Adel Alzahrani

Executive Director

Dr. Adel Alzahrani is one of the Arab world’s most influential voices in urbanism, design governance, and livability, with growing international recognition. As a former Deputy Minister for Urban Planning & Lands, he shaped Saudi's National Urban Policy, authored the 19 Saudi Architectural Identities and national urban design and public realm frameworks, founded the National Urban Design Studio, and led major regeneration and spatial planning reforms aligned with Vision 2030. Today, as Executive Director of groundbreaking Living Code, the Kingdom’s emerging national standard for walkable, human-centered, high-quality communities. He leads the design governance, transforming guidelines into intelligent systems that elevate urban quality across all developments portfolio. He is a designer, policymaker, and urban thinker shaping the next Saudi urban decade. He was appointed deputy minister in March 2022, having served between 2020 and 2022 as Strategic Adviser for Urban Transformation. He was previously Dean, and Vice Dean for Quality and Development, of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at King Abdulaziz University, and holds a PhD from Virginia Tech, a Master of City Planning from Boston University and a Bachelor of Architecture from King Abdulaziz University.