Yuko Arai is a Senior Urban Specialist at the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice. She brings over 20 years of experience working on urban development, currently leading a series of projects in Indonesia related to urban and regional planning, circular economy and solid waste management, and slum upgrading with inclusive urban designs that incorporate universal accessibility. She co-leads the Inclusive Cities Knowledge Silo Breaker Group in the World Bank and has recently co-authored the global report “Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities.” 

Prior to joining the World Bank, she was a private sector urban and transport planner based in the East Asia Region, working in Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Her experience spans across spatial and land use planning, slum upgrading, urban development Master Plans, inclusive urban designs, land readjustment pilots, transit-oriented development, inter-city high-speed railway development, and more. She has worked for capacity building projects for local officials on urban/regional plan formulation and development control through writing manuals for use in training courses and lecturing in some of them. She holds master’s degrees in Urban Planning, Growth and Regeneration from the University of Cambridge, UK, and Civil Engineering (hydrology) from the University of Tokyo, Japan.