People

Dr. Emily Silverman

Academic Director

emily.silverman@mail.huji.ac.il

Dr. Emily Silverman is a faculty member at the Hebrew University Geography Department where she teaches courses in housing policy and urban regeneration, social aspects of planning, and community development. Emily holds a Ph.D. in social policy from the London School of Economics, a master’s degree in public policy from Tel Aviv University, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Swarthmore College in the United States.

Her work in academia builds on her previous practice in non-profit management and community development, including working with and for numerous international and Israeli philanthropic foundations, Israeli governmental ministries and municipalities, NGOs and civil society. She is a founding member of the Coalition for Affordable Housing in Israel, was the first director of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’s Tel Aviv community action center, and has been a founder and board member of Transport Today and Tomorrow and the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, among others.

During Israel’s 2011 social protests, Emily chaired the Expert Advisory Group to the protest leaders on housing, transport, planning and land uses. In 2009, she led the research team that devised the now-approved strategy for affordable housing in Tel Aviv, and in 2010 she headed the Round Table on Solutions for Affordable Housing for the Arab community of Jaffa with local Arab leadership and local and national officials. In early 2014, Emily co-chaired the 'War on Poverty Commission' Housing Task Force, a governmental committee charged with creating policy and budgetary recommendations on housing for people living in poverty.

Here is a link to a talk HUJI and The City: an Urban Planning Tale, delivered at the Hebrew University 2016 Board of Governers "HUJI talks". Watch The Full Talk >>>

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Dr. Michal Braier

Head of Planning

michal.braier@mail.huji.ac.il

Dr. Michal Braier is an architect and urban planner, who specializes in urban political geography. She holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Government and Politics at Ben Gurion University. Currently, Michal is a post-doctoral fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University. She is a research and teaching fellow at the Urban Clinic, where she is head of planning.

Michal's research focuses on the nexus of planning, urban informality and citizenship; on questions of land, housing and development policy; on the conceptualization and production of urban knowledge; and on spatial justice and equality. Her research has been published in Environment and Planning A, Planning Theory and Practice, and the Annals of American Association of Geographers.

Michal serves as chairperson of the human rights organization "BIMKOM- planners for planning rights."

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Dr. Enaya Banna

Academic Advisor

enbanna@gmail.com

Dr. Enaya Banna is a landscape architect and urban planner, who holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the Technion. Her research work focuses on participatory planning in Arab communities.

Dr. Maisa Totry

Research Fellow and Postdoc at the Truman Institute

maisa.totry@mail.huji.ac.il

Dr. Maisa Totry is an architect and urban planner who completed her Ph.D. at Ben Gurion University and is currently a postdoc at the Truman Institute. Her research focuses on the Palestinian urban identity.

I began my professional career as a temporary replacement for the representative of environmental organizations in the Northern District Planning and Building Committee. I also worked as a planner for environmental and civil society organizations, dealing with environmental, transport, and planning issues in Palestinian communities in Israel, where I currently sit as a committee member.

My doctoral research focused on spatial codes of Palestinian settlements in Israel. It examined how socioeconomic and political elements influenced the organization and functioning of private and public spaces over the years.

I am a research fellow at the Urban Clinic and teach a course on spatial aspects of Palestinian society in Israel.

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Tharaa Kirresh

Scholars Program Manager

Tharaa Kirresh has a bachelor's in architectural engineering from Al-Najah University in Nablus and is currently completing her master’s degree in urban planning at Hebrew University And writing a thesis on Placemaking in context of conflict.
Tharaa and her family lived and moved between the Palestinian neighborhoods surrounding the Mount Scopus campus in East Jerusalem. Like any Palestinian student from East Jerusalem, acceptance to and studies at Hebrew University seemed challenging and almost impossible.

Tharaa was involved in various projects at the Urban Clinic, including the East Jerusalem Planners’ Platform, Early Childhood Placemaking in Umm al-Fahm, and co-teaching, a course that aims to introduce Arab and Jewish students to each other through placemaking. In addition to this, Tharaa is a partner at the Committee for Placemaking Projects in northern Arab localities with the Arab Center for Alternative Planning and the Urban Clinic. She also led various placemaking projects in several neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as part of the Sustainability Activists program. She was a partner in the Jerusalem team for Policy and Field research.

Today she is the manager of the scholarship program for Arab/Palestinian students at the urban clinic of Hebew University.

Contact details: tharaa.kirresh@mail.huji.ac.il, Linkedin profile

مقدسية تحمل شهادة البكالوريوس في الهندسة المعمارية من جامعة النجاح نابلس، تكمل تعليمها العالي بدرجة الماجستير في تخطيط المدن في الجامعة العبرية وتكتب أطروحة حول صناعة المكان

تنقلت وعائلتها بين الأحياء العربية المحيطة بالحرم الجامعي، وكأي مقدسية فإن الدخول والتعليم في الحرم الجامعي الإسرائيلي يعتبر تحديًا صعبًا ويكاد أن يكون مستحيلا! وكان دخول هذه الجامعة من الأحلام بعيدة المنال.

انضمت إلى العيادة الحضرية في مشروع منصة المخططين في شرقي القدس، وكذلك صناعة المكان وملاءمتها للطفولة المبكرة في أم الفحم، وكدلك في صياغة وانشاء مساق جامعي يعمل على لقاء بين الطلاب اليهود والعرب من خلال التعلم والعمل في صناعة المكان. وقادت عدة مشاريع صناعة مكان وتخطيط مجتمعي في عدة أحياء في شرقي القدس بالتعاون مع بلدية القدس. وكذلك أيضا فهي جزء من لجنة استشارية لمشروع صناعة المكان في أربع مدن وبلدات في الداخل مع المركز العربي للتخطيط البديل والعيادة الحضرية.

- جزء من الطاقم المقدسي لرسم السياسات والأبحاث الميدانية
- مديرة برنامج المنح في العيادة الحضرية للجامعة العبرية وهو برنامج منح لدراسة ماجيستير في التخطيط الحضري للطلاب العرب في الجامعة العبرية وجامعة بن غوريون، بما يرافقه من برنامج إثرائي من المهارات الحياتية والمهنية، وبناء شبكة مخططين فلسطينيين وتوفير التدريبات الملائمة.

tharaa.kirresh@mail.huji.ac.il, Linkedin profile

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Merav Stein-Horovitz

Project Manager

merav.horovitz@mail.huji.ac.il

Merav has an MA in Urban and Regional Planning from Hebrew University and is a Ministry of Tourism accredited tour guide. She is a Project Manager at the Urban Clinic, working towards establishing effective connections between academic knowledge produced by the Clinic and the work being advanced professionals and activists in Jerusalem and beyond.

Her expertise lies in intercultural community work to prevent tensions and violence in complex places. She has years of experience in community work in Jerusalem's Old City.

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