معرفی
Victoria A. Beard is Professor of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, where she serves as Director of the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities. She is also a Core Faculty member of the Southeast Asia Program and was named a Global Public Voices Fellow (2021-22) for her work on urban poverty and water/sanitation inequality in developing countries.
Education:
- Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia (1999)
- M.A. in Urban Planning, University of California–Los Angeles (1995)
- B.A. in Urban Studies and Planning, University of California–San Diego (1992)
Beard's research examines how communities in the Global South navigate formal planning systems to address urban poverty through collective action and transnational networks. Her work emphasizes water/sanitation infrastructure as critical sites of inequality, investigating how intermittency and affordability barriers perpetuate urban exclusion. She conducts comparative fieldwork in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia) and transnational contexts (Oaxaca/Southern California), analyzing how community-based planning can drive city-wide transformation despite institutional constraints.
Her recent publications reveal a strategic shift toward infrastructure justice, with increasing focus on municipal service delivery systems and climate resilience. Beard consistently connects micro-level community practices to macro-level policy frameworks, highlighting pathways for inclusive urban development that center marginalized populations' lived experiences.
Scientific Awards:
- Global Public Voices Fellow (2021-22)
- International Faculty Fellow, Global Cornell (2017)
- Fulbright Scholar to Indonesia (1993-94)
Beard has secured major research funding including CORCL (University of California–Irvine) and Pacific Rim Research Program grants for transnational community planning projects. With 20+ years of practitioner experience, she has designed poverty-alleviation programs for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and RAND, specializing in community-based development, monitoring/evaluation systems, and national policy implementation. Her grant portfolio bridges academic research and on-the-ground impact through partnerships with NGOs like Mercy Corps.
As Director of the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities, Beard leads initiatives focused on climate-resilient urban futures, including symposia on New York City resilience and Kenya's informal housing. She collaborates extensively with Cornell's Southeast Asia Program and Atkinson Center for Sustainable Future, building interdisciplinary teams that integrate planning, public health, and environmental science perspectives.
