Stephen J. Ramos
Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
Contact:
Email: stephen_ramos@hks.harvard.edu
Experience
Stephen Ramos received his doctoral degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) in 2009. His dissertation, entitled Dubai Amplified: The Role of Large-Scale Trade Infrastructure in the Territorial Development of a Lower Gulf Port Geography, explores the multiple roles and meanings of infrastructure within rapidly urbanizing circumstances, looking specifically at the case of Dubai. He is a founding editor of the journal New Geographies, which focuses on contemporary issues of urbanism and architecture, and is editor-in-chief of the journal’s Volume One: After Zero (Spring 2009). He has taught as a lecturer for the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the GSD, and has held multiple head teaching fellow positions both there and at Harvard College. Stephen holds a B.A. in English and Spanish Literature from Gettysburg College (1992), an M.S. in Community and Regional Planning, and an M.A.in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin (2000). His professional practice includes work with the Fundación Metrópoli in Madrid, the International Society of City and Regional Planners in Barcelona, along with NGO work in Central America.
November, 2009
The Blueprint: A History of Dubai’s Spatial Development Through Oil Discovery
Working Paper
By Stephen J. Ramos, Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
While oil discovery brought revenue to Dubai and would change the city's physiognomy, moving it beyond the initial three settlements along the creek, it is clear that Dubai's status as a dynamic entrepôt for international trade and transshipment, its foundational infrastructure projects, and its "free port" policies to attract merchant communities from throughout the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, along with licit and illicit trade for re-export to Persia/Iran and India, were solidly established before "black gold" was struck in Fateh field.
May, 2008
Generative Infrastructural Urbanism in Dubai
Policy Brief
By Stephen J. Ramos, Research Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
In a policy brief published by the Dubai School of Government in May 2008, DI fellow Stephen Ramos gives his recommendations on how the most recent round of infrastructure planning in Dubai will spatially impact the city's form and functionality, and how the Emirate can best prepare for these changes.
