Demetra Kourri

Dr Demetra Kourri serves as Senior Lecturer in Architectural Humanities at the Manchester School of Architecture, Manchester Metropolitan University, where she bridges architecture with humanities and social sciences through interdisciplinary research and teaching. Her work critically examines mobility infrastructures as integral social-material components of urban environments.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Architecture from the University of Manchester (2017-2022), an MA in Urban Theory from Parsons The New School (2014-2016), a Professional Diploma in Architecture from the University of Nicosia (2010-2012), and a BA (Hons) Architecture from Birmingham City University (2006-2009).

Research interests center on the socio-technical entanglements of urban infrastructure, with particular focus on public participation in transit planning, post-socialist urban governance, and the material politics of mobility systems. Her work employs ethnographic methods to dissect power dynamics between community boards and transit authorities, revealing critical disconnections in urban decision-making processes.

Publication trends demonstrate consistent engagement with critical urban infrastructure studies, evolving from early conference presentations on the Blanka tunnel controversy to recent journal articles analyzing infrastructural South paradigms and hybrid urban natures. Her scholarship increasingly incorporates postcolonial and post-socialist perspectives on urban extremes.

• President’s Doctoral Scholarship (University of Manchester, 2017-2020)
• John L. Tishman Scholarship (Parsons, 2015)
• L Train Shutdown Competition Honourable Mention (Van Alen Institute, 2016)
• William Randolph Hearst Scholarship (Parsons, 2014)

Professional engagement includes consultancy for Limassol’s Sustainability Plan 2031 and Brooklyn economic development initiatives. She actively contributes to academic discourse through conference organization, including the Cities After Transition Conference panel on post-socialist infrastructures, and serves on the board of Friends of the Earth Cyprus while co-founding the Cyprus Transport Association.