New Suburbanism: Sustainable Tall Building Development

About Kheir Al-Kodmany

Kheir Al-Kodmany is a Professor of Sustainable Urban Design in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His recent book entitled Eco-Towers: Sustainable Cities in the Sky (2015) is an encyclopedia on green design and tall buildings. His earlier book co-authored with Professor Mir Ali is entitled The Future of the City: Tall Buildings and Urban Design (2012). Professor Al-Kodmany has published nearly 100 articles on planning and architectural design; some appeared in top peer-reviewed journals. Before joining the UIC faculty Professor Al-Kodmany worked on tall building projects as an architectural designer for the Chicago firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill and he continues consulting on architecture and planning projects. He won several international architectural and urban design competitions. He also worked as a consultant to the Jordanian Government on integrating high-rise development in the Amman Master Plan. He received his early training in architecture from his late father Professor Abdul Muhsen Al-Kodmany a Le Corbusier trainee. Professor Al-Kodmany helped the Saudi Government in facilitating the performance of safe Hajj by applying visualization and crowd management techniques to reconfigure and expand the existing infrastructure to accommodate about three million pilgrims who travel to Mecca for the event annually. He helped the City of Chicago in crowd management emergency evacuation and planning for the 'Taste of Chicago' event. He also served as the Co-Director of the Urban Data Visualization Laboratory at UIC where he developed 3D modeling virtual reality GIS and web-based mapping survey tools and software for effective participatory planning and design.