Arun Jain

About Arun Jain

Arun Jain is a US and Indian educated urban designer and urban strategist with over four decades of US and international experience in practice and academia. His insights come from being a consultant, city executive, advisor, academic and mentor over the full range of allied urban development disciplines.Arun engages city and regional administrations, development companies, institutions, and foundations to improve cities and urban life. He has planned, designed, and directly influenced over 90 new private and public projects with a combined investment capital of over US $14.5 billion. He has spoken in over 150 major keynotes, conferences, seminars, and workshops. His professional involvements touch over 165 cities across 46 countries. Arun has held academic positions at six universities, and his published contributions span print and digital media. His book \"Reframing Cities for Resilience: Embracing Complex & Uncertain Futures\", is due out February 2026 (Routledge).Leveraging leadership roles on professional boards and in academia, Arun instigates think tanks, expert meetings, and strategic interventions to address difficult urban problems. He enjoys focusing on urban decision support tools, behavior sensitive infrastructure strategies, and development frameworks.From 2015-16 Arun was a German (DAAD) funded Guest Professor at the Institute for Urban & Regional Planning (ISR), Technical University of Berlin. From 2014-16 he was a strategic planning advisor to the Indian State Government of Karnataka (pop. 64 million). Arun was Portland, Oregon’s first Chief Urban Designer from 2002-09. In 2001, he helped create a national policy structure and ecology sensitive development tool for the island country of Palau.The United Nations frequently calls upon Arun. He was a lead expert for UN Habitat’s Urban SDG development process (Goal 11), and a 2016 policy unit expert for UN Habitat Quito. In 2017, he gave the UNODC (UN Office of Drugs and Crime) an urbanist’s perspective on urban safety, security, and resilience. In 2022 he was a IFHP representative to UNEA 5.2 (The Fifth Assembly of the United Nations Environmental Program) and related events.Arun is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP), and a Fulbright Specialist (2023-26).Specialties: Urban Design and strategic thinking for the well-being of people, cities and urban environments.

Experience

1. Fulbright Specialist

   The Fulbright Program

   Apr 2023 — Present

Education

• School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

  B. Arch, Architecture

  1976 — 1981

• University of Pennsylvania

  M.Arch, M.C.P, Urban Design

  1983 — 1985

Skills

• Sustainable Design
• Experienced Speaker
• Local Government
• Knowledge Representation
• Research
• Historic Preservation
• Gis
• Urbanism
• Zoning
• Strategic Thinking
• Land Use
• Regional Planning
• Spatial Planning
• Public Space
• Innovation Consulting
• Creative Problem Solving
• Urban Planning
• Strategic Analysis
• Mixed-Use
• Land Use Planning
• Sustainable Development
• Urban Regeneration
• Architectures
• Thought Leadership
• Economic Development
• Placemaking
• Master Planning
• Site Design
• Creative Strategy
• Strategic Leadership
• Redevelopment
• Strategy
• Feasibility Studies
• Organizational Leadership
• Technology Integration
• Landscape Architecture
• Environmental Awareness
• Parks
• Site Planning
• Innovative Thinking