Ranked by ScholarGPS in October 2024, Lehmann's publication record places him in the top 0.5% of the 30 million scholars ranked globally.
In August 2025, ScholarGPS ranked him 10th in Urban Renewal research and 18th in Green Building research worldwide, among 54,200 scholars in the field of Architecture.
His more than 500 articles and research papers appear in prominent peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Cleaner Production, City, Culture and Society, Journal of Sustainability, Buildings, The Innovation, SAPIENS, and Future Cities & Environment, as well as leading professional publications such as DBZ, Bauwelt, and Häuser. A full list is available on Google Scholar.
Across this body of work, he consistently offers practical frameworks for transforming cities into resilient, low-carbon environments — drawing on interdisciplinary approaches that bridge engineering, ecology, and policy.
Publications and Scholarly Output
Representative high-impact papers include:
"The zero waste index: a performance measurement tool for waste management systems in a 'zero waste city'" (2013, with A. Zaman) — proposes a quantitative index for evaluating urban waste optimisation; cited over 700 times.
"Green urbanism: Formulating a series of holistic principles" (2010, SAPIENS) — outlines nine principles for sustainable city planning, including resource recovery and urban biodiversity; cited over 300 times.
"Urban growth and waste management optimization towards 'zero waste city'" (2011) — analyses density and infrastructure strategies for waste minimisation in rapidly urbanising areas; cited over 300 times and influential in shaping global sustainability metrics.
His research also extends to conference presentations and international forums. A notable example is his keynote at the UN-Habitat City Talks series, "Transforming the City Towards Low Carbon Resilience" (2016), which examined the environmental consequences of urbanisation and proposed renaturalisation techniques for resilient infrastructure.
Lehmann is the editor of the Book Series on Sustainable Design for Routledge (London/New York).
As founding director of five flagship research centres, Lehmann has managed research projects totalling over $18 million across competitive grants and contracted research.
His work has shaped corporate behaviour, municipal policy, and legislation — from studies that influenced white roof regulations to reduce urban heat island effects (CRC Study 2011-2015), to policy influencing construction waste reduction, and enabling mass timber construction above four storeys, including a commissioned study for Forest & Wood Products Australia (2012).
He has served as lead or co-investigator on more than 20 research projects, including:
RECLAIM — Co-Investigator, $2M (EPSRC and AHRC)
CRUNCH: The Food-Water-Energy Nexus — Lead PI, $2M (Belmont Forum, ESRC, AHRC, NSF, and five additional funding bodies)
PlastiCity: Plastic Recycling in Cities — Co-PI, $6.5M (EU Interreg)
Urban Microclimates: Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide — Lead PI, $1.5M (CRC for Low Carbon Living and participating cities)
In June 2018, he led a British Council-funded Group Mission, Regenerating Cities, to Xi'an, China.
Between 2016 and 2018, he initiated and moderated The Regeneration of Portsmouth — a series of community-focused urban engagement events (Urban Breakfasts) funded by the City of Portsmouth and the University of Portsmouth.
Editorial Leadership
From 2006 to 2014, Lehmann served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Green Building (US journal) — one of the field's leading peer-reviewed publications. He currently serves on six academic journal editorial boards and edits a book series for Routledge. He has been the guest editor of six Special Issue publications.
He also reviews grant applications for major international funding bodies and has served on the boards of numerous public organisations, including the UN reference group for the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
ENERGIZED BY THE FUTURE AND PASSIONATE ABOUT MAKING CITIES MORE RESOURCE-EFFICIENT AND ENJOYABLE.
