Yasser Elsheshtawy is an expert on Middle Eastern cities, paying particular attention to informal urbanism, urban history, and environment-behavior relationships. His most recent book is Riyadh: Transforming a Desert City. Currently an independent writer and researcher, and adjunct Professor at Columbia University, he was Professor of Architecture at United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain (1997-2017). He was a Visiting Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, DC in 2018 and is currently a non-resident fellow. He served as curator for the UAE Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016. He is one of the lead authors for the UN-Habitat’s “State of the Arab Cities 2020” report where he looks at infrastructure in Arab cities.