Dr. Steffen Lehmann

To check out the UNLV School of Architecture: www.unlv.edu/architecture

his research group website: www.city-futures.org.uk

and his Lab here: www.city-leadership.com

and his design studio here: www.si-architecture.com

and one of his international research projects here: www.fwe-nexus.eu

Professor Steffen Lehmann, Ph.D., is a German-born urbanist, designer, senior research leader, author, and educator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (USA), where he is immediate Past-Director of the School of Architecture.

He works frequently on three continents, between the USA, London/Berlin, and Australia.

As a full Professor of Architecture (with tenure), he also works internationally as founding director and design adviser of the s_Lab (Sydney-Berlin-London-Los Angeles), advising cities on sustainable architecture and urban development.

He has been the recipient of a series of research grants funded by a range of agencies. In 2017, he was awarded as lead-Principal Investigator a large grant (US$ 2m) under the JPI Urban Europe programme for 'CRUNCH: the Food-Water-Energy Nexus', an interdisciplinary project with 20 partners from 6 countries.

Over the last 16 years, Steffen has held a range of senior leadership positions, from Head of School and Professor of Architecture, to tenured Chair Professor of Sustainable Design, and Founding Director of the Research Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour (sd+b). He was appointed a Full Professor in Jan. 2003 and received tenure in 2010 at the University of South Australia.

At the University of South Australia, he was also Founding Director of the China-Australia Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, a leading urban think-tank for research and consultancy on urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific region. At UniSA, he has led the China engagement for the university, managed large competitive research grants, and built multi-stakeholder consortia.

As Head of School in Perth, he re-positioned the large School of Built Environment and led the global recruitment of 20 new staff in a relatively short time.

Steffen was appointed to full University Professor and Chair in January 2003.
Today, he is particularly interested in research impact, green innovation, high-performance architecture and urban waterfront development.

In recognition of the international significance of his work, he was appointed by UNESCO as Inaugural Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Urban Development for Asia and the Pacific, from 2008 to 2010; he continues to collaborate with UNESCO as adviser ex-officio on selected important initiatives, such as strategic adviser for the UNESCO Global Learning Cities Network and for the UN ESCAP initiative for Low-Carbon Green Cities in the Asia-Pacific.

He has a long-standing engagement with top-level policymakers, and in 2014-15 contributed to the highly influential report ''The State of Asian and Pacific Cities 2015'' (published by UN-HABITAT and UN ESCAP, launched at City_NET in Seoul).

2006 to 2010, he held an Endowed Chair, Professor of Architectural Design at the University of Newcastle (NSW).

In 1993, he registered as a licensed architect and urban designer in Berlin, where he established his own practice, the Space Laboratory for Architectural Research and Design (the s_Lab), to pursue a more ethically correct practice. With his own practice, he was actively involved in the architectural creation of the `New Berlin' in the 1990s.

He worked for 3 years with Arata Isozaki in Tokyo and Jim Stirling in London before establishing his own practice. 1997-2002 he was project partner of Christian de Portzamparc for the design and construction of the new French Embassy in Berlin (architect in charge as 'Generalplaner').

Over the last 25 years, he has been at the forefront of sustainable architecture research and practice, and has won a number of competition awards and prizes for sustainable buildings, while publishing books on green architectural and urban design. For instance, his award-winning low-carbon master planning projects for the cities of Mildura (Vic), Taree (NSW), and the urban renewal of Newcastle (NSW).

Steffen has published 20 books, over 300+ papers and articles, and gave over 500+ public presentations in 40 countries, frequently as keynote speaker.

In 2016, he launched the book 'Sustainable Lina' (Springer); in 2017, a book with Routledge was published: 'Growing Compact'.
In 2019: 'Urban Regeneration. A Manifesto for UK Cities' (Palgrave, London).

His 'Global Urban Lecture' for UN-Habitat was launched in 2016, see: http://unhabitat.org/urban-knowledge/urban-lectures/ .
In 2011 he was invited to give a TED talk.

His Book Series on Sustainable Design can be found here: https://www.routledge.com/series/EARTHSD

In 2009, Steffen was appointed as the DAAD-Visiting Professor at TU Munich and a Visiting Professor at the National University Singapore; in 2012 at the University of California at Berkeley. In 2014 he was Visiting Professor at Tianjin University (China). In 2016-18 he holds an Honorary position at the University of Technology Sydney, and is a Visiting Professor in Ahmadabad, India; 2018-20, he is a Visiting Professor at the University of Portsmouth, UK.

He holds a “Dr-Ing.” degree from the TU-Berlin (2003); an AA Diploma from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London (1991); and a Master's (German Diplom) degree from the University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Germany (1988).

His research is in the field of sustainable buildings and urban development, concerned with the integration of low carbon technologies in urban and architectural design and social implications. His Google Scholar h-Index is: 29 (Nov. 2020).

Steffen has given prestigious lectures worldwide, for instance for TEDx and UN-HABITAT; he lectured at some of the world's top universities, including Harvard University, University of Oxford, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at San Diego, USC, the Architectural Association School London, TU Munich, National University of Singapore, KTH Stockholm, TU Vienna, TU Delft, Hong Kong Poly University, Tsinghua University, and the University of Melbourne.