Prof. Mualam is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, a lawyer, and a planner. He is head of the Planning Policy Lab (PPL), which focuses on analysis and evaluation of policy in the fields of housing, construction, design, and urban planning. Dr. Mualam’s PhD focused on conflicts over preservation of the built heritage, and his current research interests include; housing and rent control, judicial and planning institutions, regulatory analysis of planning processes and policies, preservation of heritage, urban design, planning theories, and cross-national comparative research. Before arriving at the Technion, Nir was a legal advisor for the planning and building commission of the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa municipality, where he specialized in land-use planning, property law, business licensing, and municipal taxation. Dr. Mualam is engaged pro-bono work with local governments in Israel, and his work has inspired changes in existing local and national legislation. Mualam graduated from the Buchman Faculty of Law in Tel Aviv University (Cum Laude, 2002). He holds a Masters degree in Planning, Growth, and Regeneration from Cambridge University (2005) and a PhD from the Technion (2012). In 2012, Nir was appointed as the Gruss-Lipper visiting scholar in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs, Princeton University.