Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
I work at the intersection of land use and transport policy — the point where infrastructure investment either reshapes a city or gets absorbed by it. Riyadh, which built one of the world's largest metro networks in record time, is now the world's most instructive live case of that question — and it is the question facing every fast-growing city. My interest in how cities move began before I had a name for it. At the University of Leeds (MSc Transport Planning, 2012), I interviewed the operations directors of Amazon, ASDA, Kuehne+Nagel and other major operators to understand what actually drives logistics location decisions. The answer wasn't the roads — and Doncaster's growth into a billion-pound logistics cluster in the years since confirmed it. That study taught me that transport infrastructure is not an engineering problem; it is the physical grammar through which a city's economy expresses itself. My PhD in Urban Planning (King Abdulaziz University, 2023) measured something planners long suspected but rarely quantified: the statistical relationship between a city's spatial structure — land use, density, street connectivity — and where crime occurs. It remains one of the few empirical studies of its kind in the Saudi context. Today I write Cities in Motion, a biweekly diagnostic on where transport meets urban form — why Seoul could demolish an expressway and reduce traffic, why Pentagon City succeeded where identical stations failed, what Riyadh should and shouldn't copy. My analysis of Riyadh's transit–land use gap was recently featured in the Transport Leader newsletter. My research covers transport investment appraisal, transit-oriented development and station-area activation, and urban policy analysis — the questions at the centre of Saudi Arabia's most significant spatial transformation in a generation. I also teach, which keeps my thinking honest. Students are exceptionally good at spotting an argument that is not fully formed. 🔔 Follow for diagnostic case studies, or subscribe to Cities in Motion. For research collaboration or institutional enquiries, my inbox is open.
Independent research practice at the intersection of land use and transport policy, focused on Saudi Arabia's urban transformation and its lessons for fast-growing cities. Research focus: transport investment appraisal (BCR, wider economic impacts), transit-oriented development and station-area activation, urban morphology analysis, and evidence-based planning frameworks. Core areas: freight and logistics network analysis, urban land use–mobility integration, and spatial research for built environment projects in the Gulf region. Research and writing: • Author, Cities in Motion — biweekly diagnostic newsletter on where transport meets urban form; analysis of Riyadh's transit–land use gap featured in the Transport Leader newsletter (2026) • Peer-reviewed study measuring the statistical relationship between urban planning and crime occurrence in Riyadh (2022) • Thesis-based study on transport infrastructure in logistics providers' location decisions, University of Leeds (2012)
Providing strategic planning advisory services to educational institutions operating under national accreditation frameworks. Scope of work includes the development of multi-year strategic plans, integration of policy compliance requirements, performance benchmarking design, and the construction of KPI measurement models spanning academic quality, financial performance, and human resource development. This practice runs parallel to independent transport and urban planning research activity, reflecting a broader expertise in evidence-based institutional planning and applied research methodology.
Delivering undergraduate and postgraduate instruction in transport policy, traffic management, transport planning, and research methods across a continuous 25-year tenure. Responsibilities include curriculum development, student research supervision, and institutional quality assessment aligned with national accreditation frameworks across academic, financial, and human resource dimensions. This role has been maintained continuously alongside two government-sponsored academic scholarships: an MSc in Transport Planning at the University of Leeds (2012), and a PhD in Urban Planning at King Abdulaziz University (completed 2023) — reflecting sustained institutional investment in research excellence and professional development. Parallel to teaching, an active research agenda in transport investment appraisal and urban spatial analysis has produced two published outputs to date.