Abdulaziz was appointed the Deputy CEO and Chief Operations Officer of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) in 2017. As Deputy CEO and Chief Operations Officer, AlJaziri leads a number of projects at DFF in partnership with Government, Private Sector and Academia.

In DFF, Abdulaziz leads the Research, Content Dissemination, Capacity Building and Design and Acceleration streams. His focus is to support Dubai leaders better navigate the future, develop high-quality content about the future, equip generations to come with skills of the future and foster an innovation ecosystem that develops experiments.

Abdulaziz is part of the integral team behind the Museum of the Future. Additionally, he has led, managed and launched DFF’s AREA 2071 in 2016, an innovative ecosystem where a diverse set of partners design the future.

Amy works as Delivery Lead at Made Tech. Her role focuses on advancing digital capabilities across local government services in the UK. As a consultant, Amy has been working to enable organisational transformation, digital adoption, and service improvement in the public sector. Her current role follows from enabling digital transformation for the English National Health Service.

Alongside professional engagements, Amy maintains a decade-long commitment to frontline volunteering with London’s homeless and vulnerably housed adults. It had shaped her interest in co-designing with those most affected by the interventions, services, and policies in urban settings. She is drawn to interdisciplinary problems of place-making and belonging, migration and the rise of nationalism, colonialism and climate change-driven displacement. As co-facilitator to the London node of the global Design Justice Network, Amy welcomes fellow practitioners to critically examine their work through the lens of design justice and the co-liberation of communities.

Amy holds academic qualifications in Communications (Corvinus University of Budapest – Hungary), where her research focused on education of children in orphan care, and that of young offenders.

Assim is the Head of Communication at Oman Sail, a leading sailing and sport events’ organiser based in Muscat, Oman. In this role, Assim oversees the planning and implementation of strategic communication programmes, global media operations and stakeholder value creation. An integral part of the role is strategically aligning the organisation to local and global frameworks such as Oman’s Vision 2040, and global trends in terms of socio-economic impact, health, sustainability and the environment. Throughout his service at Oman Sail, Assim implemented effective campaigns at varying levels around the world, putting Oman in the global spotlight, and enabling the organisation to earn multiple credible accolades, the last of which was being named the “Best Sport Event Organiser of the Year” in 2022 by the prestigious Sport Industry Awards SPIA.

Assim has been involved in driving economic and societal impact through the Omani government’s diversification programme pertaining to sport tourism, Tanfeedh Initiative 4 from 2016 – 2019, and in measuring the soft and hard impact in cities, inbound tourism, population lifestyle, SMEs’ development and sport performance in collaboration with reputable impact measurement consultancy agencies. He holds an academic B.A in Translation (Sultan Qaboos University – Oman).

Ayan is Deputy General Director of Development at the largest construction company in Kazakhstan specializing in social, transport, and engineering infrastructure. In this position, he is responsible for the development and scaling of the company’s products such as cultural, sports, tourism, and academic facilities, as well as urban transport projects. Moreover, within Ayan’s mentoring has been organized a group of specialists that actively interacts with the city authorities in the development of comprehensive urban plans.

Ayan was invited as chairman of the architectural competition for the elaboration of development plans for the Turkistan city. He is also the originator of the construction of advanced-format schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan through public-private partnerships, which were included in the overall plan of the Ministry of Education for the construction of 1000 schools in Kazakhstan until 2027.

He holds academic qualifications in economics (Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan) and an MA in tourism and hospitality (Cezar Ritz, Switzerland).

Bruno is an architect working for Systra, a global engineering firm specialized in urban transportation projects. As head of the Mass Rapid Transit department at Systra for over 10 years, he managed a multidisciplinary team of architects, urban planners and engineers, specialized in the design of large transportation infrastructures projects.

Within Systra, he has promoted a more holistic approach to Urban Transport design, crossing bridges between technical issues and social/urban ones. His department has been involved on various projects located around the world: New Delhi Line 7 MRT project in India; the planning of two new metro lines in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; global transportation feasibility plan for the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Dubai’s elevated metro system; Singapore Circle Line, among others.

At present, he is the Lead Design Manager on the Hs2 Old oak Common Station located in West London, a project currently under construction. It is through his significant involvement on these transportation projects that his interest extended towards more global urban issues, specifically the relationship between public transport and the urban realm.

Charles is a Precinct Director at the State Government of Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA). The SRLA is responsible for delivering Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (SRL), an ambitious integrated transport and precinct development project that will reshape the city. As Precinct Director, Charles is responsible for building consensus around urban change and for identifying, aligning and sequencing the planning and investment to unlock and shape the growth catalysed by the new rail connections.

In his role as advocate for SRL Precincts, Charles will be a custodian of coherent and compelling place visions and will guide the delivery of vibrant, distinctive and future focused precincts around SRL stations. Charles joined the SRLA early in its formation, moving from a long private sector consulting career in property and development, advising on urban renewal masterplanning, property strategies and development joint ventures.

Prior to consulting he practiced as an architect and spent time working in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal Lands in remote South Australia in a housing management and community development role.

Charles has academic qualifications in Environmental Design (University of Canberra) and Architecture (University of Melbourne).

Claudia has over twelve years’ experience in large-scale transport and urban renewal projects in Australia and overseas for government and the private sector. She is currently an independent consultant to Transport for New South Wales (Australia), advising on how to assess and value the economic benefits of public realm improvements associated with transport projects. She is also co-managing investments in real assets and technology.

Claudia has previously worked in government and for PwC, AECOM, and EY. Claudia’s professional focus is project development, strategic policy advice (infrastructure plans, investment prioritisation, evaluation frameworks), demand modelling, transport planning, economics, finance and funding, business cases, investment assurance, sell/buy-side due diligence, and market engagement.

Claudia’s experience is multi-modal (ferries, buses, rail, ports, motorways), across greenfield and brownfield sites, and in projects that include property development. An example is her recent role leading the Strategic and Final Business Cases for the Circular Quay Renewal project, Australia’s most iconic location and transport interchange. Other significant projects include Sydney’s Central Station Renewal, Northern Beaches B-Line buses, and Western Harbour Tunnel motorway.

Claudia holds a Bachelor of Economics Honours (First Class) from Macquarie University and a certificate in Real Estate Economics and Finance from London School of Economics.

Eden is currently the head of Physical Planning Department at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana. He is responsible for the physical planning and human settlement development within the metropolis. He coordinates activities and projects of departments and other agencies including non-governmental organizations to ensure compliance with planning standards, prepares and revises spatial plans to guide future physical development. He promotes policy dialogue among key stakeholders in the public and private sectors and public education activities. Coordinator of a project in Developing Risk Management Approaches for Climate Risk (Developing Insurability Project).

He serves as a Regional Leader on the newly formed International Advisory Board on the Special Program for Urban Regional Studies (SPURS), Massachusetts Institutes of Technology (MIT).

Eden holds a Bachelors degree in Planning from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a Masters degree in Human Settlement from KU Leuven, Belgium. He was a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow in Special Program in Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS), Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Elizabeth is an experienced urban infrastructure manager with demonstrated history of working in the housing and urban development sector. She is driven to deliver infrastructure developments hinged on elements of circularity and sustainability which helps cities become more resilient, competitive and liveable. During her work at the renowned Two Rivers Development a mixed-use urban node, she demonstrated competence for driving execution in adopting international best practices to deliver results in highly complex market settings.

Most Recently, Elizabeth offered technical support to development of urban infrastructure resilience strategies for Nairobi, under Kenya Urban Support Program (KUSP), where she supported the formulation and implementation of urban development plans for the establishment and operation of institutional arrangements for urban infrastructure investments.

Elizabeth works for Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) where she is responsible for providing technical assistance on sustainable management and restoration of Parks in Nairobi CBD, which has committed to breaking the ‘decline-and-restore’ cycle pattern of open spaces, through rebuilding facilities in the public realm by renewal of landscapes, infrastructure and facilities to ensure they are environmentally sustainable. In 2019 she set up a practice Urban Know that works collaboratively on local and international projects. Combining her strong skills in engaging local partners involved in Urban Infrastructure Development projects.

Mayor Fahad Albuliheshi has served the people of Madinah as a Executive Chairman of Madinah Development Authority MDA, and now also as the Mayor of the Region in Saudi Arabia. He is leading the development programs, strategies, plans and projects of the future development of the city in coordination with the development partners to build the region and the city of Madinah as a stronger, healthier, and modernized city that delivers for all their citizens, visitors and investors. Through his service, he has achieved satisfactory results of how city can be well developed, planned, and directed towards a better, healthier and more prosperous future. MDA has successfully accomplished a variety of achievements, such as the Platinum Certification of the World Council on City Data (WCCD), occupying the 4th rank on regionally and the 73rd internationally of the IMD Smart City Index 2021, as well as obtaining the Global Gold and Silver Awards for Livable Sustainable Communities 2018, among other awards.

Madinah city is experiencing currently real challenge to respond efficiently to the facts that people need more than high quality homes, employment, efficient and sufficient public services, and recreational facilities to be able to achieve economic prosperity and enjoy healthy and meaningful lives. The challenge of the future development of Madinah needs special intervention capabilities, new sorts of resilient development and creative strategies, thoughtful innovative expertise, and sustainable resources. Urban changes should be directed towards a wide-ranging vision to achieve a substantial better quality of life for all; a quality of life that promotes social inclusion and effective city governance, and drives inclusive local development, recognizing the critical role that cities can play in successfully response to the current ecological and climate challenge.

Gonzalo leads the Housing and Public Space Department at the Municipality of Las Condes in Santiago, Chile. From there, he oversees strategic planning tackling complex urban issues such as housing deficit and urban segregation. As part of his tasks, he must lead projects ranging in scale, from urban regeneration, public space design, sustainable mobility, and urban resilience, which in turn have a strong innovative and participatory component. Las Condes has a population of more than 300,000 people and is characterized by its broad territorial diversity, much like a small-scaled city with residential areas, financial districts, urban parks, and modern transportation infrastructure. Within this diversity, there are also areas that have considerable social needs and problems to be solved.

Gonzalo holds a degree in Architecture from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Chile and completed a Certificate Program in Integrated Urban Planning. He has extensive city planning and project management experience in both public and private sectors and has a strong public duty and determination to generate urban public policies that help develop fair and integrated cities.

Manish works as the Head of Urban Programme and Policy at Save the Children India. He is responsible for Programme development and research, resource mobilization, external engagement, and forging partnerships with Government, Corporates, and Think Tanks for collaborative work. He provides technical support and advice to the Programme Teams at the State Project Offices to ensure timely implementation and delivery of programs. He works closely with Research, Advocacy, Campaign, and Communication team to build and undertake research, advocacy, and campaigns linked to the issues of urbanization and its impact on children. He has over 18 years of experience in the social and development sector.

Before Save the Children, he worked with private consulting companies in social and market research, infrastructure and engineering, etc. He holds a Masters and M. Phil. Degrees in Applied Geography from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Marianna is Australia Precincts Lead for Mott MacDonald, a global engineering, management, and development consultancy. Precincts is an Australia-wide initiative focussing on city-shaping place, precinct, and urban development programs which optimise economic, environmental, social, and cultural outcomes. The role includes opportunities to work at significant scale across Australia (and Asia Pacific), integrating the exceptional advisory and technical expertise of colleagues, and working in collaboration and partnership with public and private sectors to address complex urban challenges and create thriving places and communities.

Prior to this, Marianna held multiple senior executive roles within the New South Wales Government. She led multidisciplinary place and portfolio initiatives across economic development, health, innovation, education, cultural, sports, tourism, mixed-use and transport-catalysed precincts. She holds non-executive and advisory roles, including Urban Development Committee Member and Chair, Precinct Subcommittee for the Urban Development Institute of Australia, and board member and Chair, Property and Development Committee for a leading independent school.

She has qualifications in governance (Australian Institute of Company Directors), project leadership (Australia Institute of Project Management) and landscape architecture (University of New South Wales).

Mark is a lawyer specialised in Urban Planning and Environmental Law. He is Partner at GSK STOCKMANN, one of Germany’s leading law firms for Real Estate and Infrastructure Projects. Mark advises investors, developers and public sector clients on often large-scale real estate and urban development projects. His focus lies on strategic and legal advice on Urban Planning and Permitting procedures. At his firm, he has had several management functions, including Member of the Management Board as Head of the Projects & Public Sector group.

Prior to joining GSK STOCKMANN, Mark worked for the Bavarian State Ministry of Environmental Affairs. Mark was born in Germany into a German-British family. He studied Law and Politics at the University of Regensburg (Germany) and Aberdeen University (Scotland). He holds a PhD in International Environmental Law from the University of Regensburg.

As Senior Advisor to Burning Man Project, Megan provides leadership and strategic direction for the non-profit organization that produces Black Rock City, an annual gathering in the remote desert that attracts nearly 80,000 citizens dedicated to participation, communal effort, civic responsibility, and self-expression. Burning Man Project supports a growing global network of makers, artists and community leaders, including ambassadors in 44 U.S. states and 37 countries. For nearly a decade, Megan served as Director of Communications, overseeing public and media relations for Burning Man during a period of rich experimentation and rapidly growing influence in areas such as public art, civic leadership, event production, urban planning, and design.

Megan’s earlier career included work in environmental protection and HIV/AIDS prevention, on political campaigns, and as staff to a member of the United States Senate. Born and raised in Juneau, Alaska, Megan earned a Bachelors degree in English & Art History from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She was a 2007 graduate of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, a competitive, cross-sector leadership training program. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Western States Arts Federation.

Patrick was most recently the Director of Council Initiatives for the Metropolitan King County Council in Seattle, WA, USA. In this role he led a number of high-profile and politically sensitive projects that typically spanned multiple year. This includes serving as the Legislative Branch staff director for a multi-billion USD rebuild of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA, USA; serving as the Staff Director for King County’s Decennial Charter Review Commission and serving as the Project Manager for King County’s Decennial Redistricting Commission.

A public policy and finance professional, Patrick has twenty years’ experience in local government in the United States and has also previously served King County as the Director of Legislative Analysis and Staff Lead for the County’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. In addition, Patrick has served on the Board of King County’s Deferred Compensation Program, a Committee Member for the Committee of Ethics of the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada and has extensive experience training other public finance professionals on Ethics. Patrick has significant academic experience studying at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University. Patrick relocated to the United Kingdom with his family in October 2021.

Pedro is the Managing Partner of GWIC, an EPC Consultancy Company that provides support to public and private entities in the planning, development, and management of engineering projects worldwide. The company is headquartered in Lisbon (Portugal) and has also established offices in Luanda (Angola), Maputo (Mozambique), and San José (Costa Rica). Pedro has been involved in several large infrastructure projects in Angola, Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique, Costa Rica, Algeria, Ecuador, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guatemala.

He holds academic qualifications in Civil Engineering (BSc and MSc – University of Coimbra, in Portugal, with recognition by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Economics (Post-Graduation Degree in Finance, with specialization in Management and Real Estate Finance by ISCTE, Portugal, and a MSc in Management also by ISCTE). Pedro is a registered Professional Engineer in Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and Portugal, and a registered Professional Economist in Portugal. He also holds the title of European Engineer.

Preeti is currently Director at the Socratus Foundation. Previously, Pretti was a Social Policy Strategist leading participatory governance efforts to strengthen slum infrastructure up-gradation for 3000 informal settlements under the world’s most extensive slum up-gradation program with the Government of Odisha – JagaMission. A Senior Manager with Janaagraha Center for Citizenship & Democracy – she believes in strengthening cities through active citizenship and empowered city governments. Previously, she managed the India programs for the Bernard van Leer Foundation, an independent foundation working worldwide to inspire and inform large-scale action to improve the health, protection, and well-being of children.

Her over a decade of experience includes national and state programs aimed at: (a)Developing social policies, and practices to strengthen early childcare and learning for children from indigenous communities within the National Early Childhood Care and Education Policy 2013. (b) Reducing child poverty; through policy advocacy for a safe and healthy environment for young children growing up in urban poverty across twenty-three cities in the country. (c) Public policies and processes to strengthen the fiscal health of city governments – that would support 25% earmarking of municipal funds for slum up-gradation and service delivery. (d) Social Protection coverage to mitigate the impact of COVID -19 pandemic on migrants and urban poor.

Richard is an adviser and consultant to the professional services markets. He has extensive experience of business strategy and transformation, both as a practitioner and in leadership roles. At Deloitte, he was a consulting partner for 15 years specialising in strategy and organisation design, working with a range of global clients. As managing partner for strategy and for clients & markets, he was involved in developing and implementing many of the firm’s key global strategies.

At Allen & Overy, he built Peerpoint from start up to one of the leading platforms for consultant lawyers. At Thomson Reuters, he was chief strategy officer focused on the impact of technology on both disrupting and enhancing professional services. Throughout his career, he was worked across many geographic markets.

Richard is a graduate in Geography from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and a Chartered Accountant. He has been a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum. He is a trustee of the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research.

Robyn is an Urban Planner and Professional Land Economist with nearly 20 years of planning, economic development and ICI market experience. Ms. Brown, as Director and Senior Practice Lead in the Real Estate Economics and Planning group, leads a group of planners, economists and GIS specialists, using her extensive knowledge and experience in the real estate market to assist clients with their planning and real estate needs.

Previously to joining IBI Group, Ms. Brown worked as a sales representative at DTZ Barnicke, a nationally represented commercial real estate brokerage. Focusing land acquisition and leasing, Robyn participated in the disposition of over 500 acres of development land across the Canada along with portfolio analysis, industrial leasing and real estate disposition strategies. Robyn’s work at IBI Group includes market, economic and development feasibility studies for public and private clients across the North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Ryan focuses on the Economic Development portfolio within the Chicago Commitment portfolio. Through this work, he supports Place-based initiatives in historically marginalized communities within the city of Chicago. He presently serves on the steering committee of We Rise Together and the Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund.

Prior to joining MacArthur, Ryan served as the Director of Community Programs at the University of Chicago’s Office of Civic Engagement. In that role, Ryan led the work of the Community Programs Accelerator, which supports non-profits whose work benefits South Side neighbourhoods in Chicago.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago, where he graduated as a Carnegie-Mellon scholar and pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School in Philosophy of Religion.

Sandra is an Administrative Director at the German Historical Institute London, a research institute of the German Max Weber foundation. Having served in the public service in various countries and in different roles, she gathered an extensive experience in human resources, budget and finance, and facility management.

Furthermore, due to her master studies in sustainable development cooperation, she has a sound knowledge of the pillars of sustainability and applies this consistently in her work. Having lived in various cities in Africa, she saw first-hand how fast-growing cities are facing challenges providing adequate services and opportunities for their citizens.

Sandra is particularly interested in the mega trends of urbanization, sustainability and digitalization, and the role they play in shaping cities.

Twila was hired by The Hill School in 2015 to lead the then-newly created Hobart’s Run initiative, bringing with her compelling experience in public administration, economic and real estate development, non-profit management, and community organizing. She soon implemented various community start-up to improve the quality of life in the neighbourhood, earning her the Rotary of Pottstown’s “Person of the Year” award in 2017. She also launched several signature incentive programs and annual events to encourage local revitalization, reduce neighbourhood crime, increase homeownership, and improve streetscapes.

Prior to The Hill School, Twila developed extensive non-profit and public sector experience, working for 20 years in the City of Reading, Pennsylvania. She has been a licensed real estate agent and investor since 2005 and is fluent in Spanish. She currently serves on six local boards and committees in various capacities.

Aaron is managing director of the Social Investment Practice at The Kresge Foundation where he oversees a team of eight and a portfolio of over $350 million in high impact investments. He previously served as a social investment officer supporting the American Cities and Detroit Programs at Kresge. He joined the foundation in 2016. Prior to Kresge, he served as executive director at JPMorgan Chase Bank, where he was involved with community development banking focused on New Markets Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credit investing.

He started his career in impact investing at Cinnaire (formerly the Great Lakes Capital Fund) addressing affordable housing, and previously worked with Legal Aid of Central Michigan. He has served on the board of directors for the Michigan Magnet Fund, Lake Trust Credit Union and the Core Cities Strategic Fund advisory board.

A native of Michigan, Aaron earned a bachelor in business administration in corporate finance and accounting from Central Michigan University and a Juris Doctorate from the Michigan State University College of Law.

Adair is the president and CEO of Pillsbury United Communities, a pioneering community impact agency.

Adair’s bold strategic framework for Pillsbury United, adopted in 2019, moved the agency’s focus upstream to building infrastructure and collaborations that address multi-dimensional social issues at the population level. That led to a $1M community-health partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota and a $1M investment from the Kresge Foundation in support of policy change initiatives. In 2020, he launched Justice Built Communities, an equitable economic development corporation that prioritizes wealth creation in black and brown communities.

Previously as Pillsbury’s Chief Innovation Officer, Adair led a $7 million dollar capital campaign to build North Market, a first-of-its-kind grocery store and wellness centre that’s transforming food access, community health, and economic vitality in North Minneapolis.

He is a sought-after public speaker on topics including health equity, leadership, innovation, and disruptive system design. In 2019, Adair was selected to represent the Twin Cities region at Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program focused on U.S. Competitiveness. He was an American Express Leadership Fellow and earned a certificate in Human-Centered Design at Stanford’s d.school.

Andrew is currently the Director for Asset Management, Residential at the Peterson Group, Vancouver. He was formerly the Director of Operations, British Columbia, for CAPREIT, Canada’s largest publicly traded residential landlord. Based in Vancouver, Andrew oversees the asset and property management of roughly 5000 residential rental units across the province. He has lived and worked in several urban markets across Canada.

Prior to Vancouver, he was stationed in Amsterdam, where he oversaw CAPREIT’s entry into the Dutch residential market as their Senior Operations Manager. He recently founded Third Beach Corp, which is both a vehicle used to invest in residential properties, and as a consulting service to assist investors in pivoting into the Canadian residential market.

Andrew volunteers for several local organizations, including Jewish Family Services Senior Outreach and Food Services, UBC Farms harvest, and previously with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Toronto. He holds a BA from the University of Guelph, with a major in European Studies, focusing on Commerce, and a minor in Spanish.

Anthea has spent two decades designing and delivering innovative and collaborative solutions that address priorities at the interface of development and environment challenges. She is currently responsible for the Climate and Sustainability Component of the Cities Support Programme at the National Treasury. She was previously Director of the National Grasslands Programme at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and Acting Country Director and Programme Manager for IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) in South Africa.

Anthea has an MSc in Environmental and Geographical Science from the University of Cape Town and has held positions on the board of directors for PhytoTrade Africa, the Southern African National Products Trade Association and on the advisory panel of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa. She is currently a member of the Scientific Committee for the AFD-GDN Biodiversity and Development Awards.

Emmanuel is the Municipal Coordinating Director (City Manager) for Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly, a Local Government Authority in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana. In his role as a City Manager, he is responsible for the coordination, harmonization, organization and implementation of the policies and programmes of the Assembly. He also ensures effective and efficient management of the resources of the Assembly. He is the Chief Policy Advisor to the Municipal Chief Executive (Mayor). He is an Administrator and a Local Economic Development (LED) practitioner. He has worked with six local government authorities in different administrative regions in Ghana. He worked with the International Labour Organization (ILO) as Local Economic Development Adviser. He was also a part time lecturer at the Institute of Local Government Studies, Madina, Legon.

Emmanuel holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies with Specialization in Local and Regional Development from International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in the The Hague, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with History from University of Ghana, Legon. He is the author of the book Meso Institutions and Endogenous Development in Ghana Published by Lap Lambert Academic Publishing based in Germany. He has a strong passion for urban governance, local economic development and green economy issues.

Frazer is a landscape architect and Senior Principal at Boffa Miskell, Hamilton, New Zealand. He has 15 years’ experience across a variety of urban environments in New Zealand, China, the Middle East and UK. His expertise covers a wide spectrum of urban design and landscape architecture disciplines.

Frazer’s project experience extends from providing high level urban design and landscape frameworks, strategic input into the design of major infrastructure projects to stadium, school and university campus design, master planning and town centre design and public realm revitalisation projects.

Gabriel is a Councilman at Belo Horizonte City Council, Brazil. He graduated in Law, with a Masters in Constitutional Law and is a professor and bachelor in Advertising and Journalism. He was Undersecretary of Youth in the Minas Gerais government during Antonio Anastasia’s administration. He is also currently an advisor at Jusbrasil and a professor at RenovaBR.

Gabriel started his second term as Councilman in 2021 after receiving 13,088 votes. His goal for the next four years is to make Belo Horizonte a more open, democratic, and participatory city. The proposal covers five axes: mobility, economic development, social development, education, and regionalization of the mandate.

Irene is Mayor’s Office Advisor at the Municipality of Curridabat. She is an advisor in Urbanism, Wellbeing, Biophilia, Innovation & Place Branding. As an urbanist, Irene envisions an enjoyable city, with thriving public spaces where biodiversity reclaims its role within the urban landscape and where people may rethink how they commute.

Irene is a Biotech Engineer with an MBA in Marketing from ITCR, the leading tech university in Costa Rica, and has a Sustainability Management degree from INCAE Business School. She currently works as the Mayor´s advisor and has developed as an holistic advisor for her own company for more than 10 years.

Imbuing the Sweet City vision with a wellbeing approach which embraces state-of-the-art science, Irene has transformed the traditional notion of what a city can be. She has represented the Municipality of Curridabat as Chief Innovation Officer at the City Lab, Aspen Institute and Bloomberg Foundation on four consecutive occasions. The Sweet City Vision has been recognized for Innovative Practices by UN-HABITAT’s New Urban Agenda Award (Colombia 2016), for Urban Innovation by the Guangzhou International Award (China 2016) and by the Le Monde Smart Cities Global Innovation Award (Singapore 2017) amongst others.

Jake is Senior Lead, Sustainability in the Bloomberg Associates (BA) Sustainability Practice, where he advises mayors and senior city officials on sustainability projects that spur local investment, improve quality of live, and drive greenhouse gas reductions. In his work, he helps cities leverage data analysis and stakeholder engagement to navigate the transition to clean energy, build new infrastructure that improves quality of life for residents, and implement policies that mitigate the impacts of climate change. He is a recognized expert on urban sustainability and infrastructure issues; having co-authored several white papers and served on multiple city advisory boards. He also supports selected Bloomberg Philanthropies initiatives including the American Cities Climate Challenge and U.S. Virgin Islands hurricane recovery efforts.

Jake has developed deep expertise in global public policy development and implementation, having advised over 50 public sector clients in Europe, North America and Latin America. Before he joined BA, Jake was a member of Accenture’s Public Service Strategy Practice, where he worked with leaders of state and local governments, higher education institutions, and non-profit organizations.

Jonathan is a Senior Urban Planner with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). He has been responsible for managing a portfolio of projects across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. His focus has been on working with cities and municipalities to identify opportunities to better integrate displaced populations and climate resilient solutions within their urban plans and policies through data-driven spatial analysis and participatory planning. This includes developing sus-tainable development strategies for protracted refugee settlements in Kenya, and a secondment to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to work with field teams in Cox’s Bazar, Bang-ladesh, to coordinate robust infrastructure interventions across the Rohingya Camps.

Originally trained as an architect in the UK, he started his professional career in architecture in Lon-don before taking an opportunity with Tsinghua University Design Institute in Beijing. This led to a transition of his practice into more urban scale work. Following an internship with the European Un-ion Delegation to China focusing on Sustainable Urbanisation Policy, he went on to work for Atkins Asia Pacific in Beijing as an Urban Designer. In that role, he worked on Low Carbon oriented urban projects for Chinese Cities and urban regeneration and industrial upgrading projects across South-east Asia.

Jonathan in now focusing on developing a small consulting business in Hong Kong and remains a consultant to UN-Habitat.

Juliana leads strategic planning projects for the private and government sectors in URBANA, a Co-lombian urban consultancy firm, which works alongside major construction companies, as well as local and national government organisations in Colombia.

Currently, she is leading the strategic planning for four municipalities located in the northeast of Bo-gota, in order to strengthen their role in the metropolitan region from an economic, social, and en-vironmental perspective. Juliana is also involved in the creation of an online decision-making tool for government agencies, which will contain updated information on education infrastructure on a na-tional scale. The aim of the platform is to support better investment policies in educational infra-structure in rural and urban areas of Colombia.

From 2016 to 2020 she was involved in several high-profile projects with the local planning depart-ment to update Bogota’s master plan, which is the long-term urban development strategy for the city. Also, she worked with Bogota’s Urban Development and Renovation Company, supporting the renewal of opportunity areas and development of expansion zones.

Juliana holds an MSc in Sustainable Urbanism with Distinction from The Bartlett School of Planning -London UCL as well as a Bachelors Degree (Honours) in Architecture from The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

Kai is Design Director at CRCC Real Estate Group. He was trained as an architect in China and started his professional career in Florence Italy for award winning practice of Studio Archea and Design Magazine AREA. After completing his MRes at the London Consortium, University of London, Kai extended his career in the UK as a magazine editor and reporter at Chinese Weekly, focusing on urbanism and design.

Kai further pursued his design practice and research regarding cities and the built environment after returning to his homeland. In 2015, he was made visiting scholar to the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau Germany, with a research grant from the institution. He now serves as the Design Director of the China Railway Construction (CRCC) Real Estate Group’s Chongqing office, regarded as one of the major property developers in the country.

Kate is an experienced urban and regional planner, who has spent much of her career working for the State Government of Victoria. Kate has a passion for land use planning reform and has contributed to a number of new policy and planning initiatives.

In the past 3 years, Kate has had a lead role in the planning and delivery of transport at the Department of Transport. Kate’s strengths included innovative and lateral thinking on complex policy problems and project management.

Khalil has been a senior policy advisor at GIZ (German International Cooperation) for 18 years, the Cairo Governor’s advisor since 2006, and a senior contract administrator. During his 30 years of pro-fessional experience, he negotiated and drafted several contracts in different businesses’ discipline and participated in several Dispute Resolutions Boards, Mediations as well as institutional and Ad-hoc Arbitration cases. He is a Certified Mediator and Trainer by CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolutions – London).

Khalil is a key person in outlining the current vision for the development of the informal areas within Cairo governorate as well as he is currently involved in many mega projects in Cairo to reshape and upgrade the Urban Fabrics and upgrade major informal areas with proper community participation and a defined business model. He is active in community participation related to development works and involved with local youth groups and NGOs for efficient role in the development activities to integrate within the local administration. He is a member of many professionals’ associations in UK, USA and Egypt.

Landiwe is currently the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Sekhukhune Development Agency(SDA) and the Director Amazwe Holdings. He is a development economist and strategist with extensive experience in local governance, development finance and infrastructure development.

He previously worked for the Development Bank of Southern Africa where he held various Executive and Specialist positions and is a former full-time Chairperson of the Municipal Demarcation Board.

He is serving as an Economic Advisor to the South African United Business Confederation, Member of the Emfuleni Planning Appeals Authority and an a member of Inter-Ministerial Advisory Panel on Electricity Distribution and Reticulation. He has served on the Board InterWaste Holdings and Seakay Holdings (both Johannesburg Stock Exchange Listed Companies) amongst others.

Leila is an independent consultant, with 25 years of experience of working in urban development and urban management. She started off in the NGO sector and then in government in 1994. She was appointed Executive of Planning, LED, Housing, and Environment in a sub-structure of the City of Johannesburg and later as the metro co-ordinator for strategic projects and restructuring of the planning function. In addition, she established Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) and was appointed CEO in 2000. JPC was the first municipality in South Africa to ring-fence its portfolio to manage it with the purpose of maximising value.

Following JPC, Leila was part of establishing a development management company that managed several large-scale urban projects and drafting property strategies for large public landholders. She was then employed by Kagiso Urban Management (part of Kagiso Property Holdings) responsible for CID and urban management plans and strategies for municipalities. She was also involved in property evaluations for KPH.

Most recently, Leila has worked as an independent consultant across the various disciplines of housing, planning, urban management, and property, and has drafted several papers on spatial integration, public properties, housing, and planning. She is currently involved with Urban Real Estate Research Unit based at UCT.

Moti is the Chairman & Founder of Wise City LTD, a consulting firm that provides strategic consulting services to municipalities and local councils and helps lead processes of formulating urban vision and strategic innovation & rejuvenation programs. Moti serves as consultant to corporations & NGOs, is an environmental activist and a former journalist. His present and previous clients include The Israel Land Authority, the city of Bnei Brak, Jerusalem City Council members, the Venture Capital Fund JVP, the Israeli medical emergency organizations United Hatzalah & The Association of Private Ambulances and more.

Moti is the Chairman and founder at the “Neighbors of the Yarkon” association in Tel Aviv, Israel, which aims to stop pollution in the Yarkon River. He is Founder and Member of the Board of Directors at the Israeli Heart Association, an organization that aims to support heart patients in Israel. He is also Member of the command team, spokesperson, and medic at The IsraeLife‎ Foundation Task Force to disaster areas in the world and was a member of the search and rescue Israeli delegations to help Nepal earthquake victims in 2015 and the victims of Hurricane Irma in the Florida Keys in the US in 2017.

Nicolas is General Manager of the Mobility Department for the Region Grand Est (Strasbourg, Metz, Nancy, Reims), in charge of the regional train network (180,000 daily passengers). He was educated at Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris) and University Pompeu Fabra (Barcelo-na). He has held various managing positions in the mobility field for the French state and French lo-cal authorities.

Prior to his current role, Nicolas was General Manager of the Mobility Department for the Bordeaux Metropolitan area, in charge of all the infrastructure development programs, among which a 1 billion-investment plan to extend the tramway network by 27 km.

Rabih is the Managing Member of Urbia, a property development & consulting company located in Liberia, West Africa. Rabih helped acquire and develop multiple properties in the city of Monrovia and is currently developing the Four Points by Sheraton due to open in 2023.

Rabih has extensive knowledge of the zoning and building regulation in the city of Monrovia and holds academic qualifications in International Business (Lebanese American University) and a mas-ter’s in business administration & finance (University of New Haven-US).

Reid presently serves as the Deputy City Manager for the City of Lynchburg, Virginia. In this role, he oversees and provides strategic leadership to a variety of municipal functions such as city planning and development, public safety, economic development, public works, and transportation. Over the past 15 years, he has served cities and towns in leadership roles throughout Virginia, creating a cul-ture of innovation and equity in public service.

Reid has a PhD in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a Master’s and undergraduate degree from James Madison University in Virginia. In his spare time, Reid enjoys flying airplanes throughout the eastern United States, kayaking Virginia’s scenic rivers and serving the arts community in various volunteer roles.

Waleed is Program Manager on Climate and Energy at Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Egypt office. His role entails program design and delivery on climate and energy with local partners with the aim of creating policy dialogue, building capacities of local institutions and creating platforms for local actors to interact.

His work’s keyword is socioecological transformation, the ambition is to steer dialogue between the government, academics, experts and the independent actors on sustainable urbanization, climate action, Eco-tourism, and sustainable mobility.

Yasmin Coovadia is advisor on city planning and economic growth to the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Yasmin is a town and regional planner in South Africa with a master’s degree in Town & Regional Planning.  She has approximately thirty years’ knowledge and experience of urban development in respect of national and sub-national legislation, policies, and systems. Seven of the thirty years of this experience was gained in housing development as a member of senior management in the South African government between 1996 and 2003; another nineteen years’ experience was gained working in the private sector in companies that provided niche financial and urban development services to government; and four years’ experience was gained during the pre-democratic years working at community level.

In the last ten years Yasmin was contracted to the National Treasury of South Africa to work on various projects in the Cities Support Programme, identifying and analysing key urban challenges and designing improved responses from government to these urban challenges. One of her key projects has focused on designing a more outcomes-led approach to urban planning, budgeting and reporting.

Abidemi is the founder and Chief Executive officer of ROWGA an Urban Tech start-up focused on Unlocking the potentials of African Cities through the seamless integration of Tunnelling and Underground space use. He also founded Nigeria Tunnelling Association and is currently an executive council member of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (which has a consultative status with the United Nations). He has been involved in several high-profile Tunnelling and Underground related projects with direct and indirect impact on the dynamics of their host cities within Europe.

Abidemi has in the last 4 years championed the promotion and creation of awareness of the benefits of extensively exploring tunnelling and underground space use in achieving resilience and future proofing key African Cities. He led the discussions in Partnership with delegates from the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association with the 8th Nigeria National Assembly for the proposition of adopting Tunnelling and Underground Space Use into the Land Transportation Act. He holds academic qualifications in Geology (University of Calabar), Civil Engineering (University of East London). He is also registered with the Council of Registered Engineers Nigeria.

Peter has served as a professional planner in South Africa’s public service for 24 years. He grew up in the UK and gained Town and Country Planning undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from the University of Manchester (1989-1993) before relocating to South Africa in 1994. The Gauteng Provincial Departments of Planning and Housing provided formative professional planning opportunities (1996-2001).

He worked for more than a decade at the City of Johannesburg (2001-2013) heading their metropolitan planning unit and for brief periods with the Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSCHO) and the national Housing Development Agency (HDA) prior to relocating province and city in 2014.

For the last six years he has managed the metropolitan spatial planning unit at the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The team he leads champions the primary metropolitan scale, spatial planning policy and strategy documents including the Municipal Spatial Development Framework and Built Environment Performance Plan. He is also a member of the City’s Municipal Planning Tribunal.

In addition to contributions to international and local planning publications he is the founder and host of the Talking Transformation Podcast – an open conversation about spatial transformation and built environment issues in South Africa’s town and cities.

Samer is currently the CEO of the Jordan Bromine Company. Before that, he was the Senior Advisor for Policy and Regulations for the Royal Commission for Makkah City & Holy Sites.

In 2017, Samer served as Regional Director for Tesla in the Middle East. In 2012, Samer was appointed in His Majesty’s office as Director for Economic Affairs. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director for Government Sector at (PwC).

Samer served in 2011 as the CEO Jordan Investment Board. Between 2009 – 2011, he was Senior Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister. Prior to that in 2008, he served as Commissioner for Investment at the Development Zones Commission. He was Deputy City Manager for Economic Development Planning & Investments at Greater Amman Municipality (2006-2008), where his main mission was to set the city vision for the next 20 years through the Amman Master Plan.

He holds an MBA degree being the first in class, from University of Denver as well as an MSc in International Securities, Investment and Banking from the University of Reading. Samer is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Member of Young Global Leaders and received the highly regarded President Eisenhower Fellowship in 2005.

Erik is Partner and Head of Agency at Colliers International Latvia. In this role, he co-manages Colliers International operations and business development in Latvia. Focusing on real estate consulting during last 12 years, Erik has established a strong team of experts, helping property owners, occupiers, as well as public companies to achieve their real estate goals in the Baltics.

Erik is the member of Green Building Council in Latvia, as well as the member of Real Estate Developers Association in Latvia. Being part of the team in several large-scale real estate projects, which are shaping the city of Riga, he is an active promoter of sustainable and affordable real estate development, as well as its further use.

Claire’s career to date has had 3 phases. Claire bring 20 years of corporate expertise working across international cultural environments (HK, India, UK, US).

From 2001 – 2005 Claire ran the logistics for a growing hedge fund in New York, including relocating the company to a custom built space. From 2005 – 2013 Claire worked at JP Morgan in New York building and delivering leadership development programmes for technical talent. In 2013 she moved to London and took a role at HSBC to implement an integrated technical career path for HSBC.

In 2016 the CIO sponsoring the leadership initiatives invited Claire to join the new innovation function. She discovered a passion for strategy working with internal clients adopting new technologies and evolving the capabilities of a 150 year old financial institution. Her most recent project supported the innovative transformation of Regulatory Compliance, replacing HSBC’s communications surveillance system with a next generation analytical platform hosted on Google Cloud.

For her next career phase she would like to play a part in helping cities evolve. Realising the potential for innovative new technologies will require active engagement with many varied stakeholders to effectively integrate them in a way that works for all citizens.

Mick is the Chief Executive of the New South Wales Government’s Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC). LAHC’s core business is the supply and maintenance of social housing for the people of New South Wales, with over $50 billion (AUD) in assets, 125,000 properties under management and a $1.2 billion (AUD) turnover per year. A key challenge for the business is the redevelopment of its portfolio with limited capital available for growth.

Prior to leading LAHC, Mick led the government’s Revitalising Newcastle program from 2014 and in 2016 he took over as the Chief Executive of Hunter & Central Coast Regional Development Corporation in the Hunter Development Corporation and oversaw its annexing of the Central Coast.

Mick has a over 30 years experience in property and his experience spans concept to completion, having led both projects and businesses through all aspects. In 2019, Mick completed the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program (AMP196) and holds an MBA (Executive) from the University of New South Wales, a masters of Property Development from the University of Technology and a Construction Management Degree from Newcastle University (Australia).

Amara is a Strategist, Public Policy expert and Social Impact professional on city and state policy as well as international affairs with expertise in Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

She serves as a representative of the African Union in the Diaspora representing the 6th Region of the African Union Commission. She is also Policy and Research Coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives and serves as a Strategy Advisor for corporations, organizations, and governmental institutions globally. Prior to her current roles, she worked in the Mayor’s Office for the city of Chicago, and served as Executive Director of community-based organizations. As a grassroots organizer she worked on issues of education equity, economic justice and environmental justice.

Amara holds a Bachelors degree in Broadcast Journalism and Bachelors degree in Political Science. She also holds a Masters degree in education, a law degree, and PhD in Education Policy. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Public Banking Institute and on the boards of the Chicago Community Loan Fund, and Chicago Neighbourhoods Initiative. She maintains proficiency in Igbo, Spanish, French and Portuguese and was named a Public Policy Global Leadership Fellow with the Global Strategists Association.

Jargalan is the Executive Director of Erel Group of Companies, a vertically integrated construction and development company in Mongolia, starting from raw material production to manufacturing insulated precast building materials. He is deeply involved with the regeneration of Ulaanbaatar City, redeveloping from existing traditional Nomad Ger districts to modern, affordable, and sustainable housing.

He serves on the Board of Arig Bank, the main focus on developing the financing mechanism for affordable housing. He is also on the Board of Erel Energy, in the early stage of developing the Waste Incineration Plant in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He holds academic qualification in Development Studies and Economics (SOAS, University of London).

Sam is a Liberian national residing in the United States of America. He came to the United States as a young boy in 1971 to pursue his dreams of being a banker and social activist. He has over 40 years of experience in finance, economics and sustainable development. He started his career as a clerk at Security Pacific International bank and rose to a senior level position in corporate America.

Sam has worked for the Liberian government in several capacities, beginning as Deputy Comptroller at the Ministry of Finance and rose to the position of Minister of State for Economic and Financial Management, his last position in government. Over the past 17 years of Liberia’s postwar economic development, Sam has played the role of leading consultant in sustainable development. He consulted with many multinational corporations in Liberia preparing social impact assessments and linkage plans.

Sam’s major accomplishment as a lead development consultant was Senior Economist on the United Nations High-Level Panel for the Post 2015 Development Agenda, where he supported former Liberian President Ellen in her role as Co-Chair with former British Prime Minister David Cameron and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Monita was appointed as the Head of Financial Services in 2018, responsible for FinTech business development.

She joined Hong Kong Telecommunications Limited (HKT) in 2001. HKT is the leading service provider of home and wireless broadband for consumers, enterprises and the government. She led the consumer marketing from 2005 to 2011, during which she played an integral part of the success of high speed optical fibre service rollout in Hong Kong. She took the leading role in the operations, marketing and relationship management of affluent customers in 2011 driving service excellence. Since 2014, she had been involved in the planning and implementation of Hong Kong’s first mobile payment service and virtual banking.

Prior to joining HKT, Monita spent 10 years working in Chase and American Express, where she focused on consumer credit and payment card business in Hong Kong. Ms Leung graduated from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, with a Bachelor’s Degree equivalent in Business Management.

Cindy is the Managing Director of Keppel Urban Solutions, an end-to-end master developer of large scale precincts and townships in Asia. Concurrently, she is the Director of Group Corporate Development at Keppel Corporation. In these roles, Cindy is focused on harnessing the Keppel Group’s capabilities in energy & environment, property & urban development, infrastructure and connectivity to create highly liveable, smart and sustainable communities.

Since joining Keppel, Cindy has held several leadership appointments within the Group, which includes infrastructure services, quality system, talent management as well as productivity, innovation related programs.

Cindy holds a Second Class (Upper) Honours degree in Mechanical & Production Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She also holds a Executive Master of Business Administration from Singapore Management University.

Bernardo is the Secretary of the Environment of the City of Rio de Janeiro, President of the Forum of Secretaries of Environment of the Brazilian Capitals (CB27) and the President of the Promotion Agency of the City of Rio de Janeiro – Fomenta Rio.

He holds a law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and a post-graduated leader by the Master in Leadership and Public Management – MLG, with an international degree at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). He also holds an MBA in PPP and Concessions from Fundação Escola de Sociologia de São Paulo (FESPSP) and London School of Economics (LSE). At Rio de Janeiro’s City Hall, he was also Under Secretary of Administration, President of the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Pension and Assistance Institute (PREVI-RIO) and Administration and Finance Director at RIOLUZ.

Ramon is an urban economist, writer, and activist with a passion for people and places. He is currently Director of Placemaking Europe and Strategy Advisor to the Creative Bureaucracy Festival. Before, he has served as the Chief Strategy and Finance Officer at La Marina de València, Valencia’s waterfront redevelopment agency, and a board member of the Worldwide Network of Port Cities (AIVP). Ramon is a co-editor of the book “Our City? Countering Exclusion in Public Space” (2019) and the host and co-curator of Placemaking Week Europe 2019. His work focuses on the interface between public space and economic development.

He has been a researcher at the University of Valencia (Spain), Western Sydney University (Australia), and FLACSO (Ecuador). He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Valencia and an MSc in Economics and Geography from Utrecht University. He received the Spanish Social Entrepreneur Award in 2012 and co-authored four books and published more than a hundred columns on urban issues in some of the main Spanish newspapers. In 2012, Ramon also co-founded Urbego, an international network of urban professionals dedicated to improving cities through active participation, co-creation, and knowledge sharing; personally leading projects in Australia, Ecuador, Brasil, and Colombia.

Leandro is an economist and specialist in Leadership and Public Management at the Center for Public Leadership – CLP, with executive training at Harvard Kennedy School. He worked as a consultant in several public and private organizations in Brazil. As a consultant, he implemented projects in industries, public transport companies, retail, mining, airport management, executive government departments.

As an executive, he led initiatives in the public sector in different positions; he was Chief of Staff, Special Advisor and Manager. Through these diverse experiences, Leandro developed skills to lead initiatives in planning and restructuring organizational structure, to deal with crisis and conflictive environments and to work on projects that are sensitive to issues social and political.

Currently, Leandro works as a consultant in urban planning and community development projects. In 2020, in particular, Leandro is head of communication and political strategy in an election campaign for the mayor of Poços de Caldas, a Brazilian city with more than 150 thousand inhabitants.

Bruce is Vice President, Market Strategies at Lowlaw Companies Ltd. His career in information systems and retail started with a small consulting firm specializing in the implementation of geographic information systems (GIS) for business purposes. With this understanding of how to develop visual insights to drive key decisions, Bruce’s career migrated from a business support role to a leadership role at Loblaw, Canada’s largest retailer. The use of geographic information to build and optimize our retail store network remains his core responsibility today.

Through this journey, Bruce has been involved in the assessment of key urban projects along with mergers & acquisitions, and have built a small team of high performing specialists. He is keen to further develop his understanding of how complex urban systems are growing along with Canada’s cities.

Salma is currently the Mobility Program Officer at UN Habitat where she is working to promote sustainable mobility in order to improve accessibility in Greater Cairo. Prior to her work on mobility, Salma was part of the governance team where she worked on the first land readjustment pilot in Egypt.

Salma holds a Master of City Planning from University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts and Science from McGill University. In 2018, Salma was chosen as a Remarkable Women in Transport award by the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative. Salma started her career in the development field where she worked at UNAIDS on HIV programs for vulnerable populations.

Rohit serves as the Authority’s chief of human resources where he takes a lead role in identifying organizational strengths, vulnerabilities and opportunities.

He comes to the Authority after having served in a multitude of public sector leadership roles, including deputy chief human resources officer at the Chicago Housing Authority, deputy chief talent officer at City Colleges of Chicago, director of human resources at the Academy for Urban School Leadership, and director of talent acquisition at Chicago Public Schools.

During his tenure at Chicago Public Schools, Rohit helped the organization reach historic lows in the number of unfilled teacher vacancies that serve approximately 400,000 students. He was recognized as a top school district leader utilizing technology to fast-track and efficiently manage HR functions. In his later roles as a senior human resources advisor, he launched initiatives to address and revitalize culture and climate, implemented or upgraded existing performance processes, and developed professional learning programs.

Rohit currently serves on the board of two non-profit organizations focused on social justice. He holds undergraduate degrees from Loyola University Chicago, a law degree from the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, and a master’s in business administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Alexander currently works on policy initiatives for circular economy with the Ministry of Ecology in Kyiv. In particular, waste management and recycling. He is also a renewable energy developer based in Ukraine with River Wind Technologies, with a focus on wind and solar farms. He separately set up hydrogen alliance with German partners with a view to produce green hydrogen.

Previously, Alexander managed IT outsourcing company with a client base mainly made up of start ups funded through crowdfunding platforms in Northern Europe and some local corporate clients. His first jobs were with finance and investment firms with deals ranging from property finance and transportation to private transactions in agriculture and IT.

Maria Camila is an economist specialized in cities and Latin American development. She currently works as a Consultant for the Cities Network in the Housing and Urban Development Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). At the Cities Network, she specializes in transferring knowledge to Latin American and the Caribbean cities that address urgent urban challenges related to inequality, economic development, and environmental sustainability

Before joining the Cities Network, she worked at the IDB country office in Bogotá, Colombia in the preparation and implementation of an operation for investment projects to support neighbourhood improvement and fiscal strengthening in intermediate cities as well as the evaluation and promotion of sustainability in cities.

Prior to joining the IDB, Maria Camila was Deputy Director of Projects and International Cooperation of the Secretary of Environment of Bogotá Colombia and Technical Advisor of the Water and Waste Management Regulation Commission (CRA). Maria Camila holds an MSc in Latin American Development from Kings College London as well as an MBA from Bentley University.

Ahmed is the Associate Minister for Industrial Affairs at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Egypt. In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing the Industrial strategy in Egypt, managing national mega industrial projects, coordinating with IFIs and MDBs to leverage on their international expertise in industrial development, as well as linking Egyptian industries to regional and global value-chains. Ahmed’s portfolio covers the establishment of new industrial zones and clusters development projects for SMEs according to international standards.

Prior to joining the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ahmed served as an Advisor to the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation in Egypt, where he was managing the work of several multi-lateral institutions in Egypt including the World Bank, EBRD, IFC, as well DFID-UK. Some of the projects under his management included Upper Egypt Local Development Program, Solid Waste treatment facilities, dry-ports development projects, and Benban Solar Farm, which is the biggest solar farm in Africa and amongst the largest in the world. Mr. Reda is also the national focal point for Closing the Investment Gap, an initiative in collaboration with the UN. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy (American University in Cairo).

Gabriela is the Head of Climate, Energy and Future Cities Policy at the British Embassy in Mexico City, where she leads on the implementation of the bilateral cooperation strategy between Mexico and the UK for these portfolios.

As part of her role, Gabriela works to identify and enable opportunities for accelerating climate action at the local level, advising on the design and delivery of a wide range of development programmes funded by the UK government to mobilise climate finance internationally.

Prior to joining the British Government, Gabriela worked with a number of industry associations advancing sustainable development practices in areas like waste and water management, air quality, and environmental compliance. She acted as coordinator for the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in Mexico, a UK initiative to promote industrial symbiosis and circular economy as tools to foster clean growth in industrialised cities. Gabriela holds an Environmental Engineering degree and qualifications in green finance, public policy, climate and energy diplomacy, project management and international cooperation.

Scott is a principal and the group leader for Arup’s Los Angeles office. In this role, Scott is responsible for all aspects of Arup’s Southern California operations with a particular focus on planning, designing, and delivering high-performing buildings in the healthcare and transport sectors and sustainable infrastructure and mobility systems for public sector clients.

A city planner by background and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Scott spent much of his professional career in the field of public dispute resolution, helping communities develop consensus-based solutions to critical infrastructure challenges. He holds graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Oxford’s Said Business School.

Soraya is Social Specialist in the Environmental Safeguards and Social Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank. Her work ensures that large development programs do no harm to communities that surround them through the management of social impact assessments, resettlement and rehabilitation plans, and social audits.

Soraya has been working in International Development for over 15 years for large non-governmental organizations and Inter-governmental organizations. Prior to settling in Washington, D.C. she lived in Mexico, Honduras, Spain, Dominican Republic, Kosovo and Haiti. It is her firm belief that real development must be sustainable and provide the opportunity for every human being to live with dignity in a society that benefits one and all.

She holds a MA in Peace and International Development.

Hannah has experience across Development Management, Architecture and Urban Renewal. She is currently working for Infrastructure NSW as a Senior Development Manager in the team responsible for the delivery of the new Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta. Prior to this she worked for Neeson Murcutt Architects, Sydney and Peter Rich Architects, Johannesburg across a number of national and international projects of cultural significance.

Her career to date has been focused on making a difference. Whether it is a public sector organisation or a private enterprise, she is driven by a desire to improve the lives of the people it serves.

She has degrees in both Interior Design and Architecture and a Property Development Diploma.  Upon graduation she won the University medal and the Board of Architects Queensland medallion.

Hannah has tutored across design, technologies and professional practice units in Australia, Asia and Africa and has published and presented work on future cities research and written articles for Architecture Media.  In 2016 she was a recipient of the Dulux Study Tour and travelled to Copenhagen, London and Madrid.

Most recently, she has been the 2019 recipient of both the inaugural Australian Institute of Architects Christopher Procter Prize and David Lindner Prize.

Albert is a Senior Private Sector Specialist at the World Bank based in New Delhi, India. His work program includes projects on firm-level productivity and technology adoption, innovation ecosystems and local economic development. A seasoned economic development practitioner in the subnational policy space, he has conducted numerous regional and sector-based economic analysis to facilitate action-oriented dialogue with local stakeholders across Europe, South Asia and Latin America. Prior to joining the World Bank, he delivered strategic recommendations to national and subnational governments as a regional competitiveness and cluster development consultant, and implemented policy interventions as a manager and public official in the Catalan Competitiveness Agency (Government of Catalonia) in Barcelona, Spain.

Albert wants to explore holistic approaches to city management, convinced that cities hold the key to global prosperity as they host a growing share of an increasingly urbanized population. Cities, as units of analysis and stakeholder mobilization, constitute platforms to design innovative policy-making and test public-private solutions to tackle the world’s most pressing social, environmental and development challenges.

Albert holds a Mid-Career Master in Public Administration (MPA) from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of San Francisco.

Sultan is a senior civil servant from Pakistan Administrative Service, currently leading Asian Development Bank’s funded Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Program (PICIIP) as Deputy Program Director. Nine intermediate cites of the Punjab province are undergoing integrated urban development thru this program. Just recently, he was serving as Principal Staff Officer in the Prime Minister’s Office of Pakistan since incumbent government took charge in August 2018. He brings two decades of public sector experience in diverse roles and themes that are highly relevant to urban development and local governance.

As Assistant Commissioner, Director Estate Management Capital Development Authority, Islamabad and Director Excise & Taxation he focused primarily on municipal service delivery and local revenue generation. He has served in district governments as Deputy Commissioner, and his time as Director General of Gilgit Development Authority provided him with valuable city development experience. He was selected by the Japanese Government for the prestigious Young Leaders Program where he acquired skills tailored specifically for sub-national governments from School of Local Governance, Tokyo. Before joining civil services, Sultan also served the Pakistan Air Force as a pilot for more than a decade.

Maria is Principal Technical Lead of the Housing and Urban Development Division, coordinating the Cities Network of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She served as Representative of the Bank in Chile, and later worked in the coordination of the Institutional Strategy of the IDB Group. Before that, she served as Head of the Services Section for the Committees and the Executive Directors in the IDB Secretariat.

She has over 18 years of experience in the Colombian public sector, having served as Secretary of Planning of Bogotá, Director of Cadaster and Tax Director of the same city, advisor to the Ministry of Finance of Colombia and to the National Planning Department. Local and urban fiscal matters stand out amongst her many specializations.

Maria has undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Economics from the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Patricia is an Economist at the Economics Department of the European Investment Bank. In her work, she focuses on human capital and investment, regional inequalities and analyses strategies to advance inclusive economic development.

Patricia regularly contributes to EIB publications and has authored numerous working papers and articles in her fields of expertise. Her research interests are in European policy, political, economy, economic geography and human capital development.

Prior to this, Patricia worked at Deutsche Bank Research, where she conducted i.a. research on housing, and Google. She holds a Master degree from Freie Universität Berlin and a doctoral degree from Mannheim University.

Musaad is currently the Partnerships Manager at the World Green Economy Organization (WGEO) in Dubai, seconded from Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). In this role, he is responsible for membership discussions on the establishment of a new type of a multi-stakeholder institution with treaty foundation to support countries with their transition to a green economy. In addition, he is responsible for the development and implementation of high-impact bankable projects pipeline focused on smart green cities and sustainable infrastructure projects.

Previously, Musaad served as the Senior Policy Associate for MENA region at GGGI Abu Dhabi office where he was responsible for knowledge sharing programs and regional partnership outreach activities related to planning and implementing green growth policies. Prior to joining GGGI, Musaad was a Programme Analyst for Energy, Environment and Climate Change at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Barbados and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Subregional Office. Musaad played a pivotal role in strategically mapping renewable energy opportunities and initiatives with Global Environmental Facility (GEF) projects by identifying needs and gaps within the Eastern Caribbean SIDS.

Silvia is an Architect and Urban Planner. Throughout her eighteen years of experience, she has actively participated in the definition and management of major processes of urban transformation in Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area, focused mainly on the city of Viladecans (Barcelona).

The last three years she was in charge of an Urban Development Office in Viladecans City Council (Barcelona), she managed multidisciplinary teams to approach the Master Plan to regenerate an Industrial area with a broad strategic vision incorporating ‘smart concepts’ to configure an innovative district. She also worked as a link between politicians and citizens coordinating participatory processes to achieve agreements in complex environments.

Previously, as a Senior Coordinator (2007-2015) and as a Senior Architect (2003-2007) in Viladecans City Council (Barcelona), she worked on different types of projects, from large-scale urban planning, through urban landscape design to detailed architectural projects. She designed the projects and managed the budget and construction of these works. It is important to highlight that she is always driven by a sustainable approach. Sílvia has recently moved to London due to a desire for international experience. Her aim is to keep building more competitive, sustainable and inclusive buildings and territories.

Manuel is the founder and president of Aston Group, a private equity firm based in Central Mexico with a strong focus on Real Estate investment and development. To date, the Aston Group has invested over $1B USD in projects throughout Mexico, North America and Europe. In this role, he provides the leading strategy and is responsible for new business and development functions that cover a wide variety of sectors such as real estate, technology, natural resources, education, and financial services. Manuel has over twenty years of experience in developing retail, industrial, residential and mix-use projects.

Prior to founding Aston Group, Manuel had a ten-year career with Hines Interests. His main role was to participate and lead emerging market fund projects, aimed at investing into emerging markets. The target was to achieve a higher return on investment while significantly improving the construction standards in the respective country.

Manuel holds academic qualifications in International Business (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM)) and a Master of Business Administration (University of Texas).

Melody is an Urban Resilience Consultant working at the intersection of climate change adaptation and sustainable, inclusive development. In her work, Melody focuses on small islands states with a regional emphasis on the Caribbean. She specializes in disaster risk management and risk reduction for greater resilience to a changing climate that is expected to bring more frequent and intense disaster impacts. She also supports post-disaster economic recovery efforts with the US Economic Development Administration (EDA). At the World Bank, she works with the Building Regulation for Resilience Program and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) to strengthen regulatory processes for the built environment in Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Through EDA, she has supported the economic development and recovery of the US Virgin Islands and Nebraska after significant disasters events had pronounced impacts on economic activities.

Prior to this, Melody helped advance socially responsible finance practices at the Royal Bank of Scotland in London, Sustainalytics in Boston, and Arabella Advisors in Washington, DC. She holds a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Gergely is co-founder and majority partner of CreaCity, a Budapest based consultancy specialized in human-centred urban development. CreaCity is working with small and mid-size cities on their most pressing leadership challenges, from renewing their development practices and adapting to climate change, to regulating the sharing economy and retaining their home-grown entrepreneurial talent. CreaCity frequently uses Design Thinking methods such as ‘Customer Journey Mapping’ and ‘360° Empathy’ to bring the most out of its network of internationally renowned experts, as well to make local liveability the core aspect of urban development.

Gergely studied International Relations at Corvinus University of Budapest. He pursued a Master of Business Administration at Central European University and participated in the Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship of Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is also founder of Brain Bar, the largest European festival on the future, and head of Design Terminal, a leading innovation agency in Central Europe.

Mei Ghee is Senior Manager with Capital Project and Infrastructure (CP&I) team, Mainland China and Hong Kong-based PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In this role, Mei Ghee is responsible for financial advisory for the development of infrastructure projects, mostly in the planning or pre-financing green-field stages. In her current role, she is involved in many different types of deals, namely public private partnership (PPP) structuring, international public bidding, unsolicited bidding exercises with negotiations with local authorities, feasibility studies to form investment decisions, amongst others. She has completed a number of transactions in power and transportation sectors. Mei Ghee has deal experience across all continents, with a concentration in Africa and Asia.

Before joining PwC, Mei Ghee worked in rating agency and debt capital market (DCM), raising capital for corporates as well as infrastructure projects.

Marion is the inaugural CEO of the Committee for Perth Ltd, a role she has held for the past thirteen years. She is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia and holds an MBA from Curtin Graduate School of Business.

The Committee for Perth is a private sector funded think tank. Its focus is on the Perth region’s growth from its current population of 2 million people to 3.5 million expected around 2050 and the challenges and opportunities this will bring. The purpose of the Committee is to inform and advocate for change that improves the cultural diversity, economic prosperity, sustainability and world-class amenities of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. To deliver on its purpose, the Committee takes an evidenced-based and solutions-focused approach and over the past decade has released over one hundred pieces of research. Its outputs are trusted sources of truth for public policymakers and the media.

Marion has led projects ‘by Perth, for Perth’ on transport and congestion, gender equality, economic diversity, governance and brand reputation. Her on-the-ground research covers almost forty cities across the developed world in order to evaluate what Perth can learn from elsewhere.

Justyna is Head Coordinator for Sustainable Development & Green Areas in city of Warsaw Mayor’s office. Previously, she was a candidate for the post of the President of Warsaw, representing a coalition of twelve urban movements in local elections of 2018.

She graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics with MA and the LSE, where she obtained a PhD in political economy of European integration. Justyna started her professional career at the Office of the Main Negotiator of the Accession Treaty with the European Union, trainee at the European Commission Budget DG. For two years she coordinated the work of a group of policy experts in the Chancellery of the President of Poland.

Justyna is an expert in public affairs, territorial self-governments, regional policy design and implementation, including mechanisms of EU funds distribution. She has also published numerous articles and co-authored books in this field of expertise. She has been an activist for more than 10 years, involved in a local social movement fighting for better environmental policies and public space in one of the City of Warsaw’s districts.

Khaled is CEO and Founder of Karma Lebanon SAL, the leading packer and exporter of fresh Lebanese produce. A consumer-centric advocate, he innovated several processes to optimise farm to consumer cycle and extend produce shelf life in transit. He is active in the agriculture domain and has led several national initiatives to develop and modernise the sector. He is also Chairman of the External Advisory Board at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science at The American University of Beirut and Secretary General of Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Lebanon.

Khaled is currently interested in creating national awareness about the importance of agriculture and its role in promoting democracy and alleviating poverty, mainly through education and developing a favourable eco-system for private sector intervention in the sector.

João is a parliamentary advisor at the Brazilian Federal Senate and has been in public service for eighteen years in various positions. He has served as a Member of the Brazilian National Congress (2015-2019); Mayor of Blumenau/SC (2005-2012), the third-largest city in the Santa Catarina State; Member of the Santa Catarina State Legislative Assembly (2003-2004), Santa Catarina State Secretary for Health (2015-2016), CEO of the Santa Catarina Development Bank (2013-2014) and CEO of the Southern Brazil Electrical Power Transmission Company (2001-2002).

He holds a BA in History (Federal University of Santa Catarina) and a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration (Santa Catarina State University).

Lior currently works as the CEO of the region environmental enforcement unit. In his job he manages a team of environmental officers who are in charge of keeping the environment in the region safe. Previously he was the advisor to the Mayor of Rahat, a city in the south of Israel. The city of Rahat was built by the government in the 70s for the Bedouin nomad community. Lior deals there with strategic planning, project managing, planning annual work plans and assisting the mayor with high priority tasks.

He has a BA in Business and Politics and a Master’s in Public Policy. Lior participated in an excellence program conducted by the government that aims to train tomorrow’s local government leaders in Israel. He has profound knowledge and field experience in development of unserved communities in Israel.

Jan has over ten years of experience in real estate investment and finance. The formative years of Jan’s career were spent at JPMorgan underwriting real estate loans, following construction lending, real estate Private Banking at Wells Fargo and commercial lending thereafter. Most recently Jan worked for a private equity firm in real estate acquisitions covering gateway cities: London, Paris, Frankfurt, New York, Boston and Washington D.C.

Throughout his career, Jan was an active advocate with steady interest in sustainable development and Green buildings. In the past few years, Jan’s Green initiative led to direct investments in the buildings that are LEED (US Green Building Council) certified and/or uphold BREEAM (UK) standards.

Rohin currently manages two organisations, Fixing Dad and Boofel Enterprises, their primary focus being upon the media, healthcare and tech environments. Fixing Dad is based in the UK and is currently in the process expanding to nine countries with a vision to create a smart solution that can help empower citizens to tackle, reverse and prevent a range of conditions including diabetes, obesity, heart failure/cardio-vascular disease, mental illness, respiratory illness and some forms of cancer.

Rohin has over twenty years of experience across media, tech/digital and gaming, having led companies globally and been responsible for leading growth, overcoming complex challenges and international expansion for numerous organisations and franchises. To date, he has helped lead five start-ups, five exits, six turnarounds, four global media corporations, one IPO and production/distribution of over three hundred hours of content to one hundred and forty countries.

Rohin graduated in Law from King’s College London and has previously served as CEO for World Poker Tour and Bookie Mania and served as Managing Director/COO/GM roles with appScatter, Active Research, Fox Kids Europe, Lightstream Animation Studios, digital-first inc and in senior exec positions with Nickelodeon Asia-Pacific, Fox Sports USA, PartyGaming and Chiligaming.

Nayoka is Senior Program Manager and Thematic Coordinator for Urban Development at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). She is a development cooperation practitioner with 20 years of experience from the government sector, as well as from bilateral and multilateral financing systems.

In her current position at Sida, Nayoka is responsible for preparing financing decisions and monitoring and analysing the results from Sida’s global urban portfolio which consists of long-term funding to various UN and multilateral agencies, universities, think tanks and international NGOs. She also provides advice to policy and strategic planning processes of the Swedish government and of external partners, and represents Sida in international advisory committees of relevant urban initiatives.

Previously, Nayoka worked as Human Settlements Officer at UN-Habitat headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, where she was responsible for designing and setting up UN-Habitat’s Global Program on Public Space. Nayoka began her professional career in the Philippines working with various development-financed programs and projects.

Stefan is a Registered Architect and Urban Designer. He is an Associate Director at Ethos Urban, a newly created Australian urban consultancy firm with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Since 2016 Stefan has been involved in establishing a design practice within Ethos Urban. He co-leads the Sydney design team which works alongside town and strategic planners, social strategists, economists and engagement specialist on small to large urban transformation projects for government as well as the private sector. He is also a design studio leader in the Master of Architecture course at the University of New South Wales. His studio focuses on large-scale, multi-use structures and precinct and explores the program, performance and architecture of buildings at a city scale.

His fascination with cities started in his home town of Dresden in Germany which, growing up, was still heavily marked by the impacts of World War II as well as current socialist rule but then swiftly and fundamentally transformed after the collapse of the communism in Eastern Europe. Stefan holds a degree in architecture and urban design from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany but has spent all his working life in Australia.

Langdon is Senior Partner of InnovationLabs LLC, one of the world’s leading innovation consultancies. He works with a global clientele including major corporations, small firms, and governments, to help develop and implement successful innovation programs and projects. He is author, co-author, or editor of 15 books in the fields of innovation and strategy. Some of his works are used as university textbooks worldwide, and he has taught and lectured on six continents.

He is a partner of FutureLab, a technology incubator working at the leading edge of blockchain and quantum technologies, and a board member of the International Association of Innovation Professionals and chair of its annual conference, Innova-Con. He is also Co-Chair of the Innovation Council at RedTeam Engineering, and a Member of the USA Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for ISO 56000, the new global standard for innovation management now under development.

Previously, Langdon was Associate Editor of the International Journal of Innovation Science, and Senior Practice Scholar, Ackoff Center, University of Pennsylvania. He was originally trained in architecture and worked for many years as an apprentice to renowned architect and urbanist Paolo Soleri on the Arcosanti project in Arizona, USA

Michael leads land use and infrastructure regeneration projects in Melbourne Australia. In his current role, he leads a cross and intergovernmental team preparing a transport and land use framework for a large part of the inner city. He is also managing structure planning processes for several major urban renewal and social housing regeneration opportunities.

Previously, Michael worked for large property developers, consultants, and State and local governments in urban development and economic development roles. This included working for a publicly listed company on large master-planned communities, housing and mixed-use projects from inception to completion and preparing an innovation district strategy for the Bays Precinct in Sydney. Michael has qualifications in urban planning, sustainable design and business administration.

Joey is a corporate real estate veteran with twenty-four years of experience in the Philippines. He is currently Vice Chairman and Head of Occupier Services & Commercial Agency for Knight Frank in the Philippines. He engages in major tenant and landlord representation assignments, strategic consulting on development, acquisition, disposition, and investments for Global Fortune 500 companies and select private client groups. He also advises clients on selecting the right labour markets and developing workplace strategies. Prior to joining Knight Frank, he worked for CBRE and Colliers International. He started his career with a local developer gaining extensive experience in residential project investment sales.

Joey is currently the Philippines Chapter Chair for CoreNet Global, a non-profit organization headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA promoting the corporate real estate profession around the globe. He holds academic qualifications in Business Administration (University of Santos Tomas – Philippines), Real Estate Management (De La Salle – College of St. Benilde – Philippines) and recently completed an executive certificate in Real Estate Finance (National University of Singapore).

Arief is the Director of Finance and Business Service of PT Jakarta Industrial Estate, a developer owned by Government of the Republic of Indonesia and Provincial Government of Jakarta. In this role, he is starting an initiative to transform an industrial estate into an integrated development zone, as an integral part of Jakarta’s Urban Regeneration Plan.

Arief originally joined the Ministry of Finance in 2000. During his tenure in the ministry, he played roles in various assignments on modernization of administration system. Following his fruitful career at Ministry of Finance, started 2008 Arief broadening his mindset with contributed in several Indonesian reformation programs funded by multi-donor international agency. He also has been very fortunate to serve as an expert staff for Presidential Office’s National Economic and Industrial Committee, House of Representative’s Committee on State Budget Accountability and Supreme Court assistance team on court modernization.

Arief is a chartered accountant and Magister in Business Law from University of Indonesia School of Law, read economic policy to pursue Master in Public Administration at the National University of Singapore.

Adam leads the Philadelphia Fire Department’s ~3,000 members in protecting the 5th-largest US city from fires and emergencies arising from all hazards; he also directs the city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM). From 2014-2016, Adam was a Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the Commonwealth of Virginia where he helped provide strategic direction, policy advice, and operational coordination for eleven state-wide agencies with an overall budget of more than $3B and 30,000 employees.

His 27-year career spans five states (MD, NC, VA, AZ, and PA) as a chief fire officer, incident commander, company officer, fire and emergency services instructor, hazardous materials team leader, paramedic, technical rescuer, structural/wildland firefighter, swiftwater rescuer, and rescue SCUBA diver. He has directly participated in planning, response, and recovery efforts for multiple Presidentially-declared disasters and National Special Security Events (NSSEs), including the 9/11 tragedy, hurricanes, tropical storms, floods, an earthquake, major blizzards, international sporting competitions, and political gatherings. Beyond public service, Adam co-founded two successful consulting practices advising a wide range of clients on crisis management, resilience, leadership, organizational development, risk analysis, and strategy. He is a 2018 Eisenhower USA Fellow, published author, adjunct faculty member, and has presented around the globe.

Magali is currently working at The Children’s Trust charity in Surrey, looking at their future vision and strategy, and how their estate development can support these. She will also be working from September as a Public Practice associate at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She will be Project Lead for Place Making, leading the public realm around the hospital’s new Children’s Cancer Centre.

Previously, Magali worked for fourteen years at Marks Barfield Architects where she was a director. Specialising in education projects, she led a successful education team there through the BSF years. She worked on many award-winning schools, and more recently on a number of community-led projects, including a potential Centre for Cycling Excellence in Surrey, and an award-winning primary school in Cambridge.

Magali is on the Design South East, Sutton and Brighton design review panels, providing design support to local authorities, developers and communities in the South East. She has also acted as a judge for the Architects Journal. She holds academic qualifications in Architecture (Oxford Brookes University and Architectural Association – UK).

Efrat is CEO and founder of Gazit Globe Real Estate Institute at IDC, an Israeli private university where she teaches urban economics and real estate finance & investment while conducting applicable research on issues of housing and real estate. In addition to her work at IDC, she also works in housing development in Tel Aviv City.

Efrat serves as a member of Tel Aviv City Council and has previously served as a board member for various firms owned by Tel Aviv city, including Atidim Hi Tech campus (co-owned by Tel Aviv University). She is currently a member of the Capital Market, Insurance and Saving Authority advisory committee and has previously served as a board member for various Tel Aviv Stock Exchange traded firms such as Bank of Jerusalem and Babylon.

Louis was formerly the Executive Director, Performing Arts of the Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA). He left the position in June 2019 is now having a career break.

Louis joined WKCDA in June 2010 and was responsible for steering the planning and development of the performing arts facilities in the District, and for overseeing the strategies and operating models for these facilities. He played a pivotal role in leading the design and construction of the performing arts facilities, including the Xiqu Centre, Freespace and the Lyric Theatre Complex. He has also overseen a series of public, talent-nurturing and cultural exchange programmes for dance, drama and theatre arts, music and xiqu.

He has over thirty years of experience in arts administration and management. His former roles include Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Arts Centre.

Joni is a planner, architect and all-around urban enthusiast. He is currently working as the General Director of Planning and Urban Development at the Municipality of Tirana, where he leads a team of 100+ architects, planners and engineers. His previous experiences include stints in the private sector as well as a multi-year experience leading a ground-breaking planning and architecture start-up for the Albanian Government nicknamed Atelier Albania. He has meddled with planning and development at different scales whilst working on the national plan for Albania, the regional plan for the coast of the country, and the regional plan for the economic generator of the country, the Tirana-Durres region.

His responsibilities at the Municipality of Tirana consist of the surprises, urgencies and expectations of a bustling vibrant capital in the centre of the Balkans. Collaborative creative processes, leading from behind, alternative planning methodologies and quick and practical fixes would best describe his daily duties; but dealing with administrative bureaucracy, piles of paperwork, building permissions and cross-institutional collaboration often gets in the way. He is extremely passionate about architecture and planning and is currently focused on exploring innovation in urban redevelopment while employing more sustainable, implementable and functional planning methodologies.

Jeff is a Partner at Studio tla, a Toronto-based Urban Design and Landscape Architecture firm. In his role as Principal and Design Director he provides firm leadership and oversight in the design and management of complex private and public development projects. Prior to joining Studio tla, Jeff was a Partner and Design Principal at the SWA Group, residing in Dallas and Shanghai. His clients include public agencies and the largest private developers of planned environments, civic, institutional, and mixed-use urban venues in North America, China, India, and the UAE.

Jeff is recognized internationally as a leader in the design and development of award winning master planning projects and is a frequent lecturer and keynote speaker focusing on issues related to urbanization. He is a full member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and holds CLARB certification. Jeff’s academic qualifications include an Honour’s Degree in Landscape Architecture and a Baccalaureate in Arts, both from the University of Guelph, Ontario Canada

Caio is a Brazilian diplomat currently posted to the embassy of Brazil in Kinshasa, DRC, where he works as Deputy Head of Mission. Responsible for the political, cultural and cooperation affairs between his country and DRC, he is witnessing first-hand the challenges related to the massive on-going urbanization process in Africa. Previously, Caio worked at the embassy of Brazil in Kuwait and as cultural attaché in Italy, where he was part of the team responsible for the participation of Brazil at the Venice Biennale and the Milan Expo 2015. Back in Brasília, Caio worked at the presidential palace organizing national and international trips made by Brazil’s president.

Being a Brazilian career diplomat for the past 10 years, Caio strongly believes that both city and state diplomatic actors can complement each other while engaging in activities to advance the interests of the city or the country overseas. In view of the growing role that cities play in international affairs, Caio is keen on exploring and developing the concept of city diplomacy.

Lealem is the Deputy Commissioner of the Addis Ababa City Government Plan Commission. His main responsibilities focus on Urban Plan Implementation, follow-up and regulation. Prior to his current position, he served in the capacity of Deputy Manager in the Addis Ababa City Plan Project Office and participated in the planning process of the new City Plan for Addis Ababa.

Lealem has also served as Government Housing Development Project Office Manager at a Sub-City level, and has accumulated substantial experience in urban planning and development over the last 27 years. He holds a BSc in Architecture and Town planning from Addis Ababa University, is a registered professional architect and a member of the Association of Ethiopian Architects.

Ali serves as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Strategic Property Partners (SPP) where she is responsible for marketing and consumer-facing communications efforts for SPP and its initial project, Water Street Tampa. The phased Water Street Tampa development project is revitalizing the currently underutilized tract of land in downtown Tampa to create an urban, mixed-use waterfront district consisting of approximately nine million square feet of new commercial, residential, hospitality, cultural, entertainment, education, and retail uses, totalling over $3 billion in private investment from SPP.

Prior to joining SPP, Ali worked for the City of Tampa as Public Affairs Director where she was an advisor to Mayor Buckhorn, while maintaining responsibility for all marketing, public communications, and advertising for the City of Tampa. Glisson received her Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the George Washington University.

Claudia is Creative Director at HLA (Harari Landscape Architecture). She is also the CEO and guides the studio in its creative and work line, focusing on urban scale projects which involve local and aesthetic values that make highly meaningful projects for users and the towns where they are located. As leader of the profession in Mexico, she lectures and sits in design juries nationally and internationally. Her project for the BBVA soccer stadium became the first LEED accredited Soccer Stadium in America and was declared “the most beautiful soccer stadium worldwide” by the BBC. In this and other large scale metropolitan parks and public spaces in Mexico, HLA is collaborating in changing the role of administering these spaces from local governments to the private sector. She has been influential in introducing Landscape Architecture as the new Urban Design practice in Mexico with the design of new urban developments, town centers, and urban redevelopments.

Claudia served at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design Alumni Council and City Parks Alliance board, belongs to the International Federation of Landscape Architects and the American and Mexican Societies of Landscape Architects. She was also included in Phaidon’s book 30:30 Landscape Architecture as one of the most influential upcoming landscape architects.

Brett is a Member of the Mayoral Committee for Transport and Urban Development in the City of Cape Town. The Mayoral Committee is the equivalent of a government ‘cabinet’ and Brett was appointed to the Mayoral Committee by the Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town. Brett’s portfolio was created in January 2017, following a restructuring of the City’s administration, to bring alignment between Transport, Spatial Planning and Housing (formal public housing). The key objective is to transform the spatial form of the city which still exhibits the apartheid spatial logic of segregation with poorer, mostly black, residents living on the outskirts.

Prior to the re-alignment of the city’s administration, and the resulting political leadership’s portfolio allocations, Brett was the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Transport. Brett is a lawyer by profession and has served as an elected public representative since 2009. He has been part of the City’s Mayoral Committee since June 2010 – serving for one year as the Member responsible for Community Services until May 2011 when he took over the transport portfolio.

Simon is also an advisor to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, where he joined a task Board to investigate the performance of 5 public bodies and their objective to release land for strategic housing supply. He is also a retained advisor to Defence Infrastructure Organisation (the property advisory unit for the Ministry of Defence) Simon attended the CBI Leadership Course in 2016/17, he is a Residential Council member of the Urban Land Institute, and holds a BSc (Hons) in Urban Estate Surveying.

Olusola Ikuforiji is an environment and water resources professional at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, where she has worked in different capacities applying an environmental sustainability and climate resilience lens to investment projects spanning the water and agriculture sectors. In her current role, she is contributing to the development of water infrastructure projects that address climate resilience and advance sustainable management of water resources in sub-Saharan Africa. She has developed keen interest in the urban space and motivated to understand how resilience and sustainability can be forged in African cities. Olusola aims to promote integrated and inclusive infrastructure development in urban areas of Africa.

Prior to joining the AfDB, she worked with the World Bank in Washington DC as a water resources management specialist. Olusola holds a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University (New Haven, CT USA) and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Aquatic Biology from Lagos State University (Lagos, Nigeria).

Alex is a civic designer and social entrepreneur. In 2014, Alex founded Cities Reimagined, a civic design firm that employs principles of design to solve complex challenges in urban cities. Most recently, Alex has been based in Detroit, Michigan working on a public/private partnership to make business licensing and permitting a smooth and simple process for entrepreneurs.

Prior to her work in Detroit, Alex worked with public leaders in Central Virginia to create an innovative workforce pipeline to fill gaps in local manufacturing firms. This work was recognized by the White House Economic Council in 2015 through President Obama’s TechHire initiative. When she isn’t rapid prototyping and playing design games with public servants, Alex is playing fiddle in the Johnston Family Band and exploring new places and cultures. She is also a regular public speaker with emphasis on urban innovation and systems design.

Kari is the Chief Sustainability Officer of the city of Tampere, Finland and is responsible for the city’s sustainable growth and development policies and their execution. Kari is a member of the Prime Minister’s Sustainable Development Task Force and was a member of the Minister of Environment’s Task Force for Energy Efficient Finland 2017. He has worked on a broad spectrum of projects in strategic urban and economic development and is currently most actively involved with smart and sustainable city development and with the city’s strategic initiatives on urban and economic development.

Prior to joining the city in 2007, Kari held roles in the private and public sectors both in Finland and in the US, including CEO of a service business consultancy, director at an innovation fund with focus on high tech venture capital investments and technology transfer, as well as a research career in physics. Kari is a current and past board member of over twenty companies and has worked with and consulted organizations in the US, South Africa, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Vietnam, Japan and the European Commission, among others. He holds a PhD from Tampere University of Technology.

Gbolahan is the Commissioner for Housing in Lagos State, Nigeria where he is tasked to oversee the planning and implementation of Lagos State Housing policies. These include a rent-to-own initiative which potentiates the movement of a large number of Lagos State residents to the home ownership ladder, and the Lagos Affordable Public Housing (LAPH) programme, a joint venture initiative with the private sector aimed at constructing 20,000 housing units within the next 4 years starting from year 2017 (tagged 20,000:Y2020). As the Commissioner for Agriculture and cooperatives between July 2011 and May 2015, the State‘s food security profile improved through interventions he oversaw across the agricultural value chain.

Gbolahan was commissioned as an ASP in the Nigeria Police Force and retired voluntarily as a Superintendent (1996 -2008). Gbolahan is a board member, Lagos State Security Trust Fund from 2011 till date. Gbolahan holds a BSc in Botany (University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria) and an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development (School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS, University of London) along with an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) and a Certificate in International Housing Finance (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA). Gbolahan is an alumni of the Havard Kennedy School of Government and World Bank Institute.

Daria is Head of PR department at Moscow City Government Press Service. Being responsible for liaison between the city government and the citizens, Daria has been involved in the process of implementation of grand-scale public projects such as Zaradie Park, renewal of 60s Soviet housing stock and construction of Moscow Railway Circle line. Alongside working closely with the policy-makers on major infrastructural and public realm projects, Daria has been engaged in monitoring and feedback process of several major e-platforms for effective dialogue between citizens and authorities and digitising the city government services.

Daria holds an honours degree in International Relations from the Moscow State University. She has been actively engaged in State-led experimental project for government professionals ‘Technology Platform 2.0’, steering a group to investigate the development of intellectual systems and their beneficial use in local economies. She is also a guest lecturer at Moscow Government University and a delegate at international urban forums.

Bill has worked in real estate since graduating high school in 1978. In subsequent years, he has completed numerous university and professional programs in pursuit of professional and personal development. In 1988 Bill incorporated his own firm, where he develops, leases, manages and owns his own real estate portfolio, along with providing high level real estate consulting for selected third parties.

Bill also does extensive pro bono work for several organizations and has served as an Officer and Director of numerous organizations. He is the Past President of the Real Estate Institute of Canada and has written three real estate course textbooks.

Mika is an extrovert and middle-aged Finn, living in Berlin. He has a more than 25 years of international experience in telecom and Intelligent Transport System (ITS) industries. Recently, he worked as the Director, Business Development at HERE Technologies. Prior to joining HERE, he had various roles in telecommunications and Smartphones business in Nokia Corporation. In addition, he has served as the first president and chairman of the board at the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) as well the supervisory board in ERTICO – ITS Europe.

Mika holds a MSc. degree in Computer Science (University of Oulu, Finland) and an MBA degree in International Finance (Helsinki School of Economics, Finland). He has also been a professional coach in Finnish baseball. His team won the silver medal in the highest league in Finland at 1996. While not travelling, he enjoys golfing, playing ice hockey, reading, losing weight and being a father to his four children.

Piyali works at TATA Consultancy Services, a 20 billion USD company, where she blends technology, innovation & industry expertise to drive growth opportunities and efficiency for the private & public sector. Cutting across transportation, ports, airports, cities and utilities, she incubates consulting & digital transformation programs exercising the adoption of artificial intelligence, internet of things, analytics and evolving technologies.

Her work in energy management was awarded an industry best practice at the UK House of Commons. She opened doors for TCS into a new Central European market with the advocacy of an analytical model that forecasts consumer uptake of PVs & electric vehicles in urban & semi-urban regions. Other works include robotic process automation for verifying accuracy of utility bills, and predictive analytics to forecast breakdown of engineering assets. She has led the feasibility analysis of Bhutan’s Economic City. She is recipient of an award of endorsement by the Indian Parliament.

A qualified architect & design thinker, Piyali has worked multi-culturally across Europe, Asia & Middle East with TATAs and Knight Frank. Having nomadically lived in Paris, Mumbai and global cities, Piyali found her home in London where she is now settled with her husband Indranil and daughter Tiasha.

Marc is the founder and managing partner of IngeniousPeoplesKnowledge Consultants (I-P-K), a Cape Town-based boutique consulting firm. I-P-K specialises in designing and facilitating participatory transformation processes in the public sector and international development. In the past 12 years, he has advised a wide range of clients, among others UN specialised agencies (such as the ILO, WHO, UNAIDS), bilateral development agencies (e.g. the German Development Agency GIZ) and international NGOs. He advises on strategic processes, programme development, design thinking processes, knowledge sharing and team/network building by applying an approach that puts the complex nature of human systems, diversity management and participation at its centre. For the City of Cape Town, he contrived the participatory methodology for the 111 Wards Design Project in the framework of World Design Capital 2014.

Marc started his career with Helvetas, the largest Swiss NGO in the field of international development as a technical advisor and programme manager for knowledge management. He holds a Master’s degree in Sociology and International Relations (University of Zurich), an Advanced Certificate in Development Cooperation (Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) and has developed his portfolio in change management through a wide range of specialisations.

Tim is Executive Director of the William Factory Small Business Incubator located in the Seattle/Puget Sound Region of the United States. In support of entrepreneurship particularly for underrepresented and disadvantaged populations, Tim organizes programs, engages in corporate and college partnerships, provides recommendations for public policies and oversees funding of start-up business assistance services.

Tim is former Deputy Mayor for the City of Tacoma, founding Chair of Pierce Transit, founding Chair of Community Health, former Chair of the Pierce County Law and Justice Commission and former Chair of the Housing Task Force of the Growth Policy Association. Tim served as Chair of Tacoma Public Utilities, was Executive Vice-President of the Job Training Executives of Washington State and was Executive Director for the Washington State Council of Vocational Technical Institutes. Tim holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Pacific Lutheran University.

Cecilia is the Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, a Dutch foundation devoted to global work in early childhood matters, where she is responsible for the management and implementation of a global strategy. In this role, one of her main objectives is to help scale effective programs and policies where city leaders, urban planners, architects, and innovators experience the city from 95cm (the height of a healthy three-year-old child) to really help change the landscapes and opportunities that shape young children’s lives.

Prior to joining the Foundation, she was the Coordinating Minister of Social Development of Ecuador. In this position, Cecilia was able to help create, evaluate and adjust strategic policies in vital areas of social development including early childhood, social security systems, education, healthcare, urban development and poverty alleviation, always taking into account the diversity of cultural backgrounds in Ecuador. Cecilia has over 15 years of experience managing social development policies and programmes and she holds a master’s degree in Social Policies for Sustainable Development (Bologna University) and a BA in International Relations (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador).

Prajakta is a civil servant currently posted as Joint MD CIDCO in Navi Mumbai and is responsible for commissioning of the largest greenfield airport of the country in Navi Mumbai. She is also working on planning the airport influence and notified zone of about 350 sq kms as a Special Planning authority. This is her first role in the area of urban planning and development. In her earlier role as Joint Commissioner of Sales Tax, she was in charge of investigating tax evasion crimes in the financial capital of the country viz. Mumbai. Prajakta has also worked in the area of water supply and sanitation in peri-urban areas within the State of Maharashtra. Her district stint equipped her with field experience in tackling the problems of malnutrition, open defecation and enabled her to successfully spearhead collective action in micro credit for women and sanitation among children.

Prajakta’s future years as a civil servant will demand addressing complex urban and social problems in urban and peri urban areas in the State of Maharashtra (the most urbanised state in the country) and looks forward to this course to equip her to deal with these challenges creatively and vibrantly

Raymond is an Associate Director of AECOM Ltd and is based in the Shenzhen Office, China. He is also a member of American Planning Association with LEEDGA certification. Engaged in urban planning and urban design works for more than 12 years, Raymond has participated in various multi-scale urban planning and design projects at different stages as well as being skilled in methods of urban research, land use planning and diversified scale urban design across the Asia-Pacific region.

Raymond has completed a number of urban planning and design works and has solid professional skills and familiarity with the procedures in all aspects of urban projects such as mixed-use development, new township planning, tourism & hospitality planning, infrastructure orientated developments and strategic comprehensive planning across the Asia-Pacific region.

For the past six years Stephen has been working as Chief City Architect in Aarhus City Council in Denmark. Previously he was partner in the internationally renowned company Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects where he was responsible for developing international activity and research and development. He has also held the position of Associate Professor in Architecture at Aarhus School of Architecture for many years. The combination of working in private practise and public office combined with research and teaching enables a keen understanding of the complex processes and demanding roles and responsibilities architects and planners at political and local community level as well as in a global perspective.

As chief city architect, Stephen is special advisor to the Councils Politian’s. He works as an intermediary and ambassador for architecture and sustainable urban development for Aarhus Municipality and brings essential insight and experience into relevant forums, inspiring and influencing key decision-making processes relating to Aarhus’ future.

Nouf works for the Department of Economic Development in Dubai as the Innovation and Creativity Department Manager. She is responsible for transforming the organization from a regulatory and service provider to an innovative agency able to shape the future using futuristic analysis and strategic foresight. As such, she manages key projects under the Dubai Future Accelerator initiative to turn ideas into unique innovations that will contribute to society. She also speaks at local and international conferences about innovation, employees’ happiness and productivity focusing on ways to improve work environment, culture and capabilities.

Nouf has previously worked for a number of government entities, including a role in the Prime Minister’s Office analysing competitiveness and innovation reports. She is also an active board member in committees and think-tank groups. She is a graduate from Kingston University in London with a Master’s Degree in business administration and a Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy.

Sisto is the Chief Executive Officer of Sub Sahara Solutions LLC, a provider of
professional technical and Management Support Services. Sisto is a multifaceted
individual, with specialities including mining and mineral exploration,
renewable energy technologies, civil engineering, green design and built industry,
construction project management, energy and minerals policy, energy efficiency,
security management and administration, and African government relations.
Currently pursuing an Executive MSc in Cities at LSE, Sisto has a BSc in Construction
Management and a BSc in Building and Civil Engineering Construction. Sisto is also
an LEED Green Associate and a building analyst professional. He is a member of
several professional bodies including the Construction Management Association
of America, the Project Management Institute, the United States Green Building
Council, the Building Performance Institute, the OSHE, the National Fire Protection
Association, the Association of Professional Estimators of America, the Sierra
Leone Institute of Professional Engineers, and the Value Engineering Association

Christine is the social development and social innovation advisor to the Mayor of
Cali, Colombia. During the last two years she has been leading the city’s placebased,
social inclusion strategy. The strategy aims to fight poverty, exclusion
and violence in the eleven most vulnerable communes of the city by focusing,
articulating and coordinating the social investments of all branches of the
local government. Its main goals are to reduce poverty, contribute to peace
building, renew a sense of solidarity and responsibility (both among and within
communities), design and implement social ties and build civil society´s capacity
to synchronize efforts and articulate social investment.
Before joining the public sector, Christine was the force behind the work carried
out by Fundación Sidoc in Siloe, one of Cali´s most underprivileged districts. As
a result of her efforts, high-risk youth were brought into productive projects and
cultural activities with the aim of strengthening community and individual identity.
Christine has a degree from London School of Economics and holds an NGO
Management certificate from Georgetown University

Ian is a director at DesignInc Sydney and has qualifications in Town Planning,
Architecture and Urban Design. He has over twenty years international experience
specialising in the design of large scale master plans with projects in Australia, the
UK, China and the Middle East.
In Australia, Ian is experienced in all aspects of urban planning and architecture,
including the delivery of large scale mixed use communities and transport
orientated development.
Aside from his professional work, Ian has also been involved with teaching on the
University of Sydney’s Masters of Urban Design Course and has
been a final year design judge in the architecture faculties at UTS and UNSW.

Yerlan is the Deputy Mayor of Almaty city. In this position, he is responsible for the
coordination of the energy complex, public utilities, industry, business, trade, small
business, agriculture, and sanitary-epidemiological well-being of the city. He is
also responsible for implementation of the state program on industrial-innovative
development for 2015-2019 years and attraction of investment to Almaty city.
Most recently, he served as the Deputy Mayor of Kazakhstan Province from 2014
to 2015, where he was responsible for the coordination of industry, business,
trade, entrepreneurship, tourism, natural resources, innovations and investments.
Prior to that, he was a State Inspector of the Department of State Control and
Organization of Territorials Operation at the Administration of the President of
the Republic of Kazakhstan from 2011 to 2014. In this role he was in charge of
external relations, protocol, information communications and interaction with the
Regional Election Commission.
Yerlan holds an MSc in Public Policy and Programme Management from the
University of Bradford, UK and an MBA in Corporate Management from the
International Academy Of Business.

Ben is the Deputy Metropolitan Director of Town and Country Planning
Department of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly in Ghana. He has worked with
the Metropolitan Authority for the past thirteen years as a Town Planner and is
currently leading a team to redevelop the city centre of Kumasi where he hails
from. He has also started his own company, Dreams and Schemes Ltd., focusing
on providing consultancy services in the areas of planning, architecture, surveying
and real estate development.
Ben holds academic qualifications in planning (Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science & Technology), MBA Strategic & Project Management (Paris Graduate
School of Management), and is a member of the Ghana Institute of Planners

Barry is currently working in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with projects in transit
oriented development, FEMA Flood Map revisions, low-income refugee housing
and architecturally sensitive infill projects. He has worked in commercial district
marketing and development for over 40 years. In some of the urban districts he
has had a combined responsibility, including housing. Most of the areas where he
has worked have classic urban problems, such as disinvestment, social problems
and physical issues.
Barry has worked in rural areas, as well as in the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Washington DC, and Memphis Tennessee in a variety of positions. In Philadelphia
he has managed the South Street Headhouse District, the city’s main entertainment
district, as well as Kensington Avenue (‘The Avenue’) which presented all of the
worst social ills the city had to offer. Early in his career, he was a union organizer
in the Deep South, organizing predominantly minority industrial workers in the
furniture industry. Subsequently, he became an expert grant writer and has secured
millions of dollars for clients in the areas of adaptive reuse, transportation, the arts
and brownfield redevelopment. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has awarded
him Laureate status as an ‘Agent of Change’.

Pauline is an urban designer with experience in master-planning, urban design,
architecture, and community and stakeholder engagement in the private and
public sectors. She is currently employed by the City of Sydney Council, working
across council and state agencies to achieve good urban design outcomes for
the city. Her role includes the development of public domain plans and public
domain design codes, and co-ordination of the City of Sydney’s Design Advisory
Panel. She manages multidisciplinary teams, consulting and engaging with key
stakeholders to plan for the future and deliver improvements for city precincts,
notably for Sydney’s Chinatown precinct, which won the 2012 Australian Institute
of Landscape Architect’s National Award for Urban Design. The latter led to the
revitalisation of neglected laneways to include new public artworks, lighting
projects and the rationalisation of a complicated traffic intersection to create a
new well-loved public space for Chinatown.
Pauline is also involved in the application of research and data to affect positive
change in cities. Since 2007, she has worked collaboratively with eminent urban
experts Gehl Architects to develop Sydney’s Public Spaces Public Life Study and
George Street Benchmarking Study, which has helped shape strategic directions
for public spaces and streets across the city.

Ciarán Cuffe is a Member of the European Parliament. Until recently, he served as a city councillor in Dublin’s North Inner City, and chairs Dublin City
Council’s Transport Committee. He has served as a member of parliament, and as
Minister of State with responsibility for climate change, planning and sustainable
transport. In government, he reformed the Irish planning system to focus on
evidence led decision-making and published legislation to tackle climate change.
He chairs a Master’s Programme in Urban Regeneration and Development at the
Dublin Institute of Technology, and is a visiting lecturer at the Gengdan Institute
of Beijing University of Technology, China.
He holds degrees in architecture and urban planning from University College
Dublin

Mahmoud is currently serving as the CEO of Dubai Real Estate Institute. He is also the Vice President of International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI, UK) and sits on the board of the International Real Estate Society (IRES). Mahmoud has been selected to be FIABCI representative at the United Nations Economic Commission for West Asia (UNESCWA), and also represents the UN Global Compact in the MENA region and the Lead Affordability Working Group at the World Economic Forum.

Prior to his position at the Dubai Real estate Institute, Mahmoud worked for three years as Senior Director of the Real Estate Sector Development at the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of Dubai and spent several years as a Development Associate Manager at Dubai Holding. Mahmoud completed his bachelor’s degree in engineering at the American University before continuing on to earn his Master’s in Real Estate from the National University of Singapore. Mahmoud completed his MBA in Finance from his alma mater, American University of Dubai in 2010. He is now pursuing his DBA at Grenoble École de Management in France.

Mai-Ling has worked over the past decade to untangle complex government
processes and support community innovation. She is currently the City of Oakland’s
Online Engagement Manager where she works to transform government processes
and experience for Oaklanders. She is a co-founder of Oakland’s Civic Design Lab,
a collaboration space for government staff and the Oakland community.
Mai-Ling began her career working at Swords to Plowshares, a forty-year-old San
Francisco-based service organization. As the agency’s first policy analyst, she
worked in the heart of San Francisco to identify and communicate the struggles
of at-risk and chronically homeless military veterans. She has presented to the
California State Senate, the U.S. Veterans Administration and other key decision
makers on enhancing government processes. Later she joined the US Department
of Labor to manage grants to hundreds of non-profit employment programs that
included over one hundred community partners in eight western US States and
Guam.
In 2012, she was named an Executive Management Fellow by the Federal
Executive Board of San Francisco and New Leaders Council Fellow. In 2017, she
was named one of America’s top 100 local government officials by Emerging
Local Government Leaders, a professional association for city government.

Rana is a senior Project Manager who has been managing and delivering construction projects for the past twelve years across various cities in the Middle East region; mainly in Beirut, Dubai, and Doha. Prior to completing her Executive MSc in Cities, her experience had been mostly in private sector projects, predominantly with the multinational consultancy firm AECOM.

Rana has effectively used her recent LSE degree as a bridge to transition to the Development sector starting with her 6-month consultancy project with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) which tackled gender-related challenges faced by Syrian refugees in Lebanon while accessing the housing market. The consultancy findings received wide acclaim by NRC and the key shelter sector actors in Lebanon and beyond. Subsequently, Rana has secured a project management role on an environmental project with a local NGO in Lebanon. The project, funded by the EU as part of a nationwide programme, involves an array of partners (e.g. unions of municipalities, American University of Beirut, specialist consultants etc) and aims at developing an innovative solid waste management solution primarily focused on the 3R’s principle (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).

Rana also holds academic qualifications in Civil Engineering (American University of Beirut, Lebanon), Project Management (American University of Beirut, Lebanon), and Sustainable Development (SOAS, London).

Anupma is the Senior Urban Development Specialist in the Pacific Department of
the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines, where she has worked for the
past thirteen years leading design and administration teams that deliver inclusive
and resilient urban and water projects. Anupma has extensive experience in health
and social development and strives to ensure projects are equitable, inclusive,
and demand-driven. She has also conducted due diligence on more than fifty
urban infrastructure projects, where she provided support on resettlement and
indigenous peoples issues. To date, Anupma has nearly twenty years’ experience
in international development and has worked across different sectors and regions,
including the Greater Mekong Sub-region, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East
Asia. Previously, she was the Practice Lead and Senior Director for Gender and
Social Inclusion at the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Washington, DC.
Anupma holds a PhD in Social Policy and an MSc in Development Studies
(Social Policy and Administration) from LSE, and a double BA in Economics and
Anthropology (High Honours) from Brandeis University (Waltham, MA, USA).

Sharon is a Partnerships and Infrastructure Specialist in the Bangladesh Country Office of UNOPS where she works to build coordinated and effective humanitarian and development programmes for UNOPS to implement on behalf of the UN group and other partners in Bangladesh. After becoming interested in the development and management of big cities as a student of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, she worked in the public sector in South Africa for over 20 years. She has worked in National and Local Government in South Africa; and for intergovernmental programmes including South African Cities Network, Western Cape Economic Development Partnership, and Cities Support Programme. Her work experience includes urban policy, public finance, and city management; and her professional interests revolve around local government’s role in urban development and management; infrastructure and property investments to achieve inclusivity and sustainability; placemaking; and development partnerships.

Ute is Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Climate-Engineering and is Professor
of Urban Design at the University of Applied Sciences Biberach, Germany. As a
member of the university’s strategic board she is responsible for planning the
school’s interdisciplinary programme of resilience studies and conceiving an
institutional network of trans-disciplinary science. Before taking the position of
Dean, she was Director of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Development at
the university and initiated research projects about the potential of resilient urban
development in non-metropolitan areas.
Ute is one of two Principals of the urban design and consultancy practice
bueroschneidermeyer in Stuttgart and Cologne, which she co-founded in 2003.
The office has advised numerous municipalities in strategic planning and has
conducted research for the Federal Institute for Building Research Urban Affairs
and Spatial Development (BBSR) and the Wüstenrot Foundation.
Ute is a member of the German Academy for Urban Development and Regional
Planning (DASL) and the Association of German Architects (BDA). She studied in
Germany, Italy and the United States and has a Diploma in Architecture and Urban
Design from Stuttgart University and an MSc in Advanced Architectural Design
from Columbia University

Roope co-founded Demos Helsinki in 2005 a hybrid consultancy and think tank
that is best known for its work on government innovation. Past projects include
setting up the experimentation model for the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office and
similar work with other countries and cities’ executive governance functions.
As an expert of societal change and innovation, Roope has fifteen years of
experience working internationally with cities, governments, corporations and
NGOs as a strategic-level advisor on future technologies, markets, and societies.
He specialises in helping organisations weather transformations in the world
around them and his work often involves cross-sector changes that influence the
daily lives of individuals.
In the context of cities, Roope has experience in activism, art, strategic visions
and in planning and developing neighbourhoods. He has worked with city
organisations, developers, transportation providers, start-ups, festivals, property
owners and operators in developing urban areas and services. He has also
authored and co-authored foresight publications from Finland’s country brand
(2010) to the world’s first report on mobile games (2001).

Patrick is the Deputy Director Strategy and Business Development at Kampala
Capital City Authority. He began his career in Uganda Revenue Authority as a
Tax Auditor in 1993 and rose to Strategy Manager in 2007. In 2011, Patrick left to
join the Kampala Capital City Authority Restructuring Team and was appointed
Deputy Director in Charge of Strategy Management and Business Development
in 2012.
Patrick Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics and Applied Economics and a
Postgraduate Diploma in Income Tax Administration. He is a chartered accountant,
a certified strategic planner under the Balance Card Institute, and a certified
Balanced Scorecard Professional with the Palladium Kaplan and Norton Balance
Scorecard Programme.

Paul is National Programme Officer at the UN-Habitat Programme Support Office in Abuja. He works to advance a sustainable, policy-oriented urban agenda in Nigeria by promoting inclusive planning, improved access to housing and basic services as well as slum upgrading, in line with the Habitat Agenda. In this role, he was among others, Project Coordinator for the State of Osun Structure Plans Project which involved the development and adoption of Structure Plans to guide inclusive and sustainable growth in the state’s nine largest cities over a 20-year horizon.

In his earlier media career at The Guardian Newspaper (Nigeria), Paul was responsible for developing coverage and local/global analyses of human settlements and environment issues. He has carried out advocacy on sustainable urbanization though contributions to several local and international publications, including the UN-Habitat’s State of the World’s Cities Report 2004/2005 and, the International Real Estate Federation’s THE HOMELESS: Perspectives by Sixteen International Journalists. Paul participated in the Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Fellowship Programme and has served on the National Steering Committee of the GEF/UNDP Small Grants Project (SGP) in Nigeria. He holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architecture and obtained professional training in Environmental Journalism.

Yondela is the Executive Director: Development Planning for the City of
Johannesburg. She is responsible for the successful development
of urban policy, and the conceptualisation and implementation of programmes,
weaving together economic, social and sustainability objectives. Yondela also
oversees operational responsibilities, including processing land use and building plan
applications.
Yondela has over twenty years’ experience in cities having led the National Urban
Renewal Programme under President Mbeki. She also has extensive real estate
experience from her tenure with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the largest
asset manager in South Africa. She has a strong appreciation for strategic partnerships
and has worked with the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank to advance
some of the innovations she is pioneering for the City of Johannesburg.

Lukas is the Urban Design Manager at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council
(UPC). He is responsible for advising the Abu Dhabi Government on matters
regarding urban design, masterplanning, and strategic development. He heads
the UPC’s Urban Design Studio, which serves as an internal think tank and project
design and development consultancy responsible for exploring, developing, and
testing government initiatives.
Lukas also teaches the Urbanism module at the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu
Dhabi as well as coordinating Learning and Development Projects between UAE
Universities and the UPC.
Lukas studied architecture and landscape architecture at the University of Arizona,
Danish International Study Program and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.
He worked on planning and urban design projects in Panama, Japan, Korea, China
and the US before joining the Urban Planning Council ten years ago

Santiago is the Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) for the City of Medellín, a city
member of the 100 Resilient Cities Network, pioneered by the Rockefeller
Foundation. Prior to becoming CRO, Santiago worked for three years as Executive
Director of Social Innovation at Pigmalion Consulting. There he coordinated a
number of research programs on topics ranging from disaster risk management
to local youth’s reproductive and mental health.
From 2007-2010, Santiago served as Administrative Assistant of Cultural
and Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Colombia to the Republic of South
Africa, where he coordinated official visits to Bogotá and Medellín to exchange
experiences and expertise for the implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit
Systems in cities including Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela’s Bay.
In his appointment at the Embassy in Pretoria, Santiago was also actively involved
in the organization of systematic exchanges between Colombia and South Africa
in issues related to the peace process in Colombia, including organizing an official
visit of former President F.W. De Klerk.
He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from the Universidad de
Antioquia and was a visiting student at the University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg.

Maria is the founder of Vassilakou Urban Consulting and works as an advisor on urban transformation strategies and transition management with cities, organisations and corporations worldwide. Since 2019 she has served as a member of the Experts Board commissioned by the European Commission to design the European Mission ‘100 climate-neutral and smart Cities by 2030’.

Prior to founding Vassilakou Urban Consulting, Maria was served as the Deputy Mayor of Vienna from 2010 to 2019. In this role she was responsible for several agendas including urban development and planning, energy planning, climate protection, mobility and transport, participation, and Vienna’s smart city agenda. Maria has been engaged in city politics since 1996, first serving as a City Counsellor and Green Party speaker for immigration, human rights and diversity affairs. She later served as a member of government without portfolio and, from 2004 to 2010, as the head of the Green Party of Vienna and the Green Parliamentary Group. During her time in city politics she has been highly active in exchange and cooperation with cities all over the world and is currently responsible for the implementation of the cooperation memorandum between Vienna and Athens.

Maria’s first steps in politics took her to the Austrian Students Union where she served as the elected representative of all foreign Students in Austrian Universities and later as the Secretary General of the Students Union. She holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics and Psychology from the University of Vienna and has worked as a Research Assistant at the Department of Linguistics

Kevin is currently the City Manager for the City of Thornton, located at the base of
the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and has a rapidly growing population of 140,000.
As City Manager, he oversees a workforce of 950 personnel with responsibilities
that include all aspects of municipal management. Prior to Thornton, Kevin was
the Town Manager of Stalling, NC for three years.
Before beginning municipal work, Kevin spent three years as Vice President for
Versar Inc., overseeing major US construction programs throughout Afghanistan.
Kevin’s professional background includes twenty-six years as a US Army officer.
He was branched and served in the US Army Corps of Engineers and had multiple
command and staff assignments throughout the US and abroad. His final military
assignment was as Deputy Commander for US Army South in San Antonio, Texas.

Hastings Chikoko is the Regional Director for Africa at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. In this role, he is responsible for the implementation of the C40 business plan in Africa, supporting C40 member cities in Africa in their climate action planning, measurement and implementation, and helping to forge inter-city as well as regional collaboration. He serves on the Advisory Board of the African Centre for Cities (University of Cape Town). His work with local authorities started at the City of Blantyre and later at the Ministry of Local Government in Malawi. Prior to joining C40, Hastings had a long career with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Zimbabwe, Kenya and the global headquarters in Switzerland. He was also the Interim Regional Director for East and Southern Africa and Head of IUCN in South Africa.

Hastings has been one of the International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC’s) African Mentors for policy think-tank groups in Africa and a member of the Regional Technical Committee for the Global Water Partnership (Southern Africa). He holds academic qualifications in Economics (University of Malawi), Environmental Diplomacy (University of Geneva – Switzerland) and Strategic Management (University of Derby – UK).

Andrew Davies is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the charitable arts organisation No.9: Contemporary Art & the Environment located in Toronto, Canada since 2007. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Queen’s University and Master’s in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles. For five years Andrew was employed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. While at MoMA, he designed and administered over thirty international museum exhibitions. He returned to Canada in 2002, and founded Andrew Davies Design, which was responsible for the preliminary Interpretative Design Strategy for Evergreen at the Brickworks in Toronto, with the mandate to transform an industrial heritage site into an international showcase for urban sustainability and green design. Andrew Davies Design has provided art consultation services for numerous major public art projects in Toronto, including the NXT Gardiner Expressway Gateway Project, the Mississauga Master Public Art Plan and the Pan Am Aquatic Centre.

Davies taught at Eyebeam Atelier in New York and at George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He has spoken at lectures, reviews and symposiums around the world, including MIT Media Lab, Columbia University and MoMA. He served on the Educational Advisory Committee at the Art Gallery of Ontario and currently sits on the Environmental Advisory Committee for the Toronto District School Board. He resides in Toronto with his wife, Elizabeth and their two children, Hanna and Rupert.

Francis De Wolf is an architect certified by the Order of Architects in Belgium. In 2005 he started working as a Project Leader in the City Planning Department of the City of Antwerp. His main responsibilities were the coordination of a redevelopment project in the largest high-rise social housing neighbourhood of Belgium and a European knowledge exchange program about the urban regeneration of social high-rise estates. He completed a degree in urban planning in 2006 and since became a tutor at the Urban Planning Department of the University of Antwerp.

In 2008 Francis founded ‘Brut Architecture and Urban Design’, a company working on both architectural and urban planning scales. Here, he has been responsible for the coordination of urban planning projects varying in scale from site planning for complex urban development projects, redevelopment plans for city centres, neighbourhoods and old industrial zones, to large scale studies for urbanised regions. Francis currently lives in Copenhagen, where he is collaborating with renowned Danish architects and planners on large scale projects in Belgium and looking into possible projects in Scandinavia.

Tommaso Franzolini (AA Dipl – RIBA) is a practicing architect and researcher focusing on the impact of emerging technologies on infrastructure, urbanism and architecture. Tommaso is currently an associate with the Advanced Technologies team at Scott Brownrigg Architects in London. The team focuses on the strategic planning and architectural design of complex technology-led projects, including the masterplan and vision of NuGen’s Moorside Project: a £15bn nuclear new build development in Cumbria (UK). Previously he worked at Foreign Office Architects in London for a wide range of UK based commissions and international competitions, most notably as the project architect for the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street Station with responsibilities of managing a multi-disciplinary design team, liaising with local authorities, and preparing planning and tender documents.

In parallel, Tommaso maintains an active involvement with global research institutions such as the Architectural Association and NTU in the UK, the Weimar Bauhaus in Germany and the Polytechnic of Milan in Italy. He is the founder and director of Factory Futures: a think tank at the Architectural Association founded in partnership with the Adriano Olivetti Foundation and Gehry Technologies Europe. Factory Futures focuses on the European industrial heritage as a cultural matrix for a new productive landscape, including the development of innovative architectural strategies through computational design and manufacturing techniques.

Anette Galskjøt, CEO at the International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP), has a long career including investment banking, IT and public service. She has a law degree from Copenhagen University and an LLM from King’s College, London. Since June 2015 Anette has led the 103-year old member and partner based federation IFHP. IFHP originated from the Garden City movement and works to make cities better for people and housing for all through innovative urban labs and with its worldwide network of urban experts.

Marc Glaudemans is professor of urban strategies at Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts (FHK) in Tilburg. He is also the director of two MSc programmes in architecture and urbanism at Fontys. In 2006 Marc founded the Stadslab European Urban Design Laboratory, a postgraduate international programme. Stadslab has developed into an international think tank and urban design laboratory, with a track record of programs in Europe (Portugal, Netherlands, Serbia, Poland, Hungary, Georgia, Ukraine) and Asia (Japan, Vietnam). Marc graduated in Architecture and Urbanism and holds a PhD in Architectural Theory and History. In 2014-2015 he was visiting professor at the Institute for Design and Urbanism at ITMO University in St Petersburg.

Marc’s professional career is driven by understanding cities and their ongoing transformations, combining the reflexive potential of an academic standpoint with the hands-on mentality of professional practice. As a working method, this comes alive in the Stadslab European Urban Design Laboratory, which combines design skills and a design thinking approach to complex, real-world urban challenges.

Richard Greco is an optimistic technologist and a futurist. He is fascinated with the IOT, M2M, Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, and how new technological developments in these areas will change our lives, disrupt existing business models, create new business opportunities and enable the creation of smart cities. He spent over 20 years in “corporate America” with companies like ITT, General Dynamics, Nortel, Bell Atlantic, Loral Orion and ICO Global Communications.

In the mid-nineties, he helped to establish Orion Network Systems as the “Internet Satellite Company.” Orion was a pioneer in the delivery of the internet via satellite connecting over 70 countries back to the US. While he was Orion’s President, the company raised over $700M in debt for constellation expansion, secured a NASDAQ listing for Orion and sold the company to Loral. Richard was subsequently recruited as CEO for London based, NASDAQ listed, ICO Global Communications which he restructured and sold out of Chapter 11 to a group of international investors for over $1 Billion. He become an entrepreneur in 2000, founding, growing and later selling Bulldog Broadband, the UK’s second largest DSL broadband company. In 2005, he created Treasure Investments, which invests in real estate and tech and telecom companies. He presently serves as Chairman for one of those companies called Edifice. When not travelling, Richard lives in Key Largo, Florida with his wife of nearly 25 years. They have three adult children and two grandsons.

Tsugumi Harada is founder and director of Kukuru Management and Partners LTD, an independent
consultancy, acting as a coach and management advisor to small innovative enterprises from Asia that have prospects of expanding operational footprints in Europe and beyond. Transforming ideas into lean and scaleable practices, its impact-focused approach in drawing synergies cross-border, cross-function, and cross-culture enables clients to accelerate growth and change within their organisation.

With degrees in architecture and civil engineering from Waseda University, Tsugumi has over 14 years of experience in Tokyo and in London as a technology professional for the top-tier financial sector. Designing operational resiliency into banking platforms, delivering projects of both local and global scales, she was a solutions architect, specialising in European market integrations and regulatory initiatives. During the last three years of Tsugumi’s tenure she was the EMEA head of technology risk and incident management team for Morgan Stanley’s Fixed Income franchise. In 2014, her passion in education and youth empowerment has led to completion of a certificate course in Coaching at University of Cambridge ICE. Since then, she is actively involved in mentoring young people through charities of her choice including the Queen’s Young Leaders Program.

As an Architect and Urban Designer trained in South Africa and Australia, Kathi Holt-Damant has committed much of her professional life across four continents to education, research and engagement. Teaching architecture for the last twenty-six years at many leading Australian Universities she has become increasingly drawn towards Urban Design; heading up the UD Discipline at Queensland University of Technology for the last eight years.

Kathi has used the University as a laboratory; the students as scientists; and the city and its many players as the site of operations to interrogate urban problems. She harnessed these challenges to drive the pedagogy and frameworks for teaching. Kathi now has her own research and design practice – Nerø Holt – consulting to government agencies, community groups and not-for-profit entities to create innovative solutions for urban challenges.

James Leahy, PE, LEED AP® is a Senior Consultant for DNV GL. He is a professional Civil Engineer registered by the State of California and has a diverse background in engineering design, planning, and policy development. As an energy consultant, James assists clients in establishing energy performance and environmental standards to build community resilience and support greenhouse gas emissions reductions. He works with cities and utilities to develop sustainable and resilient design strategies, integrate clean distributed energy resources and increase energy efficiency. He is adept at promoting community and organisational sustainability through education, stakeholder engagement, and providing engineering and technical guidance on the latest trends, technologies, and best practices. His background in infrastructure design, community planning, and resource management lends to a fully comprehensive understanding of our built environment, our energy use, and the potential impacts of climate change on local communities.

Understanding that education plays a vital role in the advancement of the sustainability of our built environment, James has volunteered time through the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and has conducted workshops and coordinated various events on energy and water efficiency strategies. He is a former member of the USGBC – Upper Northeast (US) Regional Council, a former member of the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Chapter of the USGBC and a former member of the USGBC – Pacific Regional Council.

Simon McPherson was born and raised in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Trained as an Architect in Melbourne, he traversed into an urban design focus via early employment in the Victorian Government, then a Masters at London’s Bartlett School in 2005-06, after also spending two years living and working in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1999 and 2000. On returning from London, Simon founded a specialist Urban Design consultancy, SJB Urban, within a group of affiliated companies in architecture, planning and interiors, and built a prominent and highly regarded practice working in Melbourne and other Australian cities, with specialist capability in urban renewal, transport planning, strategic advice and design review.

Simon also established major research initiatives in partnership with RMIT University in Melbourne, including the development of an award-winning prototype housing choice web app called Home:LiFE and leading research into housing careers and development dynamics. He has since departed SJB Urban to pursue new career directions, and has established Global South, an independent, research-focused urban practice currently in early formulation, and has been enjoying diverse opportunities for collaboration, research, engagement and learning in the urban field.

Simon is the Australian Institute of Architects representative on the Board for Australia’s Urban Design Protocol, and a member of Melbourne University’s Urban Design Advisory Board. He is a member of the Design Review Panels for Victoria and South Australia, and is currently working with the New South Wales Government Architect, preparing an Architecture and Urban Design Policy and Design Guides for New South Wales.

Simon has relocated to London for the duration of the Executive MSc in Cities, with his partner Robyn and children Sophie, 4 and Thomas, 2, and they are enjoying an exciting year of travel, rest, work and engagement in their respective fields.

Melizza is an urbanist with a wealth of international experience in urban regeneration and disaster recovery projects. Until 2016 she served at government organisations in New Zealand leading the reconstruction and recovery of Christchurch city centre, after the devastating effects of the 2010-2011 earthquakes. In her roles as Principal Urban Designer at Ōtākaro Ltd, and prior to this, as Project Design Lead at the Christchurch Central Development Unit, Melizza provided urban design advice for delivering some of the recovery plan major precincts and led the production of a long-term strategy for the reconstruction of the city’s public space network: The Christchurch Central Streets & Spaces Design Guide (2016 Best Practice, Strategic Planning and Guidance Award from the New Zealand Planning Institute).

Between 2006 and 2013 Melizza held various positions with the Victorian Urban Renewal Authority in Melbourne, where she was involved in delivering two of the largest urban renewal projects undertaken in Australia, Revitalising Central Dandenong and Melbourne Docklands. Melizza began her career in urbanism at Bogotá’s Water and Sewage Company, overseeing the design and delivery of projects aimed at the ecologic and urban regeneration of waterways and wetlands, some located in Bogotá’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Melizza holds a Masters in Urban Design from Melbourne University and a Bachelor in Architecture from Los Andes University. Born in Colombia, she has also lived in Canada and Germany and will be based in Spain for the duration of the MSc in Cities programme. Melizza holds dual Colombian and Australian citizenship.

Sashwin Pillai is a fourth-generation decendant of the Indian Indentured Labourers who arrived on the Truro ship in Port Natal (present-day Durban) on 16th November 1860 from Madras (present-day Chennai). Sashwin was raised in Durban and derived his inspiration from struggle heroes Nelson Mandela and his grandfather Mr VSM (Mannie) Pillai. Sashwin remains a loyal supporter and member of the African National Congress and serves various corporate, non-profit, private and public sector clients. Sashwin is a sponsor of the Progressive Business Forum, KZN Blind & Deaf Society, Child Welfare South Africa, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin, Sathya Sai Organisation of South Africa and he supports various other charities, organisations, businesses and aspiring individuals.

Sashwin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Architecture at Oxford Brookes University and completed a Summer School Programme at the Architectural Association in London entitled ‘Multiplicities’. Sashwin is also a member of SKAL International Association of Travel and Tourism Professionals. He previously worked for Chartered Practice Architects and thereafter for David Chipperfield Architects in London.

Upon returning to South Africa in 2003, Sashwin established Africa Vision and the business currently employs a range of professionals, specialist consultants and contract resources in accordance with the specific requirements of its various projects and programmes. Sashwin serves on the Centre of Excellence Committee for the Barclays Africa Group and is currently appointed as Lead Consultant for 13 countries in Africa. He is currently a member of the Strategic Project & Programmes Support Unit for Mbombela Municipality, an Expert Design Advisor to the South African Bureau of Standards in South Africa, and provides Programme Management services to various governmental and private sector entities in SA.

Ricardo Pinho is currently based in southern Africa, in Luanda, Angola. Working with Mitrelli as business development manager, he is responsible for the origination and development of new business opportunities with the public and private sectors. Engaging with clients and investors and other stakeholders to develop impact investing opportunities in large-scale projects in sub-Saharan Africa, he developed projects on utilities and infrastructure sectors as well as urban governance, across both central and local governments.

Prior to this position, in Moscow, Russia, with Strelka Institute, he was a researcher in urbanism in a one-year team project to develop new approaches to create change in the physical and social environment with Moscow as a field of study. Until 2011 he held leadership positions in Poland and Portugal, working with Mota-Engil Group as business unit manager, with responsibility for P&L for providing environmental services for local governments and private sector.

Ricardo holds a degree in environmental engineering by Portuguese Catholic University and an MBA from the University of Illinois (USA). Entrepreneur by nature and passionate about cities, he applies business strategies to generate impact in the for-profit industry. Through a continuous learning, practice and research process, he develops his expertise in cities and impact investing fields, building the opportunity to maximize outcomes and add value to solve world’s wicked problems coming with urbanisation and blend the required finance towards a more sustainable development.

An architect and urban planner with 20 years of experience in the USA, Europe, India and Africa, Rewati Prabhu is an integral part of the core team that started Frischmann Prabhu India in 1995. Rewati has led master-planning projects all over the world, including Pell Frischmann’s influential Low Carbon Infrastructure Study for Indian economic corridors, Konza Technology City in Kenya, and the Delhi Metro. She is currently advising Indian cities on sustainable infrastructure, sanitation and low-income housing and is particularly interested in protecting cultural and environmental identity while creating smart cities.

Rewati co-created the Jagriti Yatra project, an innovative pan-India youth enterprise programme, which has nurtured over 600 new enterprises and has been replicated in the USA and in France.

Alan Pullman is an architect and urban designer based in Los Angeles, California. He was raised in New York, and made his way to California after attending architecture school at Syracuse University. After practising architecture for several commercial firms in the region, he found a calling of sorts after working on a local community-driven revitalisation project. That project made him think more broadly about the responsibility of designers and the roles they should play in creating more sustainable, equitable and liveable cities.

He started his firm, Studio One Eleven, in 2000, which has since focused on the repair and revitalisation of existing cities through master planning, infill architecture and building rehabilitation. Alan sees Los Angeles grappling with urban challenges prevalent in many other regions: finding the balance between growth and quality of life, protecting a fragile environment, overlaying new mobility options and infrastructure on an existing metropolis, addressing increased economic inequality, building social cohesion between communities, and bridging the divide between citizens and government. He looks forward to the LSE experience to broaden his thinking and share knowledge with his fellow participants.

Over four decades of architectural practice in the USA and India, mostly in the public realm, provided Damyanti Radheshwar with many opportunities to contribute to planning and infrastructure projects. In recent years, her interests have manifested in the larger realms of sustainable development in communities, exploring ideas about development, planning and infrastructure, while attending conferences, lectures and symposia.

Damyanti’s practice, D Radheshwar Architect (www.dradheshwar.com), uses a collaborative model working with interdisciplinary peer groups in the USA, India and the UK. Increasing global population, rapid urbanisation and the changing environment are challenging communities everywhere: Damyanti’s interest is to participate in studying, analysing and discussing opportunities, solutions and effectively incorporating recommendations in meaningful ways through dialogue with policymakers, implementers and governing entities. She has been inspired by the work of a range of urban thinkers including Saskia Sassen, Mathias Echanove, David Grahame Shane, Ricky Burdett, Henk Ovink, Anuradha Mathur, Dilip da Cunha and Sheila Foster.

Navin Rai is a senior and first class gazetted officer in Planning & Architecture, permanently employed with the Urban Development & Housing Department, Govt. Of Sikkim, India. Navin is responsible for several administrative affairs related to urban governance, monitoring and is in charge of key national flagship missions. He has over twelve years of experience handling a wide range of technical as well as bureaucratic matters.

Navin possesses a Master’s degree in Planning and a Bachelor of Architecture Degree and is equipped with additional expertise in public relations. Currently, he is looking for opportunities to add global expertise and specialisation by undergoing more educational exposure in an institute of international repute, enabling himself to understand emerging trends in planning, sustainable design and mechanisms to understand the creation of economically viable urban infrastructures. He is looking forward to having first-hand experience of how communities participate in local area planning processes in developed countries where citizens are more informed, aware and vocal.

Mike Seyle is president and chief executive officer of WATG, an award-winning global design firm specialising in hospitality, luxury residential and mixed-use urban real estate development projects. The firm provides architecture, planning, strategic consulting, interiors and landscape design services for some of the world’s most prestigious companies, including Four Seasons, Disney, Ritz Carlton, Kerzner International, MGM, Hyatt, Marriott, Intercontinental, Hilton and Starwood.

Since 2009, Mike has led the company through recovery from the global recession toward expansion to 10 offices in six countries, with annual growth averaging 5%, and transition of the company to a John Lewis-type employee trust ownership model. In 2015, Mike completed his doctorate in business and innovation from Georgia State University. He has an MBA from San Diego State University and a law degree from the University of the Pacific. Mike and his wife Michelle live in Twickenham with the youngest two of their five precocious children.

Alberto Silva has an academic background in Urban Sociology and more than 20 years’ experience in urban programmes at local government level in Rio de Janeiro and Angra dos Reis. He has also worked as an urban researcher and for civil society organisations. From 1991 to 1996 he worked at the City Hall of Angra dos Reis, implementing adult literacy and school democratic management programmes. For his work as General Coordinator of the Sanitation Programme of Angra dos Reis, Alberto was commended with a good practice award in 1996 at the Second World Urban Forum, Habitat II in Istanbul. He has since worked with ActionAid in Brazil and as Country Director at ActionAid Mozambique, restructuring the programme towards a rights-based approach.

In April 2010 he joined the Port Region Urban Development Company (CDURP), a Municipal Company in charge of implementing Rio de Janeiro’s Port Region Urban Consortium Operation (also known as Porto Maravilha – Marvelous Port). Initially acting as President Special Advisor, he became President of the Company in November 2012. Porto Maravilha’s main goals are: increase the population area, improve urban mobility, appreciate material and non-material heritage, and promote social inclusion. This is the largest urban reform project under implementation in Brazil, utilising an innovative institutional framework and funding mechanism, and a new urban governance model.

Natalia is a registered architect in her native Colombia with 15 years professional experience working on high profile projects in the UK, Middle East, Asia and Latin America. She is well known for her passion in the front end design of large scale urban master plans, the collaborative thinking of global multidisciplinary teams and her great interest in the development of Latin America.

Natalia studied Fine Art and Architecture in Colombia, where she founded and ran her own practice “Espacio 10” for 5 years, focusing on city interventions which included installations, performances and large video-projections in public space. She has since moved to the UK and worked with various British architectural firms, including Benoy, an international firm of architects, masterplanners and interior & graphic designers with 11 design studios in the UK, the Middle East and Asia. At Benoy, Natalia is a Senior Associate Director. She specialises in the front end design of large mixed-use schemes and retail-led developments projects. She is also responsible for identifying and exploring new business opportunities in the Latin America region and is currently leading projects in Colombia, Panama, Nigeria, Cameroon and India.

Wen-Chih Yao has been a member of Taiwan’s parliament since 2012. A journalist and political scientist by training, he aims to run for mayor of Taipei in 2018. Wen-Chih served as the Director of Information Office, and then the Deputy Secretary-General in the municipal authorities of Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second-largest city, between 1998 and 2003. He strived to foster a civic pride in Kaohsiung through facilitating visually inspiring public works, advocating historic conservation and organising mega-events.

In 2005, he was promoted to the cabinet as Minister of Information Office and held the post for a year. Since being sworn in as a legislator, he has retained a seat on the Internal Administration Committee (which he has also chaired), and proposed various law amendments to protect and enhance public interest through strengthening disaster preparedness and economic development aspects of the built environment. In 2014, Wen-Chih won the Taipei mayoral primary with the Democratic Progressive Party, now Taiwan’s ruling party. The theme of his campaign was a call for the closure of the Taipei Songshan Airport, which lies in close proximity to the city centre. This will enable the lifting of building height controls in large parts of the city that will facilitate urban renewal and the establishment of a new vast urban park using the old airport site. Determined to make his second attempt, Wen-Chih is very keen to lead the spatial revolution in the Taiwanese capital.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Melody has studied and worked in the U.S. and Europe, and is now based in Hong Kong/Shanghai. With 15 years of experience, she has been practising in China for over a decade with a focus on urban place-making and sustainable development. As senior associate and urban design team leader at Perkins + Will’s Shanghai office, Melody has led projects from new town master plan, tourism and mixed-use, to site planning for a healthcare and education institution.

Since 2015, Melody was invited as studio tutor for an undergraduate design studio at the University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus and China Academy of Arts in Hangzhou. She recently co-organised a design-build workshop – “Living with Nature”, with participants from Taiwan, Japan and China, to explore the potential of community place-making at the rural village site. Through her practice and experience with both public and private sector, Melody’s aims are to facilitate meaningful collaboration through design, and to enhance the dialogue between stakeholder and the authority.