeneration and housing. 

I continue working with a number of the above and additional organisations, through DPU-related course/research work, advisory services and other forms of collaboration. These include: the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDDR), Habitat International coalition (HIC), the Global Platform for the Right to the City, United Cities and Local Government (UCLG-CISDP), Metropolis, the Asian Coalition of Housing Rights (ACHR), Community Architects Network (CAN), Homeless People's Federation and Community Initiatives (Tanzania), the Philippine Alliance, Arkom Jogja (Indonesia and Yogjakarta), Spaces for Youth Development and Initiatives (Nigeria), Genre en Action (France), Alternatives Pour des Projets Urbains Ici et à l'International (APPUII) (France), Just Space (London). 

I hold a PhD and MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London) and a BA in History from the University of Cambridge.