Victoria A. Beard

Fellow, World Resources Report, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

Bio

Victoria A. Beard is a Fellow at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Victoria is co-leading the effort to produce the World Resources Report (WRR), Towards a More Equal City. She was the lead author on the WRR framing paper, designed the research methodology for a series of city-level case studies on urban transformation, and she is co-authoring papers on inclusive cities and informal workers as well as papers on equitable access to urban water and sanitation services.

Victoria’s career has been defined by a synergy between urban planning research and practice. She has experience conceptualizing, designing, and leading research projects related to the most pressing problems facing cities in the global South. She began her career at RAND and most recently she is an Associate Professor at Cornell University.

Prior to joining WRI, Victoria’s research focused on the relationship between community level collective action and poverty alleviation. This work ranges from how citizens organize to meet their basic human needs to how they plan for broader social and political transformation. In this work she has used diverse research strategies and methods, ranging from comparative case studies to statistical analyses of large data sets.

For 20 years, Victoria has been actively engaged in planning practice for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Research Triangle Institute, AusAID, and Mercy Corp. Working with governments, community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations, she has helped develop and implement projects and programs that focus on poverty reduction, community-based planning, and access to basic services.

Blog Posts

We're Grossly Underestimating the World's Water Access Crisis
by Jillian Du, Diana Mitlin, Victoria A. Beard and David Satterthwaite - August 13, 2019
Nearly half the population in 15 major cities in the global south lacks access to public piped water systems, with access lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For these households without public piped water, water from other sources is either too expensive or unsafe.
World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City - Framing Opportunities and Challenges
by Victoria A. Beard, Anjali Mahendra and Michael I. Westphal - October 06, 2016
Once every 20 years, the world's urban leaders gather to determine the best course of action for the world's cities. This year, at Habitat III, the 21st century challenges for cities are clear. WRI's World Resources Report examines whether providing equitable access to services can make cities more economically productive and environmentally sustainable.
Improving Life for the Urban Under-Served Makes Cities Better for All – But That’s Not the Only Reason to Do It
by Michael I. Westphal, Anjali Mahendra and Victoria A. Beard - September 20, 2016
Tackling inequality in the world's cities can be a crucial way to foster urban development, improve the environment and spur the economy.

External Publications

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Victoria A. Beard

We're Grossly Underestimating the World's Water Access Crisis

World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City - Framing Opportunities and Challenges

Improving Life for the Urban Under-Served Makes Cities Better for All – But That’s Not the Only Reason to Do It

Including the Excluded: Supporting Informal Workers for More Equal and Productive Cities in the Global South

Towards a More Equal City: Framing the Challenges and Opportunities

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We're Grossly Underestimating the World's Water Access Crisis

World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City - Framing Opportunities and Challenges

Improving Life for the Urban Under-Served Makes Cities Better for All – But That’s Not the Only Reason to Do It

Including the Excluded: Supporting Informal Workers for More Equal and Productive Cities in the Global South

Towards a More Equal City: Framing the Challenges and Opportunities

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