Ida Zeline Wexelsen-Freihow Lien
Partner & Head of Analysis
Ida Lien is an urban economist, with a specialisation in urban market systems and policy-work. Building on her experience from UN-Habitat Afghanistan, Rodeo Architects in Norway, and several work streams at Urban-A, Lien's focus is on policies, strategies, and research. She has been the principal writer on several UN-Habitat publications and policy papers, most recently a policy paper on displacement and return in Syria, the Beirut City Profile and co-author of State of Yemeni Cities Report. She is also co-leading the research project on Social Media and Inequality with London School of Economics, a transnational study covering Lebanon, India, and Uganda. Lien is an affiliate to the Global Research Programme on Inequality at the University of Bergen.
Publications
2022. CMI, Co-author of book chapter on Global Frameworks for Urban Displacement Response, in Urban Displacement: Syrian Refugees in the Urban Middle East, Edited book (Berghahn Series: Forced Migration) (forthcoming).
2022. UN-Habitat, Urban Recovery Framework: Localised durable solutions for return: embedding conditions and preparedness for safe, dignified, and voluntary return in urban recovery and area-based approaches (forthcoming).
2021. UN-Habitat, Beirut City Profile.
2021. NRC, Urban Transitions: Clean Energy in Urban Recovery.
2021. MMC, The Global Cities Fund for Inclusive Pandemic Response: Project prospectus and Progress report.
2021. Edited by Urban Think Tank with guest-editor Urban-A. Motherland, Parangolé journal.
2020. UN-Habitat, State of Yemen Cities.
2019. Oxfam, Oxfam Urban Programming Framework in the HECA region.
2019. DRC, DRC Urban Programming Assessment Tunis, Tunisia.
2019. UN-Habitat Afghanistan, Moving Beyond the Land Allocation Scheme.
2019. ASF Sweden, In Situ Studio Guinea Bissau.
2019. With Ese, A., Dietz, J., and Wergeland, E., Jæren 2050 Syntese (Strategy), Jæren 2050 Statistiske Horisonter (Statistical report), and Jæren 2050 Historisk analyse (Historic Analysis), the reports are part of a scenario planning and strategy for a regional plan for the Jæren region, one of the largest urban agglomerations in Norway covering 30 Municipalities.
2017. UN-Habitat, Discussion Paper series, co-writer and graphic design
2014. LSE Cities 'The Olympic Bulevar' Chapter in Reconstructing Sarajevo: negotiating socio-political complexity (London, UK).
2014. LSE Cities, 'A Castle for the Elephant' chapter in The Resourceful City (London, UK).