Eugénie L. Birch is the founding co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, dedicated to integrative research and instruction in sustainable urban development. She is co-editor, University of Pennsylvania Press’s City in the 21stCentury series and co-editor, SSRN Urban Research e-journal. She is currently engaged in a multi-center study “City Climate Resilient Infrastructure Finance,” involving work with Freetown, Sierra Leone, Accra, Ghana, and the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), in partnership with City Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, the global project preparation initiative involving the World Bank and other funders. Birch serves on the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Executive Committee and the Board of the Regional Plan Association. She is a member of the Word Economic Forum’s Futures Council on Urbanization, and president, General Assembly of Partners (GAP) for the implementation of the UN’s SDGs and the New Urban Agenda. Selected publications include Galapagos Goes Green, Resiliency and CO2 Emission Reduction Pathways via Green Transportation(PennIUR, 2021) (with Mauricio Rodas and Amanda Lloyd),Financing Cities’ Recovery from COVID-19 and Preparing for Future Shocks (U20,2020), and The Post-COVID Economy: Transitioning to Sustainable Consumption and Production in Cities and Regions (U20, 2020). Dr Birch holds a PhD and Masters degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

https://www.design.upenn.edu/city-regional-planning/phd/people/eugenie-l-birch