Expertise:
Environmental Justice, Gentrification, Urban Design, Climate Resilience, Post-Disaster Recovery, Wildfire Risk and Recovery, Climate Equity, Disaster Recovery Planning, Community-Engaged Design, Affordable Housing Design, Transitional Housing, Extreme Heat Adaptation, Urban Cooling Strategies, Public Space Design, Neighborhood Resilience, Inclusive Urban Planning, Equity-Centered Design, Community RebuildingNicole Lambrou is an expert in urban design and climate resilience whose work explores how cities can recover equitably from disasters and adapt to the challenges of climate change. Her area of specialization is post-wildfire recovery, climate justice and community-led planning, with a strong emphasis on inclusive design strategies for vulnerable communities. Through her affiliation with UC Merced’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute, she investigates wildfire recovery efforts in California communities.
Lambrou is the executive director of tinkercraft, where she leads projects that bridge climate adaptation with public space design and environmental equity. Her work has been featured in leading academic journals including the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Journal of Environmental Management, and Landscape and Urban Planning.
Before transitioning into academia, Lambrou practiced architecture and urban design at firms in California and Boston, contributing to award-winning projects in affordable housing, education and campus planning. A sought-after speaker and collaborator, she has presented her work at national and international forums — including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the American Association of Geographers, and the Urban Affairs Association.
Recent Grants and Fellowships:
- Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program, California Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, tinkercraft, $106,000, 2025
- Special Projects for Improving the Classroom Experience (SPICE) Award, Cal Poly Pomona, $15,710, 2024
- California Center for Ethics and Policy Faculty Fellow (Annual Theme: “California’s Climate Crisis”), Cal Poly Pomona, 2022
- Dissertation Year Fellowship, UCLA, 2022
- G. Leventis Foundation Research Grant, Independent Climate Justice Research, $14,000, 2019-21
- Center for Community Engagement Fellow, Cal Poly Pomona (Community Partners: Leimert Park Great Streets and Watts Rising Collaborative), 2018-19
- Bette and Hans Lorenz Fellowship, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, $16,000, 2016
Selected Publications:
- With C. Zhang, C. Kolden and A. Loukaitou-Sideris, “Identifying Misalignments in Wildfire Management: Opportunities for Plan Integration and Stakeholder Collaboration,” Journal of Environmental Management, 2025
- With C. Kolden and A. Loukaitou-Sideris, “Disaster Recovery Gentrification in Post-Wildfire Landscapes: The Case of Paradise, CA,” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2025
- With C. Zhang, C. Kolden and A. Loukaitou-Sideris, “Addressing Wildfire Resilience through Comprehensive County-Level Plan Effectiveness in California,” Journal of Environmental Management, 2025
- With L. Johnson, M. Mikulewicz, P. Bigger, R. Chakraborty, PJ Cunniff, V. Guermond, M. Millis-Novoa, B. Neimark, S. Nelson,C. Rampini, PY Sherpa, and G. Simon, “The Invisible Labor of Climate Change Adaptation,” Global Environmental Change, 2023
- “Resilience Design: Myths of Stewardship and Participation,” Journal of Planning Literature, 2023
- With C. Kolden, A. Loukaitou-Sideris, E. Anjum, and C. Acey, “Social Drivers of Vulnerability to Wildfire Disasters: A Review of the Literature,” Landscape and Urban Planning, 2023
- “Resilience Design in Practice: Future Climate Visions from California’s Bay Area,” Land, 2022
- “Downscaling Resilience: Appropriating and Contesting Resilience from City to Neighborhood,” in Justice in Climate Action Planning (Springer), 2022
- With A. Loukaitou-Sideris, “Resilience Plans in the U.S.: An Evaluation,” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2021
- “Dematerializing Oil: The Disappearing Act of the Los Angeles Oil Fields,” in Real and Fake in Architecture: Close to the Original, Far from Authenticity. Fellbach: Edition Axel Menges, 2020
- “Design in the Anthropocene: Restoring the Los Angeles Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve,” in ACSA Paper Proceedings: The Ethical Imperative, 2019
- “Making Landscapes Legible: An Ecology of Feedback Loops,” Inflection: Journal of the Melbourne School of Design, 2018
- “LA’s Urban Natures,” MONU #28: Client-Shaped Urbanism, 2018
- “The Sea Ranch: Policing the Picturesque,” LA+ Journal: IDentity, 2017
- “Hudson Yards: A Sustainable Micropolis,” The Avery Review, 2017
- “Big Data, False Data, Smart Data, Dumb Data,” Applied Research Practices in Architecture Journal, 2014
Interviews:
- “Thousands of California students attend schools in high fire danger zones,” EdSource, July 31, 2025
- “In areas near January’s fires, rent is climbing faster than rest of county,” Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2025
- “Wildfire survivors suffer mental, physical health effects long after flames are extinguished,” The Nation’s Health (American Public Health Association), May 1, 2025
- “In Altadena and Pacific Palisades, burned lots are hitting the market,” Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2025
- “How the Eaton Fire destroyed a delicate truce over Altadena’s future,” Grist, Feb. 12, 2025
- “What happens when the California fires go out? More gentrification.” Vox, Jan. 17, 2025
- “California Center for Ethics and Policy drafts in problems with pollution,” The Poly Post, April 12, 2022
Op-Eds & Essays
- “How Do You Rebuild Community After Wildfire?” Zócalo Public Square, July 7, 2025
Education:
Bachelor of Art, Binghamton University
Master of Architecture, Yale University
Ph.D., Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles
Languages:
Greek