Dr. Furst is a senior researcher at the Environmental and Sustainability Research Center, the Open University of Israel. He holds a PhD in geography from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is an experienced urban and regional planner and has held the position of head of the planning department at the Ministry of Environmental Protection in Israel. Dr. Furst is an affiliated lecturer at the Department of Geography, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His main research interests are urban and spatial planning, environmental activism, and environmental history.