Speaker Details
Alven Lam
Director, International Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Alven Lam is Director of International Research at the Office of International Affairs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington DC. He manages research projects and seminars on international housing and sustainable urban development exchange. In 2001, he managed the U.S.-China Housing Initiative, a bilateral exchange between HUD and the Chinese Ministry of Construction focused on finance and building technology. Since then, Mr Lam has developed international training and research projects with USAID, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, United Nations Habitat Program, the governments of Spain, Mexico, Canada, Uganda, Ghana and El Salvador, and multilateral banks and international organisations. Mr Lam specialises in urban development and housing policy, geographic information systems, local finance, and property taxation. He has served in the U.S. delegations to major multilateral meetings including the UN-Habitat Governing Council, UN Commission on Sustainable Development, UN Commission for Population, and the World Urban Forum. Prior to joining HUD, he was research fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mr Lam received a doctoral degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
