Steffen Lehmann holds a tenured full professorship in architecture and urbanism, and has served as executive director of three architecture schools/departments in the US and Australia:
Executive Director, Las Vegas School of Architecture, University of Nevada
Head of School, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Curtin University, Perth
Inaugural Chair and Head, Department of Architecture, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
Since 2002, Lehmann has held uninterrupted tenured leadership positions at five research-intensive universities across the US, UK, and Australia. For many years he also held the UNESCO Chair for Sustainable Urban Development for the Asia-Pacific Region — one of the most prestigious appointments in the field.
He currently directs the Urban Futures Lab, an interdisciplinary research centre based in the United States. Previous leadership roles include the Future Cities Leadership Institute and the UK Cluster for Sustainable Cities, both of which he led as CEO.
Career Progression
His scholarly impact is substantial: an h-index of 40, over 7,500 citations, and a ranking in the top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide by ScholarGPS (2023, 2024, 2025). He is the author of 24 books, including the landmark The Principles of Green Urbanism (London, 2010), which has received over 500 citations.
In practice, Lehmann contributed to the creation of the 'New Berlin' as one of the lead architects on the Potsdamer Platz and Hackescher Markt developments, where he designed and delivered several large-scale office and residential buildings. Over more than a decade (1991–2002), he worked alongside prominent international architects — including Richard Rogers, Rafael Moneo, Hans Kollhoff, and Arata Isozaki — on the Renzo Piano-masterplanned mixed-use district Potsdamer Platz, playing a central role in its urban development and construction.
His current affiliations include steffen + igor architecture + urban design LLC, based in Dubai, and the US-based Urban Futures Lab.
MAKING CITIES MORE RESOURCEFUL, DISTINCTIVE, AND JOYFUL
