Biography

Theresa Audrey O. Esteban is an urban planner by profession who has been in the development field for 20 years. She has managed urban planning, environmental, disaster risk management, water and sanitation, and social development projects in the Asia-Pacific region including several comprehensive land use plans, investment programs, protected area management plans, water and sanitation, and UNDP, Asian Development Bank, and World Bank funded projects. Ms. Esteban was the co-author of a chapter for the ADB publication Green Cities entitled A Water Secure Future. She was the Team Leader for the Contribution to Change Philippines Appeal Project where she worked closely with the methodology authors from Oxfam and University of East Anglia. She is the main author of the final report Philippine Typhoon Appeal: Contribution to Change. She is the author of the book chapter Collective engagement: picking up after the storm, in the book Urban Governance in the realm of complexity, which discusses participation, community, and disaster recovery, and the Metro Manila chapter in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation publication “Partnership for the Sustainable Development of Cities in the APEC Region” co-authored with Michael Lindfield. Her publication co-authored with Janeen Cayetano “Bouncing back together: Mapping the story of post-Haiyan rebuilding in a coastal community”  looks at the rapid recovery of disaster affected communities through mapping out their different capacities. Her publication “Building resilience through collective engagement” outlines the Collective Engagement Urban Resilience Framework which she has been developing since 2013 while at the ADB. With her technical background she has developed programs and projects including international seminars, trainings and workshops on various development issues. She has done technical programs and projects in varying capacities in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Singapore, People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, The Netherlands, and Sweden. Ms. Esteban holds a doctorate degree in Urban Development and Governance at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, a masters degree in Urban Management and Development with a specialization in Urban Governance also at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and a masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Philippines. She has given public lectures on urban planning, disaster management, social development, climate change and water security before professional and academic audiences. Ms. Esteban’s dissertation, Collective engagement: From disaster-prone to disaster-resilient city, has been recognized by her peers and colleagues in international development as an important contribution in the resilience discourse. The Rotterdam case in her dissertation is currently the basis of the COVID-19 Policy Briefs for Rotterdam. She has worked for projects in the Philippines, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Viet Nam, People's Republic of China, and Malaysia.

Expertise

Urban planning, disaster risk management, socio-ecological systems, social development, collective engagement, humanitarian work

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