Yasmine Abbas is a French architect (DPLG 1997), strategic designer and assistant professor at Penn State University, the Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs. Her research explores mobility, digital culture and augmented place-making, with current focus on fabricating atmospheres, generative mapping, cartography and the computational design of ambiance. She is the author of Le néo-nomadisme : Mobilités. Partage. Transformations identitaires et urbaines (2011) and co-editor of Digital Technologies of the Self (Abbas, Y. & Dervin, F., 2009). She received a SMArchS from MIT (2001) and a Doctor of Design from Harvard University (2006) for her work investigating neo-nomads, researching strategies for the design of living environments across contemporary conditions of expanded physical, digital and mental mobilities.

Abbas has worked in multicultural environments in Europe, North America, Middle East, Africa and Asia. She consults internationally employing design thinking to generate Panurban intelligence and drive urban innovation. Her design consulting experience includes work with ReD Associates (Denmark), Steelcase ARC (France) and Masdar City (UAE) as Environmental Sociologist. She is the co-founder of the Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform (AMP), winner of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Centennial Innovation Challenge 2013 and 2017 SEED award for Public Interest Design. Her work has been exhibited at the Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism 2017.