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Dr. Luna Khirfan
School of Planning, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada

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Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Urban Design
0 Urban stream daylighting/deculverting
0 Community climate change adaptation
0 Community engagement, participatory planning, and urban governance
0 Knowledge transfer and mobility

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Urban Design
Knowledge transfer and mobility

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Micro article
Published: 03 July 2020 in MethodsX
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In this era of climate change, novel nature-based solutions, like the daylighting (de-culverting) of streams, that enhance the socio-ecological resilience are gaining prominence. Yet, the growing body of literature on stream daylighting spreads over an array of seemingly disconnected disciplines and lacks consistency in the terminology and the definitions of the practice. Moreover, nearly all the literature review studies on stream daylighting (mostly produced since 2000) underscore, as their point of departure, the daylighting projects rather than a review of the literature's content per se. Therefore, this study reassesses the literature on stream daylighting with a particular focus on its role, as a nature-based solution, for climate change mitigation and adaptation and for socio-environmental justice. We combine the systematic literature review (an all-encompassing review of the available literature on stream daylighting) with the inductive content analysis (an in-depth analysis of this literature's nature). Accordingly, we investigate all the relevant English-language publications since the first peer reviewed article on stream daylighting was published in 1992 until the end of 2018 to analyze four themes: the disciplines and sub-disciplines of the literature; the terminologies and synonyms of stream daylighting; the definitions of stream daylighting; and the case studies tackled in the literature.

ACS Style

Luna Khirfan; Megan Peck; Niloofar Mohtat. Systematic content analysis: A combined method to analyze the literature on the daylighting (de-culverting) of urban streams. MethodsX 2020, 7, 100984 .

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan, Megan Peck, Niloofar Mohtat. Systematic content analysis: A combined method to analyze the literature on the daylighting (de-culverting) of urban streams. MethodsX. 2020; 7 ():100984.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan; Megan Peck; Niloofar Mohtat. 2020. "Systematic content analysis: A combined method to analyze the literature on the daylighting (de-culverting) of urban streams." MethodsX 7, no. : 100984.

Review article
Published: 11 May 2020 in Sustainable Cities and Society
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To date, review articles examining stream daylighting (de-culverting buried streams) are limited in scope, report on only a fraction of available publications, and focus on publications’ explicit (manifest) content rather than their underlying constructs (latent content). This review combines the methods of systematic literature reviews and inductive content analysis to better understand the scope and nature of the literature on stream daylighting. The study investigates four themes: the disciplines, terminologies, definitions, and case studies and their interconnections and covers all relevant English-language sources since 1992 through 2018. The results reveal three findings with implications for future research: 1) there is a dearth in studies that tackle crucial contemporary challenges like climate change and studies that delve into the complex connections among the socio-cultural, physical planning, environmental, and economic dimensions of stream daylighting, such as socio-environmental justice, architecture, and urban design; 2) the terminology is inconsistent and a clear definition is absent; 3) Some important stream daylighting cases are overlooked, such as Zürich’s (Switzerland) city-wide initiative and Riyadh’s (Saudi Arabia) first arid climate initiative. The inclusion of such case studies in the literature impacts the perception of stream daylighting and expands the scope and dimensions of this practice.

ACS Style

Luna Khirfan; Megan Leigh Peck; Niloofar Mohtat. Digging for the truth: A combined method to analyze the literature on stream daylighting. Sustainable Cities and Society 2020, 59, 102225 .

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan, Megan Leigh Peck, Niloofar Mohtat. Digging for the truth: A combined method to analyze the literature on stream daylighting. Sustainable Cities and Society. 2020; 59 ():102225.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan; Megan Leigh Peck; Niloofar Mohtat. 2020. "Digging for the truth: A combined method to analyze the literature on stream daylighting." Sustainable Cities and Society 59, no. : 102225.

Articles
Published: 20 August 2019 in Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability
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Climate change impacts, especially on coastal cities, can no longer be ignored and in order to avoid significant losses in the built environment, the economy, and, by consequence, human health and life, it is imperative to address these impacts. We extrapolate the three pathways to urban resilience (persistence, adaptation, and transformation), as a function of the interrelations among the design of built forms (urban and landscape design), blue and green infrastructure (ecosystems), and knowledge-to-action (inclusion of local people and their knowledge). Accordingly, four urban and landscape design theories that integrate urban ecosystems are identified and linked to urban resilience and to the local ecological knowledge (LEK) through an inclusive design process (the charrette). The model is then applied to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, a city that is increasingly subjected to intense storm surges and to sea level rise in Atlantic Canada, where a series of design charrettes integrated the LEK into urban climate resilience proposals that serve as policy recommendations for future action.

ACS Style

Luna Khirfan; Hadi El-Shayeb. Urban climate resilience through socio-ecological planning: a case study in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability 2019, 13, 187 -212.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan, Hadi El-Shayeb. Urban climate resilience through socio-ecological planning: a case study in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability. 2019; 13 (2):187-212.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan; Hadi El-Shayeb. 2019. "Urban climate resilience through socio-ecological planning: a case study in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island." Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability 13, no. 2: 187-212.

Chapter
Published: 28 June 2018 in The Palgrave Handbook of Bottom-Up Urbanism
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In Amman’s fluxional state since the 1920s its East–West divide has remained constant. This chapter analyzes the socio-economic and demographic origins and current status of this divide and reveals that twentieth-century planning has effectively bridged its disparities. In contrast, a favouring of the market in recent initiatives has instigated a regression in formal planning, leading to an unplanned Amman. The chapter delineates civil society’s informal yet influential rise in Amman’s urban governance networks which, especially after the Arab Spring uprisings, have transformed a coerced apathy into forms of non-traditional agency, including: revolt, subversion, and innovative negotiation.

ACS Style

Luna Khirfan. Planning and Unplanning Amman: Between Formal Planning and Non-traditional Agency. The Palgrave Handbook of Bottom-Up Urbanism 2018, 201 -218.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan. Planning and Unplanning Amman: Between Formal Planning and Non-traditional Agency. The Palgrave Handbook of Bottom-Up Urbanism. 2018; ():201-218.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan. 2018. "Planning and Unplanning Amman: Between Formal Planning and Non-traditional Agency." The Palgrave Handbook of Bottom-Up Urbanism , no. : 201-218.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2017 in Urban Climate
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ACS Style

Tapan K. Dhar; Luna Khirfan. A multi-scale and multi-dimensional framework for enhancing the resilience of urban form to climate change. Urban Climate 2017, 19, 72 -91.

AMA Style

Tapan K. Dhar, Luna Khirfan. A multi-scale and multi-dimensional framework for enhancing the resilience of urban form to climate change. Urban Climate. 2017; 19 ():72-91.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tapan K. Dhar; Luna Khirfan. 2017. "A multi-scale and multi-dimensional framework for enhancing the resilience of urban form to climate change." Urban Climate 19, no. : 72-91.

Review article
Published: 17 June 2016 in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
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This paper investigates the extent and the nature of how the urban planning literature has addressed climate change adaptation. It presents a longitudinal study of 157 peer-reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2013 in the leading urban planning and design journals whose selection considered earlier empirical studies that ranked them these journals. The findings reveal that the years 2006–07 represent a turning point, after which climate change studies appear more prominently and consistently in the urban planning and design literature; however, the majority of these studies address climate change mitigation rather than adaptation. Most adaptation studies deal with governance, social learning, and vulnerability assessments, while paying little attention to physical planning and urban design interventions. This paper identifies four gaps that pertain to the lack of interdisciplinary linkages, the absence of knowledge transfer, the presence of scale conflict, and the dearth of participatory research methods. It then advocates for the advancement of participatory and collaborative action research to meet the multifaceted challenges of climate change.

ACS Style

Tapan K Dhar; Luna Khirfan. Climate change adaptation in the urban planning and design research: missing links and research agenda. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2016, 60, 602 -627.

AMA Style

Tapan K Dhar, Luna Khirfan. Climate change adaptation in the urban planning and design research: missing links and research agenda. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. 2016; 60 (4):602-627.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tapan K Dhar; Luna Khirfan. 2016. "Climate change adaptation in the urban planning and design research: missing links and research agenda." Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 60, no. 4: 602-627.

Articles
Published: 16 February 2016 in Journal of Urban Design
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This paper identifies the conceptual similarities between ecological designs and ecosystem-based adaptations to climate change. The former includes approaches grounded in expert knowledge, such as landscape ecological urbanism, while the latter is rooted in local experiential knowledge and relies on community-based adaptations. This paper bridges these expert and experiential knowledge forms through a transactive planning model by deploying design charrettes in the context of Negril, Jamaica. The findings reveal that local people are aware of ecosystems and prefer ecologically sensitive adaptation interventions. This study concludes with planning and design recommendations for climate change adaptation in Negril.

ACS Style

Tapan K. Dhar; Luna Khirfan. Community-based adaptation through ecological design: lessons from Negril, Jamaica. Journal of Urban Design 2016, 21, 234 -255.

AMA Style

Tapan K. Dhar, Luna Khirfan. Community-based adaptation through ecological design: lessons from Negril, Jamaica. Journal of Urban Design. 2016; 21 (2):234-255.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tapan K. Dhar; Luna Khirfan. 2016. "Community-based adaptation through ecological design: lessons from Negril, Jamaica." Journal of Urban Design 21, no. 2: 234-255.

Journal article
Published: 01 August 2014 in Journal of Urban Affairs
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Notwithstanding the role of cross-national transfer of planning knowledge globally, there is a dearth of in-depth research that examines the transfer process. In recent years, Vancouver has garnered international acclaim as one of the world’s emerging “eco-cities,” and the planning model applied there has begun to be emulated in numerous foreign contexts. As the capital of the United Arab Emirates and an emerging global business center, Abu Dhabi has sought the expertise of leading Vancouverite planners to develop a design and regulatory framework that is culturally distinctive. This article examines the knowledge transfer process with particular emphasis on the authority hierarchies formed and their impact on the adaptation of transferred knowledge. Using in-depth interviews and an analysis of the planning documents, this article provides a micro-level investigation of the interpersonal and institutional relationships. Such relationships explicate the tools utilized by the transfer agents in their attempts to contextualize, adapt, and operationalize imported knowledge. We propose a model that maps the various levels of authority and links them to the knowledge flow between local acquiring agents and foreign transferring agents. The application of this model to the Abu Dhabi scenario reveals a complex web of interactions between the local and foreign planners involved, across multiple institutional levels.

ACS Style

Luna Khirfan; Zahra Jaffer. Sustainable Urbanism in Abu Dhabi: Transferring the Vancouver Model. Journal of Urban Affairs 2014, 36, 482 -502.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan, Zahra Jaffer. Sustainable Urbanism in Abu Dhabi: Transferring the Vancouver Model. Journal of Urban Affairs. 2014; 36 (3):482-502.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan; Zahra Jaffer. 2014. "Sustainable Urbanism in Abu Dhabi: Transferring the Vancouver Model." Journal of Urban Affairs 36, no. 3: 482-502.

Journal article
Published: 01 December 2013 in Geoforum
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ACS Style

Luna Khirfan; Bessma Momani; Zahra Jaffer. Whose authority? Exporting Canadian urban planning expertise to Jordan and Abu Dhabi. Geoforum 2013, 50, 1 -9.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan, Bessma Momani, Zahra Jaffer. Whose authority? Exporting Canadian urban planning expertise to Jordan and Abu Dhabi. Geoforum. 2013; 50 ():1-9.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan; Bessma Momani; Zahra Jaffer. 2013. "Whose authority? Exporting Canadian urban planning expertise to Jordan and Abu Dhabi." Geoforum 50, no. : 1-9.

Journal article
Published: 18 September 2013 in Canadian Public Administration
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Consulting firms providing policy advice to governments is a widespread phenomenon. This article asks why municipalities employ urban planning consultant firms to advise on public sector projects. Municipal employees from 19 mid-sized Ontario cities responded to online survey questionnaires asking for their opinions on why urban planning consultant firms are hired by their cities. In testing four hypotheses, this study found functionalism (the need for expertise because of a lack of in-house talent or time) to be the strongest explanation for this phenomenon. In addition to a lack of staff time and resources, the ideational hypothesis — perceived specialized knowledge and expertise of consultants — was also found to be relevant.

ACS Style

Bessma Momani; Luna Khirfan. Explaining the use of planning consultants in Ontario cities. Canadian Public Administration 2013, 56, 391 -413.

AMA Style

Bessma Momani, Luna Khirfan. Explaining the use of planning consultants in Ontario cities. Canadian Public Administration. 2013; 56 (3):391-413.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bessma Momani; Luna Khirfan. 2013. "Explaining the use of planning consultants in Ontario cities." Canadian Public Administration 56, no. 3: 391-413.

Journal article
Published: 01 July 2013 in International Journal of Islamic Architecture
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ACS Style

Luna Khirfan. Ornamented Facades and Panoramic Views: The Impact of Tourism Development on al-Salt’s Historic Urban Landscape. International Journal of Islamic Architecture 2013, 2, 307 -324.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan. Ornamented Facades and Panoramic Views: The Impact of Tourism Development on al-Salt’s Historic Urban Landscape. International Journal of Islamic Architecture. 2013; 2 (2):307-324.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan. 2013. "Ornamented Facades and Panoramic Views: The Impact of Tourism Development on al-Salt’s Historic Urban Landscape." International Journal of Islamic Architecture 2, no. 2: 307-324.

Journal article
Published: 27 February 2013 in Place Branding and Public Diplomacy
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Place Branding and Public Diplomacy's primary objective is to broaden the understanding of the nature, purposes and benefits of place branding and to demonstrate how place branding strategies are implemented in practice.

ACS Style

Luna Khirfan; Bessma Momani. (Re)branding Amman: A ‘lived’ city's values, image and identity. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 2013, 9, 49 -65.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan, Bessma Momani. (Re)branding Amman: A ‘lived’ city's values, image and identity. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. 2013; 9 (1):49-65.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan; Bessma Momani. 2013. "(Re)branding Amman: A ‘lived’ city's values, image and identity." Place Branding and Public Diplomacy 9, no. 1: 49-65.

Articles
Published: 13 December 2011 in Planning Theory & Practice
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Building on the notion that the relations among large-scale structures, institutions, and individuals influence the inter-national transfer of planning knowledge, this article investigates the micro-processes that impact the metamorphosis of the transferred knowledge as it undergoes synthesis and adaptation. It proposes a model that links the transactions among the individual transfer agents, whether personal (person-centered) or professional (subject-matter-related), firstly, to the theoretical and practical levels of planning knowledge and secondly, to the structures and institutions. The model is then applied to the Master Plan of Amman, Jordan where planners from Toronto, Canada have been involved. The analysis reveals that during their interpersonal transactions, the transfer agents are better able to synthesize and adapt the transferred theories and practices than when the transfer process progresses toward the institutional level. The findings also reveal the significance of a structure that is conducive to the transfer agents for the synthesis and adaptation of knowledge.

ACS Style

Luna Khirfan. From Toronto to Amman: The Cross-National Transfer of Planning Knowledge. Planning Theory & Practice 2011, 12, 525 -547.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan. From Toronto to Amman: The Cross-National Transfer of Planning Knowledge. Planning Theory & Practice. 2011; 12 (4):525-547.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan. 2011. "From Toronto to Amman: The Cross-National Transfer of Planning Knowledge." Planning Theory & Practice 12, no. 4: 525-547.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2010 in Cities
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ACS Style

Luna Khirfan. Traces on the palimpsest: Heritage and the urban forms of Athens and Alexandria. Cities 2010, 27, 315 -325.

AMA Style

Luna Khirfan. Traces on the palimpsest: Heritage and the urban forms of Athens and Alexandria. Cities. 2010; 27 (5):315-325.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Luna Khirfan. 2010. "Traces on the palimpsest: Heritage and the urban forms of Athens and Alexandria." Cities 27, no. 5: 315-325.