Tiffany M. Tran

Tiffany is a Vietnamese American architect and urban designer who is passionate about cities. Seeing cities as a social phenomenon, she approaches urban development from an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates urban planning, economics, and anthropology. Tiffany has a decade of experience partnering with city governments and private sector clients on urban policies, programs, and projects, including in Indonesia, Vietnam, Ghana, and the US.

At Penn, Tiffany’s doctoral research focuses on urbanization and informality in developing countries of Southeast Asia. In particular, she studies how informal practices of coastal land reclamation in Indonesia, where communities construct new land for themselves using waste and found materials, relates to affordable housing and climate adaptation. After doctoral studies, Tiffany aims to continue creating new knowledge and informing public policy on the growth of cities in both practical and academic settings.

Prior to Penn, Tiffany was an urban development consultant for both the Asian Development Bank and World Bank in Jakarta, where she provided advisory services on urban issues across Indonesia. At the ADB, she led surveys of city livability in two secondary cities as well as program development of the Livable Settlements Investment Project, a multi-year loan that would finance slum upgrading in Indonesian cities. At the World Bank, Tiffany provided technical inputs for forthcoming reports, including the Indonesia Country Climate and Development Report.

Tiffany holds a Master in Public Affairs degree from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Architecture degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame, where she is the inaugural recipient of the Jane Jacobs Award for commitment to community building and urban planning.