My name is Huda Al-Ani, a graduate of the BSc Planning and Real Estate class of 2021. Being part of the class that graduated dead in the middle of Covid-19 and a global recession, navigating the industry was not easy, even with an engineering family such as mine guiding me.

The pandemic hit in the middle of my second year, forcing a sudden full-time online-based learning path in the middle of what I considered to be my favourite course unit with Professor Razieh Zandieh, Sustainable Development Project. Prior to the lockdown, the
Sustainable Development Project course unit was something I looked forward to every week. We were able to converse with urban design masters’ students to see what they do and apply our new-found knowledge to our own work, learning new skills and investigating how we can apply them to our planning knowledge. Although it was not an easy course unit, I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to integrate into my career.

My Masters Degree

Influenced by my love for this course unit, I decided once I graduated with a Master of Urban Design in UBC, Canada and use that masters to integrate the characteristics of urban planning with the visuals of urban design, taking into account local policies and real-world issues and providing an easier understanding of it to both the general public and industry professionals. Successfully so, I did just that. All my projects were, and still are, influenced by real-world social and political issues. With my priority at the time taking into account, learning from and working with Canadian first-nations leaders to work out how urban planning and design can be used to benefit and balance their needs and considerations.

My Career

Once I graduated from my masters, and during my job hunt, I went on to attend conferences and volunteer where I can within the industry. I joined workshops and forums to discuss my country’s (UAE) biggest problems, listening in to environment-led lectures, and keeping up with new policies and district transformation that was and is very prominent in my city.

Through this pathway, I was blessed to find a job within AECOM UAE’s offices as an Urban Planner. Although the title alone does not explain it, skill integration into roles is very common within the UAE and I was able to use my Urban Design skills within my projects to provide efficiency and visually explain exactly what the outcome of my research was. Within baseline, benchmark, and technical reports, I created stunning visuals to convey my research. To do this I gathered information using the very skills I learned from that humble course unit five years ago. I was able to provide clients with urban design analysis for the project locations and discuss details of our masterplans using language both disciplines could understand.

My love for design and planning continues as I carry on to be a part of working groups, conferences, and events to further my interest in merging these two sister-worlds together.

Written by Huda Al-Ani, class of 2021 BSc Planning and Real Estate. 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/huda-al-ani-936974178 [linkedin.com]

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