Meet an Urban Planner Who Helps Coastal Communities Adapt for the Future
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Born in Lebanon during a 15-year civil war that displaced her family and nearly a million other residents, Reema Shakra spent her first seven years living in a compound for expatriates in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
When her dad landed a job managing a large farm in California’s Central Valley, her family relocated to Bakersfield, a suburban community north of Los Angeles and thousands of miles from the desert environment that had been their home.
“Part of the reason I ended up in urban planning is because I grew up in such a sprawled, suburban city,” says Shakra, who continued to spend her summers with family and friends in Beirut, a high-density, dynamic city on the Mediterranean coast. “Looking back, what drew me to urban planning is realizing how much a city can affect your day-to-day lifestyle and quality of life.”
Shakra pursued her bachelor’s degree in planning at Cal Poly Pomona before moving to Seattle to work for the cities of Sumner and Federal Way, Washington. Her responsibilities included working with municipal design and planning commissions to approve proposed projects and zoning code changes.
“Those first two jobs exposed me to how cities function by allowing me to work on case processing for permits, interact with developers, and change zoning to encourage outdoor seating and walkability,” she says. “It was a really good entrée into my urban planning career.”
To expand on that foundation, Shakra joined the Seattle office of ESA, a growing environmental consulting firm, in 2007. As associate planner, her job involved helping cities and counties update their shoreline master program to comply with newly passed state legislation. “We had scientists and planners working together to assess the health of rivers and lake systems and write policies that would guide waterfront development over the next 20 years,” she says.
In 2015, Shakra relocated to Los Angeles to join the community planning group in ESA’s L.A. office. As senior managing associate, her job includes writing zoning overlays and updating coastal plans to address sea-level rise issues. Her clients include the cities of Santa Barbara, Oceanside and Del Mar.
“I help coastal cities develop strategies to plan for erosion and tidal and storm-related flooding caused by sea-level rise” says Shakra, who works with hydrologists and coastal engineers to develop options that help cities mitigate the increased risk of storm damage due to sea-level rise.
“My role is usually as project manager or deputy project manager, as well as providing outreach and policy planning to help supplement the services we’re providing,” Shakra says.
At its core, her job involves developing effective approaches to plan for the future, while maintaining a community’s values and avoiding divisive political debates.
“Anyone who has lived on a coast has seen dramatic storms and the damage they can cause,” says Shakra. “Pointing to those recent historical events is a way to connect with people on a personal level. Then we invite them to work together to figure out ways to address these issues moving forward.”
But, she acknowledges, forecasting the future can be tricky and imprecise. “Our plans have to be nimble and serve the community even when the timing of our projections aren’t quite right due to changes in the rate of greenhouse gas emissions and other variables,” she says.
California communities are also grappling with other climate-change impacts, including the increased occurrence of wildfires, periods of extreme heat and extended drought. According to Shakra, ESA is well equipped to help communities navigate these challenges. “We have a broad team of highly skilled specialists, including air quality experts, biologists and engineers who can identify the implications climate change could have at a local level. Having a multi-disciplinary team allows us to develop meaningful solutions to address the complex problem that is climate change.”
Shakra considers herself an urbanist who believes well-designed and managed cities are key to a sustainable future. “Cities can take the pressure off our more pristine natural areas, which can serve to protect wildlife and ecosystems,” she says.
And though she enjoys hanging out at coffee shops, attending concerts and traveling, these days, she and her husband, Bassam, spend most of their free time caring for their children: 4-year-old Olivia and 18-month old Dylan.
“I’m a full-time working mother with two kids under 5, so my life consists of work and being a parent,” says Shakra, whose husband works in commercial real estate. Her parents and older brother also live in the Los Angeles area, and she has another brother who lives in San Francisco.
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