Jordanian Planning Forum  

JPF President, 

Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn. Murad Kalaldeh

Dr. Kalaldeh is an accomplished engineer and project manager who headed several urban planning projects for large international clients. A skilled presenter and keynote speaker on housing and urban development. Distinguished lecturer and author of several books, with extensive knowledge of design, construction, project management, and urban planning. A Jordanian Architect born in 1962 and finished his bachelor’s study (Dipl. Ing.) from BAUHAUS University in Weimar/ Germany in 1987.

• Holds the title: Doctor of Technical Sciences (Dr. techn. Dipl. Ing.) in Urban Planning & Architecture from Graz Technical University & TU Vienna in 2002 in Austria.
• Author of (7) and co-author of (4) published books in the fields of technical education, building codes and urban planning.
• Practical experience in Architectural & Urban design, construction, project management, and urban planning.
• Lecturer at the Department of Architecture at Al-Balqa Applied University teaching Architectural Design, building construction and Urban Planning.
• Hold the highest professional grade “Consultant Architect” specialized in Urban Design from the Jordan Higher Council for Professional Qualification and Accreditation at the Jordanian Engineers Association.
• Socially active as being the president of the Jordanian Planning Forum and Head of the Profession Practice Committee 2018-2022 at the Jordanian Engineers Association. 
  • Detailed CV

JPF Amanuensis 

Eng. Ahmad Zeyad Abu Hussien

Ahmad is an Urbanist based in Amman with various practical and academic experiences in architecture and urbanism. He is mainly concerned with SDGs 9, 10, 11 and 13. Over the past fifteen years, he finished various urban projects and publications in Amman. He collaborated with multiple experts and NGOs on various urban issues. Ahmad is now an urbanist at the Mayor’s Office in Greater Amman Municipality (GAM).

Notable positions:

1. Member of the Climate Change Committee at GAM.

2. Lead coordinator for the Global Mayors Challenge 2021 "Amman is Listening" Project at GAM.

3. Lead coordinator for the UPIMC project – Phase One at GAM.

4. Sherpa of Amman at the Mayors Migration Council (MMC).

5. Member of Urban Planning & Design Committee at the Jordanian Engineers Association (JEA).

Fields of Interest—Research, Design, Urbanism, Climate Change and Climate Justice, Mobility, Informal Economies, Spatial Mapping and Spatial Justice, Arts, Equity and SDGs

JPF Vice- President 

Dr. Eng. Deyala Tarawneh

Deyala is an architect and urbanist concerned with topics related to smart cities, mobility, and achieving spatial justice and gender equality in cities. She holds a PhD degree in Urban and Regional Studies obtained from the University of Birmingham, UK.

Deyala was the Chairperson and Head of the Architecture Department at the University of Jordan for the past two years, and she is currently Board and Secretary for the Architecture Division Council of the Jordan Engineers Association, Vice President for the Jordanian Planning Forum, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Jordan, Engineering Faculty, Architecture Department.

Deyala is the Counsellor and Advisor for the Women In Engineering (WIE) affinity group as part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She is also a founding member and currently Treasurer for the Watershed and Development Initiative (WADI) funded by the United States Forestry Service (USFS) to advance water conservation and land stewardship practices to build resilient communities and healthy watersheds across Jordan.

Dr. Rania Qteishat is an architect and urban and regional planner with a PhD in urban planning and geographic information systems. She works at Al-Balqa Applied University In the Department of Planning and Project Management. She was the head of the department and also works in the architecture department and worked in other universities. She was previously the owner of an engineering company for design and supervision, and also worked as an district manager in a municipality. She studies and supervises postgraduate students' theses and discusses graduation projects in most Jordanian universities. She currently holds the rank of Associate Professor and has many published research papers. And she received many grants to do research projects from the prestigious Jordanian Scientific Research Fund, the European Union and others to do research in reputable universities in Humboldt / Germany, Nantes / France, Karbok / Turkey, Kuala Lumpur / Malaysia and others. She also participated in many local and international conferences with published papers and conference committees. She was an elected member of the Central Board of the Engineers Syndicate for the Architectural Engineering Division, the previous session. Interested in the topics of smart cities, urban system, water, geographic information systems, poverty and refugees. She is a member of the Urban Planning Committee and the Scientific Committee of the Jordanian Engineers Association, as well as a member of the planning committees at the national level
 Of The Kingdom of Jordan to create an urban design code.