My doctoral research examines how financialization and geopolitics shape the development of urban transport systems in the Global South. I use a nested mixed-methods design combining large-N quantitative analysis with comparative case studies. In the first phase, I constructed a new dataset of 4,800 urban transport infrastructure projects across 1,200 cities. I then use quantitative analysis to document how private investment privileges capital-intensive, revenue-generating transport projects, and to identify polyaligned cities that receive transport infrastructure investment from competing geopolitical blocs. In the second phase, I develop a causal mechanism framework for how financialization and geopolitics influence transport project selection and design, and test it through case studies of public transport PPPs in Global South cities.

This research contributes to debates in urban development, mobility justice, and climate finance, offering new insights into the political and financial forces shaping urban mobility futures in the Global South.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nancy Odendaal

I am an urban sustainability researcher who helps policymakers make evidence-based and equity-focused decisions. I am currently a doctoral student in Urban Studies at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

Previously, over seven years at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC and London, I authored over a dozen peer-reviewed publications on urban planning, mobility, climate action, just transitions, circular economy and air quality. My work has been formally presented at the UN Climate Action Summit and COP26, featured as a chapter in The Climate City and cited in the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and Time Magazine. I previously worked as a Circular Economy Expert at ICLEI, supporting European cities with resource efficiency projects and for the Urban Development team at Siemens. I am an Area Editor for the journal Data & Policy (Cambridge University Press) and advise climate tech start-ups as a Domain Expert for Built Environment for Carbon13.

On a personal note, I used to run a mostly-vegan micro-bakery, I founded a volunteer group that resettled a family of Afghan refugees in Washington DC, and I participated in a month-long artist residency in rural Colombia. I live in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

• urban planning
• mobility
• climate action
• just transitions
• infrastructure finance

Lazer, L, H. Tun, and B. de la Pena. (Forthcoming 2027). Reframing “Informal” Transport: Global North Engagements with Decentralized Mobility Systems. Handbook of Urban Transport in the Global South. Taylor & Francis/Routledge, London, UK.

den Broeder, C., L. Lazer, N. Gisasola-Maiztegi, B. Ruggiero, and I. Coopmans. (2026). Challenges, Coping Mechanisms, and Solutions in Surplus Food Redistribution Efforts at the City Level. Discover Sustainability, 7(1), 123. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43621-025-02289-0

Freemark, Y., J. Gonzales-Hernandez, J. Morales-Burnett, C. Stacy, S. Castellanos and L. Lazer. (Forthcoming 2025).Toolbox for Navigating the Land-Use Impacts of the Automated Vehicle Ecosystem. Urban Institute and New Urban Mobility Alliance. https://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5051

Lazer, L. et al. (August 2024). State of Equity in Electric School Bus Adoption. Electrifying US School Bus Fleets Equitably to Reduce Air Pollution Exposure in Underserved Communities. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/research/electrifying-us-school-bus-fleets-equitably-reduce-air-pollution-exposure-underserved

Lazer, L., Y. Shao and G. Taff. (2024). Dataset of U.S. School Bus Depots. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/research/dataset-us-school-bus-depots

Lazer, L. (2023). Electric School Bus Data Dashboard. World Resources Institute. https://electricschoolbusinitiative.org/electric-school-bus-data-dashboard

Lazer, L. (2023). Assessing the Environmental Impact of Micromobility: A Guide for Cities. New Urban Mobility Alliance. https://www.numo.global/resources/micromobility-emissions-life-cycle-assessment-guide

Saha, D., G. Walls, D. Waskow, and L. Lazer. (2023). Just Transitions in the Oil and Gas Sector: Considerations for addressing impacts on workers and communities in middle-income countries. World Resources Institute. https://doi.org/10.46830/wriwp.21.00040.

Lazer, L., L. Freehafer, and J. Wang. (2023). Dataset of U.S. School Bus Fleets. World Resources Institute.

Lazer, L. and N. Godfrey. (2022) The Decoupled City. In M. Powell (Ed.) The Climate City. Wiley Publishing. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Climate+City-p-9781119746317

Wang, K., M. Costanzavan den Belt, G. Heath, J. Walzberg, T. Curtis, J. Barrie, P. Schroder, L. Lazer, and J. C. Altamirano. (2022). Circular Economy as a Climate Strategy: Current Knowledge and Calls-to-Action. PACE and World Resources Institute. https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/en/knowledge/circular-economy-climate-strategy-current-knowledge-and-calls-action

Boehm, S., K. Lebling, K. Levin, H. Fekete, J. Jaeger, R. Waite, A. Nilsson, J.

Thwaites, R. Wilson, A. Geiges, C. Schumer, M. Dennis, K. Ross, S. Castellanos, R. Shrestha,

N. Singh, M. Weisse, L. Lazer, L. Jeffery, L. Freehafer, E. Gray, L. Zhou, M. Gidden, and

M. Galvin. (2022.) State of Climate Action 2021: Systems Transformations Required to Limit

Global Warming to 1.5°C. World Resources Institute. https://doi.org/10.46830/wrirpt.21.00048.

Lazer, L. and L. Freehafer. (2022). Dataset Of Electric School Bus Adoption In The United States. World Resources Institute. https://datasets.wri.org/dataset/electric_school_bus_adoption

Lazer, L., S. Wachche, R. Sclar and S. Cassius. (2021). Electrifying Ride-Hailing in the United States, Europe, and Canada: How to Enable Ride-Hailing Drivers to Switch to Electric Vehicles. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/research/electrifying-ride-hailing-united-states-europe-canada

World Resources Institute. (2021). Just Transition and Equitable Climate Action Resource Center. https://www.wri.org/just-transitions/snapshots

Finch, M., J. Jaeger, M. Hart, L. Lazer, J. M. Holt, J. C. Altamirano, R. King, Y. Dagnet, N. Janardhanan, E. Zusman, and S. Kojima. (2021). From COVID-19 Response to Sustainable Redesign: How Decarbonization, Circular Economy, and Decentralization Can Guide the Transition and Strengthen National Climate Objectives. World Resources Institute and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies. https://www.wri.org/research/covid-19-response-sustainable-redesign

Kothari, V. et al. (2021). Future Mobility Calculator: An electric mobility infrastructure tool. Siemens and Coalition for Urban Transitions. https://urbantransitions.global/en/publication/future-mobility-calculator-an-electric-mobility-infrastructure-tool/

Davis, M., S. Mehrotra, A. Kumar, A. Redondo, A. Kustar, B. Rennkamp, C. Gillespie, D. Liu, F. Stanley-Price, G. Zubicaray, H. A. Simarmata, J. Hanlon, L. Lazer, M. Pai, N. Godfrey (Programme Director), P. L. Elizondo, P. Batra, R. Wihanesta, R. King, S. Qiu, S. Vitello, T. Jiménez. (2021). Seizing the Urban Opportunity: How national governments can recover from COVID-19, secure shared prosperity, and tackle the climate crisis through cities. Coalition for Urban Transitions. https://urbantransitions.global/en/publication/seizing-the-urban-opportunity/

New Urban Mobility Alliance. (2020). New Mobility Atlas. https://www.numo.global/new-mobility-atlas#2/

Colenbrander, S., Lazer, L., Haddaoui, C., Godfrey, N., Lobo, A., Clarkson, H., Huxley, R., Parnell, S., Smith, B., Smith, S. and Altenburg, T. (2019). Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity: How national governments can secure economic prosperity and avert climate catastrophe by transforming cities. Coalition for Urban Transitions. https://urbantransitions.global/en/publication/climate-emergency-urban-opportunity/

Thayne, J. Lazer, L., Barnes, S, and Rajvanshi, N. (2018). Powering the Future of Urban Mobility: How Shared eMobility Will Change Our Streets and Cities. Siemens. https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:d3498f52-de30-4955-bb8e-f7bcccef80ea/powering-the-future-of-urban-mobility-final-092418-v2.pdf

Mountford, H., Corfee-Morlot, J., McGregor, M., Banaji, F., Bhattacharya, A., Brand, J., Colenbrander, S., Stern, N., et al. (2018). Unlocking the inclusive growth story of the 21st century: Accelerating climate action in urgent times. Coalition for Urban Transitions. https://newclimateeconomy.report/2018/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2018/09/NCE_2018_FULL-REPORT.pdf

Lazer, L. (2017). Transit-Oriented Development or Market-Oriented Development? The Case of Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station District Plan. Masters Dissertation for London School of Economics. https://8bb9f17f-0249-4e68-8065-5de0f8437d54.filesusr.com/ugd/95af2f_c92260181eb54cc283d07e997b0c3894.pdf

Lazer, L. (2014). Evaluating Policy and Planning Tools for Healthy Corner Stores. Senior Thesis for Tufts University.

How Investment Logics Shape Urban Mobility in the Global South: Four Decades of Transport Finance in 1,179 Cities, Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2026 Conference, Sciences Po Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, July 2026

Reframing “Informal” Transport: External Engagements with Global South Mobility Systems, Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) 2026 Conference, Sciences Po Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, July 2026

Geopolitics and Gridlock: Urban Mobility in the Age of Financialized Infrastructure, Second Cold War Observatory Conference on Geopolitics and Urbanization, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, March 2026

Circular Procurement of Shared Micromobility, EU Mission Conference on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, May 6, 2025 

Locating US School Bus Depots Using Remote Sensing, Bridging Transportation Researchers (BTR) Conference, August 7, 2024 (presentation starts at 1h27m)

Understanding Shared Micromobility Emissions in Your City: Live Training + Q&A, September 7, 2023

How Can Open Data on School Buses Improve the Health of NYC Students?, Invited presentation to the NYC Office of Management and Budget - Data Science group, April 19, 2023

How Can Open Data on School Buses Improve the Health of NYC Students?, New York City Open Data Week, March 13, 2023

Measure What You Treasure: Shared Micromobility Data Collection and Metrics Standardization, 2022 North American Bikeshare Association (NABSA) Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, October 27, 2022

Policies and Regulations for Electric Ridehailing, 2021 International Associate of Transportation Regulators (IATR) Conference, December 13, 2021

Accelerating Electrification of High-Mileage Ridehail Vehicles, COP26 Business Pavilion in partnership with Uber, November 10, 2021

Circular Supply Chains for Electric Vehicles, LinkedIn Live discussion with Arrival, April 21, 2021

Growing Awareness: Planning Food Cities, Webinar with Sustainable Food Places, May 12, 2017

Funding Your Healthy Food Project with USDA Resources, Webinar with PolicyLink, January 22, 2015

Africa Center for Transregional Research (ACT), University of Freiburg,Associated Member, 2026-Present

Freiburg Rising Stars Academy,Rising Star Fellow, 2025-Present

Data and Policy Journal (Cambridge University Press), Area Editor: Global Challenges and Dynamic Threats,2025-Present: Promote high-quality research at the intersection of data science and policy, oversee peer review, and drive strategic outreach within academic and policy communities.

Carbon13, Domain Expert, Built Environment, 2024-Present: Advise founders of climate tech  start-ups on technical aspects of built environment-related ventures

Charge Coalition, Member of Multimodal Working Group, 2024: Member of multi-sectoral coalition supporting policies to electrify U.S. transportation, focused on federal programs for multimodal travel

Fair Food Philadelphia, Member of Board of Directors,2014-2017:Provided organizational oversight as board member of an NGO that promotes sustainable regional food systems

Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council, Council Member, 2014-2016: Appointed to advise the mayor on local food policy, including developing a land bank to transform vacant lots into gardens