Senior GIS Design Specialist
Center for Sustainable Communities
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Community & Regional Planning

Md Mahbubur R. Meenar joined the Center for Sustainable Communities in June 2002. His area of concentration is the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in urban and regional analysis. In addition to the research work he performs at the Center, he contributes in writing new grant proposals, designing web sites, maintaining the GIS Studio, and preparing project reports. He teaches courses on intro and advanced GIS and Urban Form and Design.

Mr. Meenar received a master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) with a specialization in Information Technology and GIS in 2002. He worked as a Research Assistant at the Center for Urban Studies and the Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth at SUNY Buffalo from 2000 to 2002. He earned a B.A. in Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) in 1997 and later joined as a lecturer in the Department of Architecture and Planning at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. He also worked as a professional architect from 1997 to 1999.

Since 1999, Mr. Meenar has been actively involved in different applications of GIS in the field of urban and regional planning.  Currently he is interested in the creation of 3-D GIS simulations in various planning practices, including natural disaster management, smart growth, and sustainable development. He is also involved in web design, graphic design, and photography. His personal web site is http://meenar71.tripod.com.

On-going Research:

Philadelphia Community Food Access (Principal investigator)

3-D GIS Visualization of Fort Washington Office Park Improvement Study (Principal investigator)

GIS-Based Environmental Resources Inventory for Upper Dublin Township (Principal investigator)

Fort Washington Area Flooding and Transportation Improvement Study (GIS Specialist)

Temple-Villanova Sustainable Stormwater Initiative (Public Outreach)

Sandy Run and Ambler Area Watersheds Project (GIS Specialist)

Recent Publications:

GIS-Based Simulation and Visualization of Urban Landuse Change. 2008. Artificial Crime Analysis Systems: Using Computer Simulations and Geographic Information Systems, eds. Liu, L. and J. Eck. Pennsylvania: Idea Publishing.

Sustainable Housing Placement: a GIS-Based Approach. Under Revision. Environmental Management (With J. Sorrentino and B. Flamm)

Dealing with 3D Surface Models: Raster and TIN. Forthcoming 2008. The Encyclopedia of Geoinformatics, ed. Karimi, H. Pennsylvania: Idea Group, Inc. (With J. Sorrentino) 

Coupling GPS and GIS. Forthcoming 2008. The Encyclopedia of Geoinformatics, ed. Karimi, H. Pennsylvania: Idea Group, Inc. (With J. Sorrentino & S. Yesmin)

2006. Using Geoinformation Technology to Develop a Vulnerability Assessment Model in Natural Disaster-Prone Areas. DUI Journal of Science and Technology, 1(1): 25-33.

2006. Life on the Floodplain: Remapping Watersheds, Neighborhoods, and Lives. Planning, 72(7):30-33 (With J. Duffy & A. Bari)