About Sandra
Sandra Hiari works along the messy crossroads of urbanism, architecture, and planning. She is founder of tareeq (www.tareeq.me), a space for thinking about the city through media and city design. Sandra holds a graduate degree in urban design from the City College of New York (CCNY/CUNY) in Manhattan, under the direction of urbanist & visionary Michael Sorkin. She also studied under the geographer David Harvey.
PUBLIC TALKS
Sandra has appeared on BBC World to discuss the relationship between tareeq, media and the Arab Spring. She talked at the International Women's Conference in Washington D.C. Sandra also talked at TEDxDeadSea, 2011. She also delivered talks at the German Jordanian University (GJU), Columbia University Middle East Research Center (CUMERC) and the Jordanian Architects' Society.
WRITING & PUBLISHING
Publishing and writing have played an integral role in Sandra Hiari’s career. She has been awarded the 2nd prize in the Euro-Jordanian Press Award for Excellence in Writing from the European Union Delegation in Jordan. Kicking off her career at Sahel Al Hiyari & Partners, she was heavily engaged in the publishing of Sahel Al Hiyari’s monograph under the umbrella of the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative. She then joined the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE), a non-profit private study and research institution on the built environment, where she was engaged, among many other activities, in the publication of architectural books. These included Architectural Criticism and Journalism: Global Perspectives published by Umberto Allemandi for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and Exploring the Built Environment published by both the CSBE and the Darat Al-Funun – Khalid Shoman Foundation.
Sandra has interviewed architect Zaha Hadid and Mayor Daley of Chicago. She writes regularly for JO Magazine, Jordan’s leading social and cultural magazine, on architecture, urban, and art issues.
CITY DESIGN & PERFORMATIVE URBANISM
Sandra Hiari focuses in her work on understanding how cities can act as incubators for creative urban solutions. She currently works with the Government of Jordan as the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities' Coordinator for World Bank and USAID portfolios. Early on she worked on a day-to-day basis with key municipal management at the Greater Amman Municipality administration through the municipality’s planning arm, the Amman Institute for Urban Development (Ai) on land use and zoning legislation.
In addition to her latest graduate degree, she holds a graduate degree in urban planning from the Jordan University for Science & Technology (JUST) and a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Jordan.
In her research at JUST, she developed a legal framework for managing Amman’s historic areas. She also researched developing bio-based streetscape systems for Manhattan.
She believes in cities as being powerful incubators for change.
She may be contacted at s [dot] hiari [at] tareeq [dot] me
