Norman Foster

Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners

Norman Foster is Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners, a global studio for architecture, urbanism and design, rooted in sustainability. Over the past five decades, the practice has pioneered a sustainable approach to architecture and urbanism through a wide range of work, from masterplans to offices, cultural buildings, airports and industrial design. He has been awarded architecture’s highest accolades, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Praemium Imperiale Award for Architecture in Japan, the RIBA Royal Gold medal and the AIA Gold medal. He is President of the Norman Foster Foundation, based in Madrid. In 1999 he was honoured with a Life Peerage, becoming Lord Foster of Thames Bank. 

https://www.instagram.com/officialnormanfoster/?hl=en 

Saskia Sassen

Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University

Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and former Chair, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University.

She is the recipient of diverse awards and mentions, multiple doctor honoris causa, named lectures, selected for various honors lists. She was awarded the Principe de Asturias 2013 Prize in the Social Sciences, selected as one of the top 100 women in the Sciences in 2018, and awarded the Geneva Picciotto Prize in 2020.

Her books include Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy (Harvard University Press, 2014; translated into 12 languages); Cities in a World Economy, 5th fully updated edition (Sage); Losing Control: Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization, The Schoff Memorial Lectures, Columbia University Press 1995; New updated edition 2016; Territory, Authority, Rights : From Medieval to Global Assemblages (Princeton University Press, 2008); A Sociology of Globalization (W.W. Norton, 2007); The Global City, (Princeton University Press 1991); The Mobility of Labor and Capital (Cambridge University Press 1988). Her books have been translated into over 20 languages.

Delton Chen

Project Director and Founder, Global Carbon Reward

Delton Chen founded the Global Carbon Reward initiative. Delton is a qualified civil engineer and geo-hydrologist, and he holds a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Queensland, Australia. Delton did his doctoral research on the hydrology of a coral cay in the Great Barrier Reef, and he has 20 years of combined experience in groundwater management, environmental impact assessment, geothermal energy and climate mitigation. Delton is a thought-leader in the development of public policies based on digital currencies, and is a member of the Blockchain Climate Institute. Delton developed the “Global Carbon Reward” policy to help reduce and remove carbon at the speed and scale that are needed to stabilize the climate and meet the 2015 Paris Agreement. Delton believes that the Global Carbon Reward can fill the funding gap for climate mitigation and help protect communities and ecosystems from the ravages of climate change and over-consumption.

Yasmeen Lari

Co-Founder and CEO, Heritage Foundation of Pakistan

Yasmeen Lari, the first female architect in Pakistan, is one of the best-known architects in the country, as well as an architectural historian, heritage and environmental conservationist, humanitarian worker and philanthropist. She graduated from Oxford Brookes University and was elected to Royal Institute of British Architects in 1969. She served as president of Institute of Architects Pakistan (1980-1983), and as first chairperson of the regulatory Pakistan Council of Architects and Town Planners (1983-1986).

After building several landmark buildings and social housing, and the largest urban redevelopment project in Asia at the time, she retired from architectural practice in 2000. As CEO and co-founder of Heritage Foundation of Pakistan since 1980, she has helped conserve several historic monuments in World Heritage Sites and landmark buildings in various cities. She has served as UNESCO National Advisor and was included among 60 Women who have contributed the most towards UNESCO’s objectives.

Since the 2005 earthquake, she has developed a number of methodologies for low-cost affordable housing which are climate resilient and provide social and ecological justice to those at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). By building over 40,000 one-room houses in disaster-affected areas, she has helped place Pakistan in the lead with the largest zero carbon shelter programme in the World. 

She is the recipient of many national and international awards including Sitara-i-Imtiaz (2006) and Hilal-e-Imtiaz (2014) conferred by the President of Pakistan; the Asia-focused Fukuoka Prize for Asian Arts and Culture (2016) in Japan; and the international Jane Drew Prize (2020) in London. She has also received the UNESCO Recognition Award (2002), Islamic Development Bank Prize for Women’s Empowerment (2013), and World Habitat Award (2018). Addressed as “Architect for the Poorest of the Poor”, when conferred an honorary degree Laurea Magistrale ad honorem (2021) by the prestigious Politecnico di Milano in Italy, becoming the first woman recipient in 158 years.

She has authored and co-authored several books and publications including The Dual City (1996), and Traditional Architecture of Thatta (1989), among others. She has lectured widely in universities and architectural institutions in Asia, Europe, Australia and US. Her architectural works have been exhibited in various countries around the world including the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago (2015), the Vienna Biennale, Vienna (2019) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2022).

Anna Scavuzzo

Vice Mayor of Milan and Lead for Food Policy Milano

Anna Scavuzzo is Vice Mayor of the City of Milan and Deputy Mayor for Education since 2016. She is also in charge of the Milan Food Policy which was awarded the Earthshot Prize 2021. 

Within an innovative framework of the food system governance, she is developing actions in several fields: reducing food waste, healthy diets, local public procurement, and agriculture. As Deputy Mayor for Education, she works closely with the municipal agency for school canteens and she promotes policies for more organic local procurement and healthier diets. 

She received a Master's degree in Physics from the University of Milan and worked on applied info technologies, data analytics and public administration learning tools for a leading editorial group. 

www.foodpolicymilano.org

@FoodPolicyMi

@FoodPolicyMi

@foodpolicymi

Food Policy Milano on YouTube

Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez

Co-founder and Co-CEO, Notpla

Notpla is a London-based start-up and recipient of the Earthshot Prize 2022, the most prestigious global prize for the environment in history. Their aim is to eliminate single-use plastic with a biodegradable material. Their edible ‘Ooho’ packaging has already been used for water and sauce sachets at the London Marathon and Glastonbury Festival. The key ingredient is seaweed which they say is a sustainable as it is abundant, grows fast, doesn’t need fertilizer, and actively sequesters carbon dioxide.

Claudia Hernández Fernández

General Director of Coordination of Policies and Environmental Culture, Mexico City

She is a biologist by the Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, and Master in Public Management for Good Administration by the EAP-GCDMX. Claudia is member of the Academia Nacional de Educación Ambiental and member of Cohort 18 of the Program of Advanced Studies in Sustainable Development and Environment by the Colegio de México (LEAD-Mexico).

She has extensive experience in research, consulting and project coordination. She has worked within the academic (UNAM), public (Government of Mexico City) and private (CEGAM SC) sectors.

As a biologist and amateur photographer, Claudia has directed her professional development and personal commitment towards environmental education and research. Since January 2019, she has been working at the Mexico City Ministry of the Environment and she is currently the General Director of Coordination of Policies and Environmental Culture.

Omar Degan

Principal, Do Architecture Group, and Obama Foundation Africa Leader

Omar Degan is Principal of Do Architecture Group, an architecture firm based between Somalia, Italy and the USA specialising in emergency architecture, post-conflict reconstruction and fragile contexts. His firm's principle lies in designing culturally, historically and climatically relevant solutions to social problems worldwide, with a particular focus on the most fragile contexts and communities.

Omar is an Assistant Professor at Auburn University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, and in 2022 he became an Africa Leader for the Obama Foundation. He obtained his Master's in Architecture for Sustainability and Built environment from the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, where he also earned his Post-graduate degree in Emergency contexts and developing countries.

In 2023 co-founded FragilityLab, a research and non-profit organization that aims to support the process of peace and development through architecture in the most distressed areas of the world.

Alisa Andrasek

Director, AIARCH and Biothing, and Professor of Design Innovation Technologies, RMIT University

Alisa Andrasek is an award-winning design leader bridging design, technology and ecology. She is
a founder of Biothing, Bloom Games, and AIARCH - design synthesis platforms at the intersection
of the physical and digital, for integrative solutions in the built environment as an ecology of
complex systems. Her work introduced discretisation and open synthesis between data, AI and
human intent in design processes.

Professor at RMIT School of Architecture, prior to which she directed an award-winning program
in advanced architecture and Wonderlab research at University College London, and has taught at
Architectural Association, Columbia University and European Graduate School. Featured in
numerous publications and exhibitions, including Centre Pompidou Paris, ZKM Karlsruhe, NGV
Melbourne, New Museum New York and Venice Biennale.

Kobie Brand

Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI and Regional Director, ICLEI Africa

Kobie Brand is the Deputy Secretary General of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, Regional Director of ICLEI Africa and Global Director of ICLEI’s Cities Biodiversity Centre.

Kobie has more than 25 years of practical and managerial experience in Environmental Management and Urban Development. Her expertise ranges from biodiversity, climate change, coastal management to urban sustainability and planning.

She is responsible for the strategic direction, growth, partnerships, programmes and scope of work for ICLEI in Africa, as well as for ICLEI’s global biodiversity and nature-based solutions work and related agendas. This includes the global CitiesWithNature partnership initiative and ICLEI’s One Health, and water and sanitation initiatives.

Iñaqui Carnicero

Secretary General of Urban Agenda, Housing and Architecture, Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Spain

Secretary General of Urban Agenda, Housing and Architecture, Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Government of Spain.

PhD (cum laude) Architect Polytechnic University of Madrid, fellow of the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome.

Golden Lion 2016 Venice Biennale for Best National Pavilion, FAD Award for Architecture and Opinion 2012, COAM Award 2012, AIA New York Housing Award 2015, Emerging Architecture Award 2011, Hauser Award 2011 and Design Vanguard 2011.

Associate Professor at the University of Madrid, visiting professor at Cornell University, Columbia University, California College of the Arts, Cooper Union, Yale University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT.

Prof Carlos Moreno

Scientific Director of the Chair ''Entrepreneurship Territory Innovation'', Sorbonne University-IAE Paris

Carlos Moreno earned recognition as a scientist with an innovative mind, pioneer works and his unique approach on urban issues. He is also a scientific advisor of national and international figures of the highest level.

He works at the heart of issues of international significance as a result of his research, bringing an innovative perspective on urban issues and offering solutions to the issues faced by the cities, metropolises and territories during the 21st century. Some of his concepts traveled the world: the ‘Human Smart City’, the’15-MinuteCity’, the’30-MinuteTerritory’.

In June 2022, he is leading the launch of the Global Observatory of proximities at the WorldUrban Forum #WUF11with UN-Habitat, C40 Cities, UCLG and other partners.

Prizes

• Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France,2010)§
• Foresight Medal by the French Academy of Architecture (France,2019)
• Obel Award by the Henrik Frode Obel Foundation (Denmark, 2021)
• Leadership Award, Smart City Expo World Congress (Spain, 2021)
• European Congress of Local Governments Prize (Poland, 2022)
• World Pioneer Awards for Building Better Lives », FIABCI (Paris, 2022)
• International Mobility Award, Empresas por la movilidad sostenible (Madrid, 2022)
• UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award, UN-HABITAT(Balikesir, 2022)

Book publications

• “Urban life and proximity at the time of Covid-19”,Editions de l’Observatoire (2020)
• “Droit de cité, de la ville-mondeàla ville du quart d’heure”,Editions de l’Observatoire (2020

Sadie Morgan

Co-founding Director of dRMM

Sadie Morgan OBE is a co-founding director of dRMM, a RIBA Stirling Prize-winning architecture studio.

Championing design for over two decades, Sadie is involved in several advisory roles including chairing the Design Panel for High Speed Two (HS2) and acting as commissioner for the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). She has been instrumental in setting up the NIC’s Design Group, which places design at the heart of major infrastructure projects.

Sadie was made board member of the UK government’s housing accelerator, Homes England, in 2019, followed by a commissioner role on the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission in 2020. In 2021, she became a member of the Net Zero Building’s council. 

Sadie lectures internationally about her practice and the role of design in infrastructure and large-scale development. In 2013, she became the youngest president of the Architectural Association, followed by an honorary doctorate from London South Bank University and professorship at the University of Westminster in 2016. In 2021, she was awarded the visiting Sir Arthur Marshall Professorship in Sustainable Urban Design at Jesus College, Cambridge University.  

In 2017, Sadie became a Mayor’s Design Advocate for the Greater London Authority (GLA) and was named ‘New Londoner of the Year’ by New London Architecture (NLA). She has won the ‘Female Architectural Leader of the Year’ BD award and an ‘AJ100 Contribution to the Profession’ award. In 2020, she was awarded an OBE for services to design advocacy. Most recently, Sadie established the Quality of Life Foundation – an independent body prioritising wellbeing in the built environment.

Marina Otero

Head, MA Social Design, Design Academy Eindhoven

Dr. Marina Otero Verzier is Head of the MA Social Design at DAE. In 2022 she received Harvard's Wheelwright Prize for a project on data storage's future. Between 2015 - 2022 she was Research Director at HNI and led initiatives on labor, extraction, and mental health from a post-anthropocentric perspective. Otero curated exhibitions, such as the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2018) and the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale, and co-edited books, including Automated Landscapes (2023) Lithium: States of Exhaustion (2021), More-than-Human (2020), Work, Body, Leisure (2018).

Headshot credit: Boudewijn Bollman

Media link: https://www.designacademy.nl/p/about-dae/community/marina-otero-verzier

Martha Thorne

Senior Advisor, The Obel Award and Distinguished Professor at IE School of Architecture & Design

Martha Thorne is Senior Advisor to the Danish foundation that grants the Obel Award, an international prize for outstanding and impactful contributions to our built environment to further human development and the common good.  She is passionate about equitable and sustainable ideas for the future of cities and making education more relevant to the major challenges we are facing. 

She is s Distinguished Professor at IE School of Architecture & Design after having served as Dean for seven years. She stepped down as Executive Director for the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2021 after collaborating with the award for 15 years. Prior to that, she was a Curator of Architecture at the Art Institute of Chicago, which involved developing exhibitions, research, and the permanent collection especially related to international, contemporary architecture and design. 

Reflecting her longstanding passion for livable cities, Thorne received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Affairs from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She undertook additional studies at the London School of Economics.

Prof. Catalina Turcu

Professor of Sustainable Built Environment, Bartlett School of Planning, UCL

Catalina Turcu is Professor of Sustainable Built Environment at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London (UCL). Her work contributes to the understanding and measurement of urban sustainability at the local level. Theoretically, her research adds the institutional dimension to the traditional three-pillar (economic, social, environmental) understanding of sustainability.   

Empirically, Catalina examines sustainable urban transformations at the local level by integrating social, institutional, and physical aspects of the built environment. More specifically, Catalina’s core expertise spans across three areas: the role of institutions in shaping urban sustainability; the social context of urban sustainability; and material narratives of urban sustainability.   

She has published widely, contributed advisory roles to many national and international organisations, and fulfilled scientific appointments with the World Bank (WB), United Nations (UN), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and World Health Organisation (WHO). Catalina is a trained architect and worked in architecture and planning consultancy for 10 years before joining Academia.  

“Any sustainable city model remains largely a social and political challenge not a technical fix.”  

Lucy Atlee

Senior Quality and Design Manager, TTL Properties, Transport for London

Lucy has been an architect for over 20 years and is a qualified BREEAM Assessor & BREEAM AP. She was board director of aLL Design Architects where she worked with Will Alsop before joining Transport for London (TfL) via Public Practice, a social enterprise that places architects in public bodies. Lucy’s role at TTLP is to champion design and sustainability in the development programme of 20,000 new homes. She delivered TfL’s Sustainable Development Framework, volunteered with LETI on the creation of a Client Guide to Zero Carbon Buildings and is a member of the NLA Net Zero Expert Panel.

Prof. Hanif Kara

Co-Founder and Design Director, AKT II

Professor Hanif Kara arrived in the UK as a refugee in the 1970s, and in 2022 was awarded the OBE for his services to architecture, engineering and education. He’s a co-founder and design director of the engineering practice AKT II, which today works throughout 50+ countries. He’s also a professor in practice with the Harvard GSD (having also taught with architecture schools throughout the UK and Europe), and an appointed Design Advocate for the Mayor of London. In 2022, he was furthermore awarded the CTBUH ‘Fazlur R Khan’ Lifetime Achievement Medal for his contributions to the global built environment. 

AKT II’s social media handles:

Twitter – @AKT_II

Linkedin –  AKT II 

Instagram – akt_ii

Hanif’s social media handles:

Linkedin – Hanif Kara

Instagram – Hanif.kara

Francesca Perry

Editor and Writer specialising in cities, design and sustainability

Francesca Perry is a London-based editor and writer specialising in cities, design and sustainability. She writes for the BBC, Financial Times, The Economist, CNN and others. She is editor of the book Welfare Architecture for All (2021). Francesca was previously a commissioning editor at The Guardian, deputy editor at Blueprint, and editor-in-chief of ICON. In 2012, she founded the editorial and events platform Thinking City, dedicated to championing more inclusive urbanism. As well as journalism, Francesca has a professional background in participatory urban design.

My LinkedIn profile is here, and my (Thinking City) Twitter account is here.

Rachael Hunnisett

Green Mortgage Campaign Lead, Green Finance Institute

Having started out her career as a mortgage advisor before working for a mortgage lender within business development, national accounts and new build, Rachael has a decade of experience working in the mortgage intermediary sector. Her move to the Green Finance Institute see’s Rachael combining her passion for sustainability with her career. Rachael is responsible for the GFI’s Green Mortgage Campaign as part of their Built Environment Programme and is working to create a green mortgage market which is scalable and plays a significant role in improving the energy efficiency of UK housing stock.

Josh Newton

Cities Activation Manager, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Josh is responsible for advancing ambitious circular economy policy and demonstration activities in cities across Europe. He provides advice and enables knowledge sharing to help city actors implement circular systemic solutions that tackle global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Previously, Josh was a sustainability/ CSR consultant working with leading FMCG, science and utilities companies. He was also a researcher to a UK Member of Parliament and shadow minister for transport & infrastructure.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/newton-joshua/

Dr Rihab Khalid

Isaac Newton Trust Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Director of Studies in Architecture at Clare College, and affiliated lecturer at the Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge

Dr Rihab Khalid is an Isaac Newton Trust Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Director of Studies in Architecture at Clare College, and affiliated lecturer at the Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge. She is an interdisciplinary researcher working on the socio-technical intersections of gender, energy infrastructure and space use in the Global South. Rihab is committed to problem-driven and human-centred research to tackle societal challenges, and to improve energy efficiency and sufficiency in architectural and urban spaces. Recipient of the Cambridge Trust Scholarship for a PhD in Architecture, Rihab has worked on numerous collaborative research projects, including with organisations like UKERC and BEIS UK, GSI-ARU, Aalborg University, Lahore University of Management Sciences and Women in Energy Pakistan.

Tracy Smith-Carrier

Associate Professor and the Canada Research Chair

Dr. Tracy Smith-Carrier is an Associate Professor and the Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the School of Humanitarian Studies at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Dr. Smith-Carrier’s program of research touches upon many different fields in the social policy arena, including access to social welfare benefits, social assistance receipt, food in/security, basic income, poverty, and climate justice. She is the Chair of the National Forum Strategic Planning Committee for a Basic Income Guarantee in Canada, and editor of Critical Policy Studies.

Victoria Thornton

OBE, Chair, Thornton Education Trust

Victoria is an expert in architecture education and social value development. It is her vision that urban design and architecture is an inspiring and positive force improving the lives of current and future generations. In 2021 Victoria established Thornton Education Trust (TET) focussing on empowering young people in the built environment through exemplars, research and building a ‘community of practitioners’. Recent roles have included Founder, Open House/Open City and its programmes for adults and young people - My City Too!, Accelerate!, Green Sky Thinking and Architecture in Schools, Learning Committee, Design Museum and Past President AA School of Architecture.

Twitter

Instagram: tet_inspirefuturegen

LinkedIn

Mischa Young

Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Environments at the Université de l’Ontario Français, Toronto, Canada

Mischa Young is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Environments at the Université de l’Ontario Français in Toronto, Canada. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, and received his Ph.D. From the Department of Geography & Planning at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on urban biodiversity and how to leverage new mobility technologies to design more equitable and sustainable cities.

Nabiha Qadir

MPhil Architecture and Urban Design Student

Nabiha is an MPhil Architecture and Urban Design student at the University of Cambridge, whose research explores community-led alternatives to development schemes in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, putting participation and co-design methods at the forefront of these counter proposals. Through her research in participatory planning methods, she establishes a strong focus on neglected communities in the planning process of ethnic enclaves in London, where, in her Part 2 project, focused on a community of women in Brick Lane, exploring how spaces can be sensitively designed for comfortable and functional use. Nabiha’s practice also includes filmmaking, fabrication, and curation, alongside her architectural practice.  

Mellis Haward

Co-Director of Archio Architects

Mellis is a co-Director of Archio Architects, and one of the UK’s leading voices on co-design and affordable housing.

Archio are architects that create buildings, places and strategies for local authority regeneration companies, housing associations, select private developers, cohousing and community-led groups. 

For Archio regeneration is most effective when design teams, councils and local communities co-produce visionary approaches that enrich lives. Their focus is to work with purpose-led clients who have a long-term interest in the vitality of the communities they operate in, including on large-scale community-led social housing retrofit strategies.

Nastaran Peimani

Senior Lecturer in Urban Design, Leader of the Urbanism Research and Scholarship Group, and Co-Founding Director of the Public Space Observatory Research Centre at Cardiff University

Nastaran Peimani is Senior Lecturer in Urban Design, Leader of the Urbanism Research and Scholarship Group, and Co-Founding Director of the Public Space Observatory Research Centre at Cardiff University. She has also served as the Co-Director of the MA Urban Design programme at Cardiff University. Her research focuses on the intersections of urban design, built environment, urban transport and forms of informality. Her current research interests include transit-oriented urbanism, urban morphology, urban mapping, spatiality of street vending, public space and urbanity, and urban design education and pedagogy.­ Nastaran has a PhD from the University of Melbourne.

Adrian McGregor

Founder & Chief Design Officer, McGregor Coxall

Adrian McGregor is a landscape architect, biourbanist and Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra – Faculty of Arts and Design. He is the founder and Chief Design Officer of McGregor Coxall, an interdisciplinary design firm located in Australia and the UK dedicated to assisting cities achieve resilient prosperity. Selected as one of Sydney’s ‘100 Most Creative People’ and recipient of the Prime Minister of Australia’s Urban Design award, he has designed new cities, lectured, and delivered award-winning projects across the world.

Ian Wilkinson

International Leader for The Built Environment sector, Osborne Clarke

Ian is the International Leader for The Built Environment sector.  He advises institutional investors and developers across Logistics, Living and Regeneration including acquisitions, disposals, forward funding, forward commitment, asset management, ground rent, income strip investments, and option and development agreements.

Ian leads relationships with several international and significant domestic investors. He and his team are recognised as leading lawyers in the Living and Logistics markets, unmatched in experience – particularly regarding life sciences, care and senior living, offices, hotels, and student accommodation.

Ian qualified at Osborne Clarke in 1997 and has been a Partner since 2006. He has been a member of Osborne Clarke's Partnership Council, holds chair positions on the Bristol Harbourside Forum and Underfall Yard Trust, and was a board member of youth homelessness charity LandAid South West.

Alvaro García Resta

Secretary of Urban Development, City of Buenos Aires

Urban planner and architect (University of Palermo), leader for innovation in sustainable urban development (School of Design, University of Harvard), permanent member of the Jury of the School of Architecture (University of Illinois) and visitor fellow of the Latin American Observatory (The New School).

From 2015 to 2019 he served as Undersecretary of Projects in the Ministry of Urban Development and Transportation. Previously, he was coordinator of Urban Innovation Projects in the Ministry of Economic Development and Chief of Staff of the General Directorate of Healthy Mobility of the Subsecretariat of Transportation.

In the academic field, Alvaro has acted as director and teacher of programs and postgraduate courses at the University of Buenos Aires, the University of Palermo and the Buenos Aires Technological Institute. He is currently the Director of the postgraduate program in Urban Anthropological Design of the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism of the University of Buenos Aires; of the Executive Program in Urban Anthropological Design of the University of Palermo, of the Diploma in Urban Anthropology of the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the University Argentinian of the Enterprise and Adjunct Professor in charge of Urban Project at the Solsona Ledesma Chair of the last Level of vertical matter Architecture of the University of Buenos Aires.

In parallel to his role as a public official, he is Director of the Architecture Update Program of the Central Society of Architects Project and Director of Postgraduate Studies in Anthropological Urban Design at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism of the University of Buenos Aires.

He is married and has two children.

Cheryl Ng

Planning Engagement Coordinator, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority

An ardent nature lover & visionary thinker, Cheryl dreams of building a more sustainable world through mainstreaming social & environmental stewardship. She has 8 years of experience working in communications, engagement & education in Singapore, the UK, and Canada.

Since 2020, Cheryl and her team have trained over 150 residents to become climate champions in their neighbourhoods. Due to overwhelming interest, her team piloted a Train-the-Trainer version in 2022 to help scale up community mobilization across Canada.

When not in the office, Cheryl can be found singing her way up BC mountains, cycling around Vancouver’s lovely greenways, or hauling herself up rockwalls in the wilderness.

Delfina Bocca

First Year, Materials & Technology Studio Tutor, Head of Digital Exploration Clinic at the Architectural Association, Associate Lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University Oxford Brookes University

Before founding MOTHER STUDIO, Delfina worked as a Senior Architect for Zaha Hadid Architects, specialising on design concepts and international projects. Her previous experience includes work with practices in UK, Italy, and Buenos Aires, where she is currently a registered architect. Engaged with education and research, she focuses on exploring digital and critical narratives as tools for architectural design.

She is currently a First Year, Materials & Technology Studio Tutor and Head of Digital Exploration Clinic at the Architectural Association as well as an Associate Lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University Oxford Brookes University where she leads Interior and Design digital  course as well as a master on Sustainability and Mindfulness.  She has previously co-leaded Digital Romanticism: an undergraduate studio at Oxford Brookes University in Oxfordshire. She curated Digital Nomad: Architecture and the Metaverse at Fundación PROA for the 18th Architecture Biennale in Buenos Aires working with digital platforms.

Malek Al Jebaie

Master's student at Lund University's International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics

Malek Al Jebaie is an accomplished Master's student at Lund University's International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, pursuing an international Master's degree in Environmental Sciences, Management, and Policy (MESPOM) as a recipient of the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. Throughout his studies in Vienna, Austria; Lesvos, Greece; and Lund, Sweden, Malek has gained a comprehensive understanding of urban transformation and climate policy. He has experience in building urban resilience and enhancing disaster risk management capacities in Lebanon, working with NGOs, international organizations, and governmental bodies such as the UNDP and HFSHD. With a background in Civil and Environmental Engineering and applied data science, Malek adopts an interdisciplinary approach to tackle the climate crisis, emphasizing utilizing the science-policy interface to develop evidence-based policies at the urban level to build effective governance and promote sustainable development. His latest work involves collaborating with the Ecologic Institute-Berlin to advance the knowledge and insights derived from the Urban Governance Atlas.

Mark Cridge

Executive Director of the National Park City Foundation and London National Park City

Mark is the Executive Director of the National Park City Foundation and London National Park City; a long-term grassroots movement for people making their cities greener, healthier and wilder.

For the previous seven years he was Chief Executive of mySociety, a UK based social enterprise, who help people be active citizens. mySociety's popular services FixMyStreet.com, TheyWorkForYou.com and WhatDoTheyKnow.com are used by over 11 million people each year; with their open source technology and research used by individuals, journalists, and civil society in over 40 countries worldwide.

Prior to mySociety, Mark enjoyed a diverse digital communications career including stints as COO at design consultancy BERG, as a senior advisor at political campaigners Blue State Digital in London, and served on the national executive of the Green Party of England & Wales for five years.

Originally studying Architecture at Strathclyde University, he got his commercial start in 1996 working for a small web design agency in Birmingham before setting up glue London, the UK's first digital advertising agency in 1999, going on to become global managing director of Isobar, following glue’s acquisition in 2005.

@markcridge  |  mark.cridge@nationalparkcity.org

James Golding

Technical Director at Epic Games

James is originally from Bristol, England. He studied Engineering and Computer Science at Oxford University, before working on physics engines for games. He has spent over 20 years at Epic Games as a programmer and team lead, developing numerous features including physics, animation, visual scripting, tools, gameplay and MetaHuman Creator. He has worked on game series such as Unreal Tournament, Gears of War and Fortnite. He is currently focusing on user generated content in Fortnite, in particular uses of game technology for education and social impact.

https://twitter.com/EpicJamesG
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-golding-833912/

Tomas Stokke

Co-founder and director of Haptic Architects

Tomas Stokke oversees Haptic’s international projects including the new Norwegian Government Headquarters, the new Norwegian embassy in Beijing, Istanbul Airport, Noida International Airport, and a waterside development for a marine centre and aquarium in Oslo. He oversees Haptic’s R&D arm, Haptic Green, focused on sustainable solutions through teaching, research and innovation. Tomas led the design of the Regenerative Highrise in Oslo, a thought piece on the future of vertical urbanism, in collaboration with Ramboll, aiming to create a new and flexible high-rise typology. He believes strongly in collaboration – International collaboration is key to Tomas’ approach, making people happy through good design.

Annekee Groeninx van Zoelen

Graduate MSc Architecture, Urbanism & Building Sciences at Delft University of Technology

As an ambitious and enthusiastic student in architecture, I have many different interests: from travelling with and working on my self-built campervan, to creating new designs for my sustainable clothing brand. But most of all, I enjoy nature, especially by hiking, trail running or surfing. I often wonder how we can improve the world, both for us as for nonhumans. As a result, I am very passionate about my graduation project connecting the built environment and nature, because in my view, we as designers should take responsibility for creating a sustainable, future-proof environment. My wish is to bring our human world back into balance with nature and I see myself working at an architectural firm committed to this. I am very much looking forward to meeting people and exchanging knowledge at this conference!

Scott Carroll

Director, LDA Design

Scott Carroll is a director and studio lead at LDA Design and a highly experienced landscape architect. Made up of designers and planners, LDA create low-carbon places where people belong. Scott brings a knowledge of biophilia to make beautiful, sensory environments that are rich in nature, and provide health and wellbeing benefits. He is working with Great Ormond Street Hospital to establish a new standard for the UK’s city hospital streets by transforming the polluted street adjacent to the hospital into a safer, healthier, child-friendly place with improved air quality, better supporting patients, staff, visitors, and the community.

Jerry Tate

Director, Tate+Co Architects

Jerry founded Tate+Co in 2007 and maintains a central role at the practice. He is driven by his desire to generate creative, pragmatic and unique solutions for each project that have a positive impact on our built and natural environment. Jerry is influential across all projects, ensuring design quality is paramount.

Jerry was educated at Nottingham University and the Bartlett, where he received the Antoine Predock Design Award, subsequently completing a masters degree at Harvard University, where he received the Kevin V. Kieran prize. Prior to establishing Tate+Co, he worked at Grimshaw Architects where he led a number of significant projects including ‘The Core’ education facilities at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK.

He is frequently invited to lecture, notably at Education Estates, the Carpenters Fellowship and Ecobuild, as well as contribute to architecture publications, including the Architects Journal, Building Design, Sustain, and World Architecture News. He has taught at Harvard University, run a timber design and make course for the Dartmoor Arts organisation and was Regnier Visiting Professor for Kansas State University’s Architecture School in 2021/22. Currently Jerry teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL.

Lucy Jenkins

Chartered Landscape Architect MA MLA CMLI, Associate, WSP Landscape & Urban Design

Lucy is a chartered landscape architect, with specific expertise in nature-led design, ecosystem services, infrastructure, landscape regeneration and habitat-based planting. With 25 years in practice, her experience includes public realm, parks, healthcare, housing, education, arts and playspace projects.

Qualified in ecology, her holistic design approach makes space for nature, integrating biodiversity into spatial designs, connecting people with their surroundings, placing emphasis upon natural resources - water, soils, plants, light and seasonality. With strong analysis and strategic design skills, Lucy has expertise in complex sites of historical, ecological and community importance. She is a passionate advocate for inclusive engagement and co-design.

Martin Murray

Architect and Ph D Researcher

Martin Murray is a Ph D Research Student at the University of Ulster focusing on the integration of nZEB design and Passivhaus principles.

He completed his Master Studies at Rice University, Houston, as a Fulbright Scholar, winning the William Darden Medal.

He is a practicing architect and project manager and has also taught and acted as an external examiner at third level institutes.

He is a Fellow of the RIAI and has served on the council of both the RIAI, and the AAI, and has  been active also across a wide variety of community initiatives.

Arjan Hassing

Circular innovation strategist, Project lead CircuLaw, City of Amsterdam

Senior expert in circular economy and systems innovation with extensive knowledge on public-private cooperation. Arjan has been part of the strategy team responsible for the Circular Amsterdam 2020-2025 strategy and one of the initiators of the Circular Monitor Amsterdam. Previously he developed the first regional circular economy strategy in the Dutch Province of North-Holland. Arjan is now initiator and project lead of CircuLaw, a knowledge platform aimed at more and better use of existing legislation by local and regional governments.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjanhassing/

Denis Naughten

TD, Member of the Irish Parliament, and former Irish Minister for Communications, Climate Action & Environment

Denis Naughten TD has been a directly elected MP in Ireland for 26 years and Chairperson of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Working Group on Science and Technology.

He passionately believes that stronger structures and relationships must be developed between the scientific community and MPs. One of the primary objectives of both professions is to solve problems to benefit society.

Denis has served as an Irish Cabinet Minister responsible for Energy, Climate, Communications, Environment and Natural Resources in addition to 3 separate Councils of the European Union Ministers.

Over his career, he has gained immense experience as an Opposition Spokesperson (Shadow Minister) across four separate portfolios, chairing two Parliamentary Committees and being a member of nine different Parliamentary Committees.

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/denis-naughten

Twitter @DenisNaughten

Facebook @DenisNaughten

Prof. Joseph Alcamo

Director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme at the University of Sussex

Prof. Joseph Alcamo is Director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme at the University of Sussex, UK which is providing "Science for the SDGs". During an extended break from academia, he served as Chief Scientist of the UN Environment Programme and later as UN Special Science Advisor to the Head of the Paris Climate Agreement negotiations. He was cited as a contributor to the Nobel Peace Prize won by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007. In the 1970s he helped found Urban Ecology Inc. and spoke at the first Eco City Summit in Berkeley in 1990. 

Badre Kanouni

Executive Board Chairman of Al Omrane Group, Morocco

As Executive Board Chairman of Holding AL OMRANE, Badre Kanouni plays a pivotal role in reducing housing deficits in Morocco while also improving living conditions. Beyond his work within this sector, Mr Kanouni is inspiring private sectors across Africa through policies that mirror international best practices aimed at creating opportunities resulting in growth — both socially and economically.

Isaias Baruch

Digital Design, Ecocity Builders

Isaias Baruch is a Mexican Generative Architect who specializes in ecocity digital twin development and parametric design. Over the past several years, Isaias has dedicated his time and effort to supporting the digital design development of various ecocity technologies that will drive circular economies and local job creation. 

Ugo Taddei

Head of Transport and Materials Systems, Europe ClientEarth

Ugo is responsible for the development of legal strategies to shift transport and materials systems to bring Europe into the safe and just space for humanity: where no one falls short of life’s essentials, and where we do not overshoot our pressure on Earth’s life-supporting systems. He also focuses on the fundamental role that cities can play to accelerate the shift to more sustainable and just societies.

Ugo joined ClientEarth in 2014 and is based in the Brussels office. Ugo holds a degree in law from the University of Florence (Italy) and a degree in environmental law and policy from the University College London (LLM).

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugo-taddei-7a76b491/ 

Matthew Springett

Co-Director, MATT+FIONA

Matthew Springett is one of the founders of MATT+FIONA. He is an ARB qualified architect with his own practice, MSA Ltd. He is also a Senior Lecturer and Teaching Fellow at the Bartlett, University College London (UCL). Matthew leads on connecting the pedagogical process and co-design process to creating robust, achievable and award-winning design.

George Pope

Programme Coordinator, MATT+FIONA

George Pope joined the MATT+FIONA team in 2022 after starting his career in the publishing sector. He combines a lifelong passion for architecture with experience working in youth engagement with Voluntary Service Overseas in his work at the organisation.

Prof. Montse Delpino-Chamy

Associate Professor, Departamento de Urbanismo, Universidad de Concepcion Chile

Montse Delpino-Chamy is an Architect, Urban Planner, and founder of SENSUR, the first digital platform for participatory mapping in Spanish.

Montse has taught at various universities in Chile, Uruguay, Australia and Spain. She had worked in urban planning processes with Regional Governments and been involved with consulting projects in Chile, Italy, Brazil and Uruguay. Additionally, she had provided volunteer services in various NGOs and citizens associations for local development, and private councils for the formulation of public policy.
Her academic and professional work focuses on sustainable urban development, with special emphasis on the relationship between urban design and citizen perception.

Samuel Tabory

Global Research Leader, Collaborating for Resilience; PhD Candidate in Urban and Regional Planning, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Samuel Tabory is global research leader for the international non-profit Collaborating for Resilience, as well as a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. His work focuses on the cross-scale politicking and negotiation required to effect climate-sensitive governance transitions across urban-rural ecological and infrastructural system extents. He holds master’s degrees in Latin American studies and community and regional planning from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Jua Cilliers

Head of School of Built Environment at the University of Technology Sydney, Professor of Urban Planning

Jua Cilliers is the Head of the School of Built Environment, and Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia). Jua is the Co-chair of the Climate Action Group of the Commonwealth Association of Planners and currently engaging with the International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) on a project to excel Child-focused Cities.

Francine Lacqua

Editor-at-large and Anchor, Bloomberg Television

Francine Lacqua is an award-winning London-based anchor for Bloomberg Television. She co-anchors daily weekday program “Bloomberg Surveillance: Early Edition,” where she provides insight on foreign policy, global markets and the top business stories of the day. She also presents “Leaders with Lacqua,” a special series where she sits down with top CEOs, entrepreneurs and public figures. Additionally, she anchors “ETF IQ Europe” weekly.

Since joining Bloomberg in 2000, Lacqua has covered the World Economic Forum in Davos, IMF in Washington, G20 meetings, the EU Leaders Summit and OPEC. She also led Bloomberg Television’s coverage of the Italian and French elections where she was one of the first international reporters to interview cabinet members.

Twitter + Instagram: @flacqua

linkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francine-lacqua-44529629/

Mikaela Loach

Climate Justice Activist

Mikaela Loach is a climate justice activist, author of It's Not That Radical!: Climate Action To Transform Our World (April 2023), co-host of The YIKES Podcast, writer and 4th year medical student based in the United Kingdom. In 2020, Forbes, Global Citizen and BBC Woman's Hour named Mikaela as one of the most influential women in the UK climate movement. In 2021, she was one of three claimants on the "Paid To Pollute" case who took the UK government to court over the huge public payments they give to fossil fuel companies every year. Her work focuses on the intersections of the climate crisis with oppressive systems and making the climate movement a more accessible space.

Will Hurst

Managing Editor, The Architects' Journal

Will Hurst is an award-winning journalist who has spent his career writing about architecture and construction. He has written extensively about the climate crisis and is currently leading the AJ’s anti-demolition campaign RetroFirst, which was shortlisted for Campaign of the Year at the 2021 British Journalism Awards and played a pivotal role in prompting last year’s public inquiry into M&S Oxford Street. Hurst has written for national titles such as the Guardian, Times, Telegraph, and Financial Times. His investigation into London’s Garden Bridge won him a British Journalism Award in 2017 and was shortlisted for that year’s Paul Foot Award.

Twitter: @WHurst1

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-hurst-a0404212/

Matthew Rockall

Communication Instructor

For the last 18 years, Matthew Rockall has taught business and technical communication at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, one of the largest post-secondary polytechnic institutes in western Canada. Throughout this time, he has been interested in education for sustainable development (ESD) and sought ways to integrate ecological literacy into his courses. With a Masters in Environmental Education and Communication that built on his original undergraduate BA in Geography and his post-diploma certificate in Technical Writing, Matt has long grappled with the challenge presented by educational silos. How do we include industry-specific content into already crowded applied technical programs?

Emma Campbell

Research Fellow in Architecture and Urbanism at Queen's University, Belfast

Dr Emma Campbell is a Research Fellow in the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University, Belfast. Emma uses a range of design-research approaches to reimagine systems and spaces that address our climate and biological emergency. Emma is particularly interested in applied climate regeneration design using circular economy principles and nature-based solutions in co-creation settings. Currently, she works on the EU-funded ‘UPSURGE’ project which co-designs nature-based solutions for disused green spaces in Belfast. In her previous work, she has worked with industry to apply research-by-design methods to imagine sustainable, resilient futures for supermarket shopping and poultry farming. 

Shade Abdul

Architect, Educator and Researcher

Shade Abdul is an architect, educator and researcher. She leads an interdisciplinary practice called Deft.Space, which works across architecture, research and participation. Her work focuses on participatory action research and inclusive regeneration that address socio-economic inequality. She is driven by design that is led by an in-depth understanding of not only the physical fabric, but also the social and economic conditions.

Shade currently teaches BA Architecture at Central Saint Martins. She is a member of Southwark Council’s Land Commission, the first of its kind in London and only the second in England. She is also a member of Newham Council’s Design Review Panel and a member of the Urban Design London’s Environmental Design Review Panel. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Dan Scanlon

Executive President & Head of Brookfield Properties UK

Dan Scanlon is Executive Vice President, responsible for leading the Brookfield Properties team in the UK, including a 5M SF portfolio in London. He joined Brookfield Properties in 2009 and has been instrumental in the site acquisition and successful delivery of more than 3 million sq ft of office, residential, retail and leisure in London. Before joining Brookfield Properties, Dan managed a series of large-scale construction projects both in Melbourne and London, including 5years in a senior position at Multiplex Construction (acquired by Brookfield in 2007). Dan is the former Chair of the City Property Association in London and holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Melbourne, Australia

LinkedIn: Dan Scanlon

Website: Brookfield Properties, Dan Scanlon

Yasmin Jones-Henry

FT Writer and Curator of The Lab E20

Yasmin Jones-Henry works in the space where fashion meets finance and culture meets commerce. Through her work as a writer with specialisms in sustainability (ESG), design and investment, she has established a career championing the role culture and creative enterprise can play as a catalyst to inclusive regeneration. As cultural placemaking strategist, Yasmin is a thought leader and an advocate for rethinking retail, scaling circular economy design principles and working to diversify the talent pipelines across the fashion industry and the built environment. Yasmin is a journalist (Financial Times) and curator and co-founder of The Lab E20.

Instagram: @yasminrjh
LinkedIn: Yasmin Jones-Henry
Twitter: @yasminrjhenry
Website: Financial Times, Yasmin Jones-Henry

Dan Sibert

Senior Partner Architect, Foster + Partners

Dan Sibert is a Senior Partner Architect at Foster + Partners and is originally from just outside Cardiff, Wales. He's interested in the evolution of how we live and work and what this means for the design of the spaces we inhabit, as well as the role of technology in architecture. His background leading projects that utilize computational architecture and BIM, led him to look at how processes can encourage a greater concentration on design. Dan is a keen cook, and has a love for food and its origins. He is also an enthusiastic volunteer in his community, coaching the local rugby and cricket teams.

LinkedIn: Dan Sibert
Website: Foster + Partners, Dan Sibert

Natalie Pearce

Culture Designer & Cofounder of The Future Kind Collective

Natalie (she/her) is a Culture Designer, Facilitator and Cofounder of The Future Kind Collective–a culture consultancy on mission to create world where all people get to work for kinder, fairer, better designed companies. As an ex-Head of Culture for a scaling agency, Nat knows what it takes to develop, maintain and evolve an industry-renowned culture ingrained in empathy, trust, collaboration, curiosity and empowerment, and brings this experience to her work with high growth companies. During her consultancy career, she's led projects for Insights, Amnesty International, NatWest, MasterCard, DVSA, Fidelity, HSBC, ITV and Pizza Hut. Find her on LinkedIn, Instagram, Medium and Twitter, where she talks about well-being, culture, leadership, the future of work and entrepreneurship.

LinkedIn: Natalie Pearce and The Future Kind Collective
Instagram: @natjpearce and @thefuturekindco
Twitter: @natjpearce and @futurekindco
Website: www.thefuturekind.co

Charlotte Glazier

Programme Manager, Greening the Public Realm

Charlotte is the Programme Manager, for Greening the Public Realm at Islington Council. She is an award-winning, urban greening transformation specialist, chartered Landscape Architect and has served as an advisor, consultant, client and manager, with a track record of creating and maintaining inclusive, collaborative, engaging environments which celebrate nature, promote climate resilience and empower communities. She has particular interest in designing and mobilising smaller scale programmes, able to be replicated at scale and pace and has ambitious sightlines for private financing of green infrastructure across the public realm.

Christian Dimbleby

Architype Associate; Architect and Chartered Engineer

Christian Dimbleby is a renowned industry leader and passionate about low-carbon design. He has over 17 years’ experience in retrofitting buildings to meet zero-carbon targets, combining deep technical knowledge with expert design. Christian is a qualified architect and engineer and has worked at Architype since 2004, leading the delivery of many exemplary projects, including The Enterprise Centre at the UEA, featured in the World Economic Forum’s list of the world’s most sustainable buildings and Harris Academy Sutton, the UK's first Passivhaus secondary school. An authority at guiding estate owners towards the optimum steps to meet zero carbon design.

www.linkedin.com/in/christiandimbleby/

Kristina Roszynski

Architect & Researcher

Kristina joined Cullinan Studio in 1999 inspired by the ethical, employee-owned model and vision of ‘architecture as a social act’. She has worked as an architect for over 25 years, specialising in low energy retrofits of workplace, schools, and homes.

She is currently collaborating on GreenSCIES, an InnovateUK funded project led by London South Bank University (LSBU), GreenSCIES is a Smart Local Energy System (SLES), which is a heat network that can deliver low-carbon heat, power and mobility and utilises recoverable heat sources.

Recently, Kristina has taken the role of Director of the GreenSCIES Centre of Excellence established at LSBU.

Sophie Mauzerolle

City Councillor, Executive Committee Member & Agglomeration Council Member

Sophie Mauzerolle holds a master's degree in political discourse analysis. She is a city councillor in the Ville-Marie borough, Sainte-Marie district, and a member of the executive committee responsible for transportation and mobility. She previously worked as an executive at the City of Montreal where she was involved in public policy analysis, which allowed her to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the challenges and issues facing the city.

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/sophiemauzerolleelue

Twitter : https://twitter.com/sophiemauzeroll

Linkedin : https://ca.linkedin.com/in/sophiemauzerolle

Catherine McGuinness

Common Councillor and former Policy and Resources Chair, City of London Corporation

Catherine is a non-executive director of Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport and place leadership. 

A financial services lawyer by background, she has also served as the City of London Corporation’s Policy Chair (2017-2022), leading on its work with the financial and related professional services sector and being an active participant in London Councils, sitting on the Leaders’ Committee and Executive Committee. 

Catherine has been closely involved in several green finance initiatives, was a director of the Green Finance Institute, and is a member of the UK Voluntary Carbon Markets Forum, and the Distinguished Advisory Group of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market. 

Twitter @City_McGuinness

Owen Hopkins

Director, Farrell Centre at Newcastle University

Owen Hopkins is a writer and curator. He is Director of the Farrell Centre at Newcastle University – a new public centre for architecture and cities which opened to the public in April 2023. Previously he was Senior Curator at Sir John Soane’s Museum and before that Architecture Programme Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts. He is curator of numerous exhibitions including the Farrell Centre’s inaugural show, More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World. A frequent commentator on architecture in the press, on radio and TV, he writes regularly for a range of media and is author or editor of numerous books and journals. He lectures internationally and is a frequent guest critic at architecture schools, as well as a judge for a number of architecture awards.

Twitter.com/owen_hopkins

Instagram.com/owenhopkins

Carol Lewis

Property Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times

Carol Lewis is the property editor of The Times and The Sunday Times and winner of several awards including Columnist of the Year at the Property Press awards 2022. She has worked at The Times for more than 15 years on business, finance and property. Previously she was the editor of a weekly medical newspaper. She enjoys surfing and skiing, neither of which she has mastered — yet.

Twitter: @CarolLewis101

Instagram: @kagslewis

LinkedIn: CarolLewis

Sam Jarrett

Head of Marketing and Communications, U+I

A passionate and experienced communicator, Sam leads marketing and communications for U+I, the specialist mixed-use regeneration development company that was acquired by Landsec in December 2021. He is working across the UK, creating compelling campaigns that highlight the positive impact of these projects and the wider business. Recent successes include the launch of Mayfield Park in Manchester and the Liberty of Southwark in London, which was awarded a D&AD Pencil award for ‘writing for design / storytelling’.

Claire Spencer

CEO of the Barbican Centre

Claire Spencer joined the Barbican in May 2022 as the first-ever CEO. Claire was previously at the Arts Centre Melbourne where she successfully led a thriving cultural centre, re-positioned the organisation to be a key player in the district’s creative economy and steered it through the Covid-19 pandemic. In the 2020 Australia Day honours list she was conferred a Member of the Order of Australia for her work in the performing arts. Claire has been a champion of women in leadership and a supporter of organisations and projects that provide scholarships and mentoring support to those from marginalised or disadvantaged backgrounds. A Chartered Accountant and Theology graduate, she is married with three children. 

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/claire-spencer-am-3740878

Duncan Crowley

Communications Officer, European Network for Community-Led Initiatives on Climate Change and Sustainability (ECOLISE)

Lisbon based, Irish architect exploring community-led ecocities through action research. Working with ECOLISE (European Network for Community-Led Initiatives on Climate Change and Sustainability) and UrbanA (Urban Arenas for Sustainable and Just Cities). PhD student in Architecture of Contemporary Metropolitan Territories (ISCTE). Regenerative Development Practioner (2021). Degrowth & GAA enthusiast. Masters in Environment and Development (2018) from UFPR, Curitiba, Brazil. Based in Barcelona (2006-13), co-founded local Transition group, gained Permaculture Design Certificate (2010), worked with Eco Intelligent Growth (EIG) on LEED and Cradle to Cradle certification, collaborating with William McDonough. Ecocity activist since Banja Luka, Bosnia (2003). Loves wild rivers.

https://linktr.ee/duncancrowley

María Isabel Peña

Former Director Instituto de Urbanismo /FAU/UCV Fundación Espacio, Associate

As an academic, researcher in the practice of architecture and urban design, was able to propose changes to improve self-produced areas, provoking from plans to activation programs, using tools such as art, recycling, trade education, female empowerment, among others. Recently ventured into ecological remediation program, understanding the city as an ecosystem providing replacement trees in urban contexts unbalanced by indiscriminate logging and climate change. This, to develop ideas for understanding problems and potentialities of design, in urban and human contexts, with equity and creativity. Now is developing a virtual experience of CUC World Heritage Caracas, together with British Council.

www.fundacionespacio.com
www.guiaccs.com

Deborah Saunt

Founding Director, DSDHA

Deborah Saunt is a Founding Director of the architecture, urban design and spatial research studio DSDHA. Blurring the boundaries between infrastructure, landscape, architecture and art, the studio’s work is the result of extensive dialogue with communities, as well as stakeholders and collaborators, to deliver projects that have the broadest impact. They have been shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize, and twice nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

Recent and ongoing projects include the reinvention of the National Youth Theatre’s headquarters and the refurbishment of London’s iconic Economist Plaza. Urban scale work includes the public realm framework for the West End Project, and Exchange Square – a new park for the City of London above Liverpool Street Station.

Much of Deborah’s current work is concerned with democratising architecture, having set up the Jane Drew Prize in Architecture, and she is a Founding Director of the London School of Architecture.

https://www.instagram.com/dsdha_architecture/
https://twitter.com/DSDHA
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dsdha/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahsaunt/

Carl Weisbrod

Senior Advisor, HR&A, and former Chairman, New York City Planning Commission

Carl Weisbrod was appointed as Director of the New York City Department of City Planning and Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission by Mayor Bill de Blasio in March, 2014. Weisbrod has more than 35 years of experience serving the people of New York. As a member of the de Blasio Administration, Weisbrod is charged with creating land use and zoning policies to promote an equitable, resilient, sustainable and economically vibrant New York City. Weisbrod has also been a key player in the development and implementation of Housing New York, the Mayor’s affordable housing initiative. In previous roles, Weisbrod led the transformation of several dynamic and fast growing neighborhoods including the development of Times Square into a global hub for tourism and entertainment, the evolution of the Financial District from an area dominated by daytime office workers into a thriving 24-7 area and the successful rezoning of Hudson Square into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood for creative industries and new housing. 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarlWeisbrod
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-weisbrod-4530a094

Diana Ibáñez López

Course Leader, MA Cities, Central Saint Martins

Diana Ibáñez López directs MA Cities at Central Saint Martins. The course develops new city-making practices through situated research, working translationally and intervening across scales from the voice to global infrastructures. Before leading MA Cities, Diana was a Senior Curator at Create London, where she led on A House for Artists, an award-winning building designed by Apparata. The project was awarded the RIBA London and Client of the Year Awards in May 2023. Diana has taught architecture and urbanism since 2015, at the Royal College of Art, UCL, TU Delft and Kingston, and been a visiting professor at Karlsruhe HKA. 

Instagram: @csm_ma_cities 

Déborah López and Hadin Charbel

Pareid is an award winning  interdisciplinary design and research studio located between London and Spain. Their works adopt approaches from various fields and contexts, addressing topics related to climate, ecology, human perception, machine sentience, and their capacity for altering current modes of existence.

Led by Déborah López and Hadin Charbel, practice and pedagogy intermingle at the Bartlett School of Architecture where they lead Research Cluster 1 under the title of ‘Monumental Wastelands’. Using climate fiction as a vehicle they combine video-game engines, aggressive material reuse, and narratives, to challenge current economically profitable models through imminent fictions (if).

Social Media Links

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/pareid.architecture/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pareidstudio

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/pareid/

Suhair Khan

Technologist & Entrepreneur

Suhair Khan is a technology entrepreneur and creative leader. She is the founder of open-ended design, a platform and incubator for ideas and projects at the intersection of technology and creativity. 

In over a decade at Google and Google Arts & Culture, Suhair led initiatives which merged cutting edge technologies with arts, design, culture, education and environmental sustainability. 

She sits on the board of trustees for the Design Museum, Sadler’s Wells, Studio Wayne McGregor and the advisory committee of the British Library. She is a lecturer in the Master of Architecture program at Central Saint Martins. 

Social Media links: 

• Website  
• Linked in  
• Instagram  
• Twitter 

Dr Janis Birkeland

Honorary Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne

Janis is a professor at the University of Melbourne.  Previously, she was Professor of Sustainable Design at the Uni of Auckland, New Zealand, and Professor of Architecture at Queensland Uni of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.  Before entering academia, she was a lawyer, architect and planner in San Francisco.  She originated the theory of net positive development and design, and taught and published on the subject for decades.  Her Ph.D was Planning for Sustainability (1993) and her books include Net-Positive Design and Sustainable Urban Development (2020) Positive Development (2008), and Design for Sustainability (2002). See http://netpositivedesign.org 

Tim Moonen

Co-Founder and Managing Director, The Business of Cities

Dr Tim Moonen is Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Business of Cities, an urban intelligence firm based in London that works with leaders in 100 cities, 30 national governments, and 50 global companies and organisations. The co-author of World Cities and Nation States and Creating Great Australian Cities, Tim has been working for 15 years with partners such as the World Bank, OECD, Brookings Institution and Urban Land Institute on strategies for city leadership, long-term planning, city identity, performance benchmarking, and the innovation economy. Tim chairs senior advisory boards and stakeholder engagements on behalf of cities, businesses and places, and teaches executive-level city education for international companies and universities.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-tim-moonen-4864b365

Ruth Duston OBE, OC

Managing Director, Primera Corporation

Ruth is recognised as a leading practitioner in the regeneration field. She specialises in developing partnerships from the ground up, guiding embryonic partnerships through successful BID ballots and onward to become sustainable BIDs delivering tangible results. She has vast experience of managing teams and achieving impressive outputs, managing the Primera team which recently steered the Cheapside Initiative to a successful BID ballot. She has also spearheaded three other successful BID ballot campaigns in Central London – Baker Street, Victoria and Northbank. She travels widely, in particular to the US and Europe, to learn best practice. She also speaks frequently at industry events.

LinkedIn (18) Ruth Duston OBE, OC | LinkedIn
Twitter Ruth Duston OBE, OC (@RuthDuston) / Twitter

Kate Hart

CEO of the Eastern City BID, Primera

Kate is a PR specialist with almost 20 years’ experience working for corporate and consumer clients, in both the public and private sectors. She works across the Primera portfolio. Prior to joining Primera, Kate ran her own consultancy to enable her to focus on her particular specialism of placemaking, having worked on a number of regeneration projects over the years. Previously Kate worked for leading PR agencies for many years working on projects including King’s Cross Central, the opening of High Speed 1 and St Pancras International. Kate started her career in the public sector, including over three years working at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), advising the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Nick Raynsford and latterly, the former Housing Minister Yvette Cooper on communication issues.

LinkedIn (18) Kate Hart | LinkedIn

Lloyd Harriman

Major Projects Advisory Manager, KPMG

Lloyd co-leads the Net Zero Urban Program with Jorn Verbeeck for KPMG’s Global Decarbonisation Hub, focusing on helping cities achieve net zero through digital twin technology to prioritise city investments against net zero targets; a decarbonisation innovation exchange to match investors to investable solutions; and objective assessments of cities progress to net zero.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloyd-harriman-259713a6/

Shirley Rodrigues

Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy

Shirley Rodrigues was appointed as London Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy in October 2016. Previously she oversaw a global climate change grants portfolio at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) developing their cities and climate strategy, and in other senior environmental roles has devised and delivered a range of environmental policies and programmes in London, nationally and internationally. 

She is now working to deliver the Mayor’s vision of making London greener, fairer and healthier through implementing his London Environment Strategy. This includes ambitious programmes to reduce air pollution across London, including the implementation of the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone, and greening and rewilding the city.   Her key focus is on working to ensure London’s economic and social recovery from the impacts of Covid-19 is a green and fair one by tackling the climate and ecological emergency with the ambitious aim for London to be a net zero carbon city by 2030. 

Lina Ghotmeh

Architect and Founder of Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture

Lebanese-born architect Lina Ghotmeh is the founder of Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture in Paris and designer of this year’s Serpentine Pavilion in London. Her work includes the ‘Stone Garden’ tower in Beirut, awarded Dezeen Project of the Year 2021, and exhibited at the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice, MAXXI in Rome, the Cooper Hewitt in New York, and the Estonian National Museum. She recently completed the first passive, low-carbon building, the Ateliers Hermès located in Louviers, France and built using more than 500,000 bricks locally produced. Lina Ghotmeh was Louis I. Khan Professor at Yale University and Gehry Chair in the University of Toronto. She has been awarded the 2020 Schelling Architecture Prize among many other prizes and nominations.

Shubhanaga Simpson

Associate Director, Mole Architects

Shubhanaga is Associate Director at Mole Architects. He has excellent experience working across a range of sectors and is a specialist in delivering medium and large-scale housing, leading design teams throughout all design stages and during construction. Shubhanaga was the project architect for the multiple award-winning Marmalade Lane co-housing project. His main areas of interest are sustainability, community-led housing and delivering social value. He trained at the University of Cambridge, the University of Bath, and London Metropolitan University, and joined Mole Architects in 2013.

Lucy Yu

Chief Executive, Centre for Net Zero, Octopus Energy

Lucy Yu is a non-executive board member at Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership; and at E3G, a leading global think tank for environmental influence. As well as her non-executive roles she is Chief Executive at Centre for Net Zero, Octopus Energy’s not-for-profit research unit leading research to make the future energy system a reality. She has two decades of experience building tech ventures and developing tech policy and regulation for governments around the world. Her work has focused on sustainability and renewable energy; future mobility and the built environment; artificial intelligence; open data and open source; and regulating emerging technologies.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucyyu1/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/CPCatapult
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/connectedplacescatapult/
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@connectedplacescatapult292. 

Heba Khalil

Professor of Sustainable Urbanism

Heba Khalil, professor of sustainable urbanism & the senior coordinator of the Architectural Engineering and Technology Program at Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University focusing on community development, informal areas, urban metabolism, urban climate, integrated urban systems, gender equity, land governance & healthy cities with more than 50 publications & several international research partnerships. She has more than 20 years of experience working as an architect, urban planner & housing & capacity building expert with a passion for inclusive & sustainable development. Khalil holds a PhD in architectural engineering from Cairo University and has been granted the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship in urban studies at MIT.

Dr Shampa Roy-Mukherjee

Interim Dean of the Royal Docks School of Business and Law, University of East London

Dr Shampa Roy-Mukherjee is the Interim Dean of the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at the University of East London. She is an Associate Professor in Economics and has extensive senior leadership experience.

Shampa is the Co-Chair of the School Athena SWAN Committee and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is involved in several local and regional development projects focussing on youth engagement;  health and income inequalities; and youth employability and skills gap.

Shampa received a PhD in Economics from the University of Birmingham. 

Christopher Pountney

Associate Director, Arup

Christopher Pountney is a climate and sustainability expert who co-authored the Green and Thriving Neighbourhoods Guidebook. He is the Arup Skills Leader for Decarbonisation and Sustainability in UKIMEA and is a member of the SBTi Expert Advisory Group on Buildings.

Serge Salat

Founder of the Urban Morphology and Complex System Institute

Serge Salat is an architect, urban planner, economist, and the founder of the Urban Morphology and Complex Systems Institute in Paris. He is a global expert in urban morphology and city design, spatial planning, urban energy, smart cities, urban finance and complex systems management. He advises the IPCC, GEF, UNEP, UN-Habitat, World Bank, the Chinese government and many cities, including the municipalities of Shanghai and Chongqing. Serge Salat holds three PhDs in Architecture, Economy, and History of Civilizations. He is a recipient of the prestigious GFHS Outstanding Individual Award for his work on urban sustainability.

Margaux Ginestet

Consultant, Cities Unit, UN Environment Programme

Margaux Ginestet is a development economist working at the UN Environment Programme's Cities Unit, where she supports the UrbanShift programme and the development and dissemination of holistic approaches to sustainable urban development. Her work is focused on sustainable and integrated neighbourhood design and the circular economy, in collaboration with practitioners and experts at the local and global level.

Lord Deben

Chairman of the Climate Change Committee

The Rt. Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben, set up and now runs Sancroft, a Corporate Responsibility consultancy working with blue-chip companies around the world on environmental, social and ethical issues. Lord Deben is Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change and Valpak Limited. He was the longest serving Secretary of State for the Environment the UK has ever had (1993-97). His sixteen years of top-level ministerial experience also include Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, Minister for London, Employment Minister and Paymaster General in HM Treasury. He has consistently championed an identity between environmental concerns and business sense.

(45) John Gummer, Rt Hon The Lord Deben | LinkedIn

Phil Graham

Executive Director, Good Growth, Greater London Authority

Stephen Lorimer

Lead for the Clean Energy Cities programme at Centre for Net Zero, powered by Octopus Energy

Stephen is the lead for the Clean Energy Cities programme at Centre for Net Zero, powered by Octopus Energy. The programme recommends priority actions for cities to take the lead of the energy transition. He’s currently researching proof of concepts of city-led energy transitions with the Connected Places Catapult, Oxford, and Birmingham. He is an external expert for the European Urban Initiative and ClimateKIC. As a public servant, he penned successful business cases for the Data Standards Authority for the UK Government and the London Office of Technology and Innovation for London's 33 boroughs and the Mayor. As an academic, he managed a pre-seed fund for sustainable technologies at Imperial Business School and has a doctorate in energy and the built environment from the University College London Energy Institute.

Pete Daw

Head of Climate Change, Greater London Authority

Pete Daw is a specialist in urban and environmental policy and is currently Head of Climate Change with responsibility for London’s climate change mitigation, adaptation and green finance policy and programmes.

Previously Pete worked for Siemens as Director of Urban Development and Environment at the Global Centre for Cities where he worked with cities globally to help them understand the role technology can play in tackling their challenges. He worked extensively on Siemens smart city approach in China, India, Italy and Saudi Arabia.  He also headed the Siemens partnership with C40 cities where he has produced thought leadership pieces on topics ranging from connected and autonomous vehicles to climate financing. He also developed Johannesburg’s first ever greenhouse gas inventory as part of Siemens work with C40 cities. 

Previously Pete worked in London government for 12 years at the GLA and the London Development Agency on climate mitigation, energy, air quality and waste programmes.

Linkedin.com/in/pete-daw

Lucy Bullivant

Founder and Director, Lucy Bullivant & Associates, and Chair, Lambeth Design Review Panel

Lucy Bullivant is a place strategist, curator and award-winning author dedicated to just transitions enabled through bespoke and engaged adaptive planning. ‘Retrofit 23: Towards Deep Retrofit of Homes at Scale’, the exhibition she curated for the Building Centre, London, is on show until 29 Sept. In 2010 she was elected an Honorary Fellow by RIBA for her contribution to sustainable architectural culture globally. Lucy has delivered place strategies for local authorities in the UK and Norway, and her published books include Masterplanning Futures (Routledge). She has a PhD in adaptive planning (School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University).

Instagram

Twitter

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Facebook

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Lauren-Rose Harper

Sustainability Officer at Peabody

MSc Environmental Management, BSc Zoology

Lauren works in the Sustainability Team at Peabody, one of the oldest and largest housing associations in the UK. Lauren’s role includes strategising how we will bring over 100,000 homes to net zero carbon by 2050, and the organisation’s business practices and operations by 2030. Lauren oversees Peabody’s customer sustainability engagement agenda and leads the Biodiversity Working Group, exploring how we will build greener communities and spaces. Lauren has also worked as the Environmental Strategy Lead at Tower Hamlets Homes and is keen to combine her nature-based background and beliefs with her role of providing more sustainable places to live in urban environments.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-rose-harper-8719ab147/

Cora Hallsworth

Manager of Municipal Programs at BCIT’s Centre for Ecocities

Cora Hallsworth, Manager of Municipal Programs at BCIT’s Centre for Ecocities, has over 20 years experience advancing community and organizational sustainability. She has worked on award winning plans and has been contracted and appointed to advise on municipal, regional and corporate climate action and sustainability initiatives. She has extensive background in climate action, sustainable consumption and waste management; focusing on planning, strategy and inventory development. Cora is Principal of her own consulting practice; part-time Faculty instructor at BCIT; and is a Senior Associate with One Earth. Cora has been managing the pilot testing of the ecoCity Footprint Tool and has been working with municipalities to employ the results from these assessments, including as lead of One Planet Saanich.

Glenys Verhulst

Sustainability Planner with the District of Saanich

Glenys Verhulst is a Sustainability Planner with the District of Saanich with over 15 years of experience in climate and energy efficiency programs. With the District, Glenys led community engagement for, and was a lead writer of mitigation policy in, the award-winning Saanich Climate Plan. She leads reporting on corporate and community climate action to Provincial and international climate disclosure bodies. She is responsible for implementing corporate and community-mobilizing climate actions and is advancing climate equity work for the District, including the Saanich E-bike Incentive Pilot Program.

Avgousta Stanitsa

Neil Manthorpe

Chris Massey

Francis Heil

Ruth Hynes

Shrishti Roy