Exploring how design, research, and pedagogy shape equitable cities in an evolving world.
Rejecting traditional silos, I operate at the intersection of architecture, urban design, strategic planning, and landscape urbanism. Inherently transdisciplinary, my practice interrogates the environmental, socio-political, and economic forces shaping how urban spaces are designed, developed and built.
Currently based in Zurich and backed by nearly 20 years of global experience leading multidisciplinary teams in New York City, London, Brussels, and Dubai, I provide public, private, and non-profit clients with the spatial insights and strategic frameworks necessary to understand and develop their sites in ecologically sensitive ways.
Who I Work With and What I do
Governments & Developers: Urban Advisory & Feasibility Studies
I advise government and non-government entities, institutional clients, and real estate developers in identifying site potential and defining strategic opportunities.
This includes crafting comprehensive project briefs, developing programs, and envisioning urban futures that prioritize high-quality sustainable and societal outcomes.
Working closely with the client, I provide the strategic oversight necessary to guide multidisciplinary teams toward a common project vision.
Architects: Urban, Landscape & Public Space Strategy
I partner with architects and designers to conceptualize and lead complex, large-scale urban projects, public realm and landscape plans across multidisciplinary teams.
By applying a strategic urban and landscape planning lens, I lead the creation of robust framework plans defined by clear open-space hierarchies and integrated infrastructural networks, ensuring architecture and the public realm are seamlessly connected.
With nearly two decades of global experience, I manage the critical interface between design and technical consultants, ensuring design intent and project goals are met to deliver cohesive, high-quality urban environments.
Design Schools: Research & Academic Engagement
In research and teaching, my work operates at the intersection of the ecological, sociological, and political realities shaping the built environment.
My academic inquiry splits into two core lines of research:
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Spatial Justice & The Right to the City: Rejecting the notion that urban space is politically neutral, my practice actively challenges the status quo and leverages design to expose systemic injustice. I use analytical, geospatial, and ethnographic methods, to interrogate public space access, urban migration and the right to the city.
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Systems Thinking & Climate Adaptation: Through an ecological design approach, my work focuses on territorial transitions toward circular systems and landscape infrastructure that withstands climate extremes. It explores reclaiming post-mining territories, designing productive landscapes, and mitigating stormwater, floods, and sea-level rise.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Ph.D Engineering Science: Architecture, 2024
Unit: Urban Design, Landscape and Planning
University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium
MSc. Architecture & Urban Design (MSAUD), 2011
Received the Honors Award for Design Excellence
GSAPP, Columbia University, New York, USA
Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch), 2008
American University of Sharjah, UAE
Racha Daher