Lamia El Aaraje

Deputy Mayor, Urban Planning & Architecture, Greater Paris

Lamia El Aaraje is a French politician and pharmacist who has been Deputy Mayor of Paris for Urban Planning, Architecture, Greater Paris, and Accessibility since July 2024. A member of the Socialist Party, she has held various political roles, including Paris City Councilor and first secretary of the Paris Federation of the Socialist Party. She is known for her advocacy in health, accessibility, and urban development.

Lana Abdelhameed

Director, Centre for the Planet Programme, Expo City Dubai

With over a decade of experience in global affairs, soft power positioning, sustainability and the intersection of innovation and policy, Lana currently leads Expo City Dubai’s global mandate for curating partnerships and collaboration aimed at scaling innovative solutions for our environmental challenges. In her previous role at Expo 2020 Dubai, she worked on the development and delivery of the Programme for People and Planet, Expo 2020’s official thought leadership platform for global discourse and action towards impact for inclusive sustainable development. She led the engagement of UN agencies, the private sector and the UAE Cabinet on this Programme.

Rana Amirtahmasebi

Author & Urban Policy Specialist

Rana Amirtahmasebi is an author, urban planner and architect with more than 15 years of experience in urban policy, planning, and design. She launched Eparque Urban Strategies in 2016 and works with clients on local, regional, and national levels to devise effective strategies for urban development and governance. Rana is experienced in policy analysis and program design and implementation in projects focused on economic development, urban regeneration, and settlement upgrading. Rana’s previous professional affiliations include the World Bank, Cesar Pelli and Associates, New York City Departments of Planning and Transportation; Bavand Consultants, and the Aga Khan Foundation. Rana is a native of Iran and holds graduate degrees from MIT in the United States and Azad University in Tehran, Iran.

Asier Aranbarri

Director of Social Innovation, Basque Government

Asier Aranbarri is a prominent figure in Basque cultural affairs and is deeply committed to promoting the Basque language and identity. Serving in various capacities related to Euskara (the Basque language), he has been instrumental in advancing policies that foster linguistic preservation and cultural engagement. His work often bridges the realms of education, public policy, and community outreach, making significant contributions to the vitality of Basque culture.

Zoe Baldwin

Vice President for State Programs, Regional Plan Association

Zoe Baldwin is the Vice President for State Programs at the Regional Plan Association, where she oversees strategic initiatives across multiple states to drive regional growth and sustainability. With a deep commitment to equitable urban planning, Zoe works to shape policies that enhance infrastructure, transportation, and environmental resilience, ensuring that communities throughout the region thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Jeremy Bamberg

Co-Founder, Factory

Jeremy Bamberg is an entrepreneur and urban innovator, dedicated to creating vibrant communities that drive economic and social transformation. He co-founded Factory, a global company that designs and curates innovation hubs in cities around the world. Alongside his team, Jeremy collaborates with governments and local leaders to rejuvenate urban districts, working to create a lasting positive impact. Factory’s European campuses have attracted industry giants like Soundcloud, Uber, Stripe, Klarna, Web Summit, techstars and more.

His diverse background includes over 10 years of experience in the technology, real estate, and social impact sectors, working extensively in Germany, Portugal, the UK, and India.

Christian Bason

Author & Advisor

Christian Bason is a leader at the forefront of new approaches to sustainable transitions. As the CEO of the Danish Design Center, Christian has played a pivotal role in strengthening the value of all forms of design in society. Formerly, Christian was Director of MindLab, the Danish government’s innovation team, where he pioneered design for the public sector, and Business Manager with Ramboll, a global advisory group.

Nourhan Bassam

Founding Director, The Gendered City

Nourhan Bassam is a feminist urbanist and architect with a Ph.D. in Urban Design and Placemaking. She is the founder of The Gendered City, an initiative that began as a book and has grown into an organization dedicated to building gender-equal cities through feminist placemaking and active citizen participation. Nourhan also launched FEM.DES., the world’s largest feminist design network, brings together over 350 experts from more than 35 countries to support and advance gender-equitable urban environments.

The Gendered City collaborates with numerous global partners, including UN-Habitat’s HERCITY, and primarily focuses on social justice in the built environment through its parent organization, GamingX. As a research professor, Nourhan mentors Master’s students in placemaking and feminist spatialities, guiding the next generation of urban thinkers. Her book, The Gendered City explores the challenges women face in urban spaces and has been sold in over 23 countries around the world. Her upcoming book, Feminist Spatialities, will analyze 50 feminist projects in cities, further expanding the conversation on inclusive urban design.”

Ainara Basurko

Deputy for Economic Promotion. Regional Government of Biscay

Ainara Basurko is the deputy for economic promotion at the regional government of Biscay. With a background in law from the University of Deusto and an MBA focused on business management and regional development, she has spent her career working on fostering competitiveness and innovation in the region. Before her current role, she served as the General Director of Beaz, a public entity that supports business growth and innovation in Biscay. Since 2019, she has led Biscay’s efforts to position itself as a hub for entrepreneurship, focusing on industries like energy and mobility. Ainara is passionate about creating an ecosystem that supports startups, corporations, and investors to drive technological advancements and sustainable economic growth in Biscay.

Jorick Beijer

Urbanist & Director, Blossity

Jorick Beijer is an urbanist and co-founder of BLOSSITY, an urban strategy advisory that transforms cities and campuses into mixed-use environments where people thrive. The award-winning Dutch practice was set up by Beijer alongside sociologist Marije Blok in 2013.

Beijer has been responsible for projects like the Active Cities strategy of Nike Inc, the positioning of Dublin City, the global headquarters of Siemens Healthineers, and the campus of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions. Currently he is working on the EMEA headquarters of Nike Inc and Innovation District Zuidas, Amsterdam.

Claire Flurin Bellec

Author & Urban Revitalization Expert

With over a decade of experience in urban development across France, Europe, and the USA, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her field. An construction engineer and urban planner with a degree from Cornell University, she is also the co-founder of the Co-Liv association and has co-authored the real estate foresight blog, Curiosity is Keys. Today, she continues her work under the name Curiosity, advising both private and public sector players on transforming their real estate into vibrant, lasting places.

Shradha Biyani

Founder & Director, Tashi Press

Shradha Biyani is an editor, writing coach and founder of Tashi Press. As a hunter-gatherer of stories, she channels her multidisciplinary education and experience to enable effective storytelling through her writing workshops and coaching practice. Trained as a journalist, she has a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Harvard University. She is deeply interested in language, urban anthropology and migration stories.

Hélène Chartier

Director, Urban Planning and Design at C40

Hélène Chartier is the Director of Urban Planning and Design at C40. The team she leads develops programmes and activities that support cities to accelerate sustainable and resilient urban planning policies and design practices.

Her team leads the C40 Land Use Planning Network, which supports cities in institutionalising climate action through urban planning regulations; the Reinventing Cities competition, which delivers decarbonised and resilient urban regeneration projects; the Green and Thriving Neighbourhoods programme; and C40’s workstream on 15-minute cities.

Karen Christensen

CEO, Berkshire Publishing & Co-author, The Great Good Place

Karen Christensen is chief executive officer and owner of Berkshire Publishing Group and also a writer specializing in sustainability and community with a focus on China. She is the owner and CEO of Berkshire Publishing Group, a controversial former trustee of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Press, a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, associate in research at the Fairbank Center at Harvard University, and founder of the Train Campaign. One of her current projects is coauthoring a new version of the classic, landmark guide to “third places,” The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg (1932-2022). Karen and Ray agreed that she would bring the book into the 21st century.

Greg Clark

Writer, Chair, & Advisor on Cities

Prof Greg Clark CBE is an Urbanist, Author, Chairperson, and advocate for city leaders and urban investors and has worked with 300 cities worldwide. He is Chair of the Connected Places Catapult and the Cities Commission for Climate Investment. He is a member of the Board of TfL and chairs its Land and Property Committee. He is Senior Advisor to NLA. He is author of 10 books & 100 reports on cities, investment, and place-leadership. He is a member of the Bloomberg NEF Cities Council and a member of the WEF Global Future Council on Cities & Urbanisation. He is former Global Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Urban Land Institute, and Group Advisor on Cities at HSBC, and was chairman of the OECD Cities & Regions Forum for 20 years. Greg co-hosts The DNA of Cities podcast.

Tiffany Crawford

Co-Chief Heat Officer & Director of Climate Change

Tiffany Crawford is the Co-Director of City of Melbourne’s Climate Change and City Resilience Branch, which exists to lead the transition to a resilient, well adapted and zero emissions city before 2050. She elevates the city’s ability to tackle ongoing and future challenges, including climate change, by driving integrated solutions, informing and imparting knowledge from worldwide city networks.

Tiffany was Legal Counsel for the City for over ten years, with degrees in Law and arts and an Executive Master in Public Administration and has worked on many of the City’s leading innovation and sustainability initiatives.

Kelsea Crawford

Co-founder & CEO, Cutwork

Kelsea is the Co-founder & CEO of Cutwork. She leads Cutwork’s strategic vision and fuels the studio’s growth. She’s a TEDx speaker, a Forbes 30 under 30 nominee, and is currently the French ambassador for Co-Liv. Out of the office, you’ll find her in the ceramics studio or gathered around a kitchen table.

Mike Day

Co-founder & Partner, Urban Solutions, Hatch

Mike Day is a co-founder and Partner at Urban Solutions, Hatch, with over 30 years of experience in urban and regional planning. A Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia, Mike has led transformative urban renewal projects across Australia, New Zealand, the UAE, and Asia. Notably, he has been instrumental in the master planning of award-winning developments like Ellenbrook New Town and the Melbourne to Sydney High-Speed Rail corridor. His expertise in project visioning, town planning, and community engagement has made him a recognized leader in creating sustainable, walkable urban environments.

Charlotte Dégoulet

Urban Planner & Former EMEA Lead, JLL

Charlotte Degoulet is an urban planner and former EMEA Lead at JLL where she lead a community of professionals across the EMEA region to develop our services related to asset repositioning and repurposing, to increase sustainable value creation for our clients.

Illac Angelo Diaz

Founder & Global Director, Liter of Light

He is an urban planner and social entrepreneur working to empower communities in the Philippines and around the world. Illac founded MyShelter Foundation in 2006 to promote grassroots sustainable development through capacity-building and employment-generating projects. Liter of Light is the world’s first grassroots green lighting program bringing low-cost, zero-carbon, hand-built solar lights to climate-vulnerable communities worldwide.

Illac was the first Filipino to win the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAE’s pioneering award considered to be the Nobel Prize for clean energy, in 2015. He has also received recognition from UN Habitat, the Green Tech Awards, and the UN FCCC’s “Momentum for Change” initiative. Most recently, he received a laureate in 2024 from the United Nations International Organization on Migration for his work to empower migrant and diaspora communities.

Oscar Escobar

Former Mayor, Palmira

Oscar Escobar is a Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and a former mayor of Palmira, Colombia. In 2019, he ended 12 years of political continuity by the traditional political class in Palmira, a city with over 350,000 inhabitants, making it the twentieth largest municipality in the country, located in southwestern Colombia. With 61,486 votes, he became the youngest elected mayor in his hometown. Oscar is an economist from Icesi University with a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of the Andes.

Chris Fair

WRLDCTY Founder & CEO, Resonance

Chris Fair is the founder of WRLDCTY and the President & CEO of Resonance. Chris leads a global team in destination placemaking, branding, and marketing. Proficient in trend analysis, visioning, and city planning, he created the World’s Best Cities rankings for over 400 cities in 2016. A respected speaker on tourism, real estate, and urban development, he has also chaired the Urban Land Institute’s Travel Experience & Trends Council and teaches Placemaking at New York University.

Mark Farrow

Director of Strategy & Planning, Places for London

Mark Farrow is currently the Director of Strategy and Planning at Places for London, the TfL Property Company. Before this role, Mark held various positions at Transport for London and Network Rail, where Mark focused on driving forward strategic initiatives and ensuring the efficient operation of key business units. With a legal background and extensive experience in government policy and compliance, Mark has made significant contributions to the organizations Mark has worked for.

Gabriella Gómez-Mont

Founder and CEO of Experimentalista

Founder and CEO of Experimentalista, a novel type of nomadic and creative office specialized in cities – and that constantly shifts shape to accommodate high-level, transdisciplinary collaborations across the world.Former Director of “Laboratorio para la Ciudad” (Mexico).

Antonio Gomez-Palacio

Partner & Chair, DIALOG

Antonio is internationally recognized for transforming cities into vibrant urban places that respond to their social, economic, and environmental context. As DIALOG Chair, his mission is to deliver design solutions to the many challenges we face globally. He is frequently called upon to lead conversations on how the built environment can contribute to community wellbeing. Antonio inspires leaders to achieve meaningful impact through various topics: housing affordability, city livability, climate adaptation, social equity and wellbeing, heritage, and sustainability. He became a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada College in 2018 and Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners Fellow in 2024, recognized for his outstanding contributions to the design community.

Kate Hart

Chief Executive, EC BID, London

Kate Hart is the Chief Executive of the EC BID in the City of London; one of the largest BIDs on the country, and part of the Primera portfolio of central London Business Improvement Districts. Driving value through place based partnership sits at the heart of our offer, demonstrating how to turn collective will into collective action and tangible delivery.

Previously, I was Director of Communications at Primera and I worked across the Primera portfolio, including our projects in the City and in Westminster.

Prior to joining Primera, I ran my own consultancy, Kate Hart Consulting, set up in 2015, to enable me to focus on my particular specialism of placemaking, having worked on a number of regeneration projects over the years.

Lucinda Hartley

Urban Futurist

Lucinda Hartley is a serial entrepreneur, award winning technology leader and urban futurist. Named as one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review, her work over the past decade has focused on pioneering category-creating companies and products that have been adopted around the world.Lucinda is a serial founder, best known for her role as co-founder of urban analytics company Neighbourlytics, where she spearheaded world leading technology for measuring urban life, now implemented in10 countries. Prior to this she co-founded Australia’s largest placemaking consultancy, CoDesign Studio, which delivered more than 100 neighbourhood improvement projects across Australia. Lucinda is currently focused on solving Australia’s housing affordability crisis, as co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Mondus Capital, an innovative shared-equity home loan product for first home buyers. Lucinda is also professional keynote speaker and one of Australia’s most sought after voices on social trends.

Ina Homeier

Smart Climate City Strategy, Vienna

She is an architect and urban planner and has been working for the City of Vienna since 1994. For several years, she worked the field of land use and district planning. From 1998 to 2001, she was responsible for urban planning issues and research projects in the Key Action “The City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage” at the Directorate-General for Research of the European Commission. In 2001, she resumed her work at the City of Vienna’s Urban Development and Planning Department, focusing on the implementation of EU research projects. This was followed by several years in Portugal, where she was managing partner of the company Innovation Point SA, which focuses on the development of urban strategies and technologies.

Sophie Howe

Future Generations Activist

She was the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, the only role of its kind in the world. She held Government to account on how their decisions affect future generations and has influenced other countries to follow suit including the UN.

Named as one of the UK’s Top 100 Changemakers and at number 5 in the BBC Women’s Power List.

Peter Hyland

International Advisor, Urban Planning & Development

Peter was reappointed to the Stadiums Queensland Board on 1 July 2024. He has over 20 years of experience in board and major governance positions. He is an experienced Company Director and a Certified Chair of Advisory Boards. Peter has had a 40 – year career in building and leading professional services companies, providing advisory services related to urban planning and development, urban economics, and real estate strategy, to the public and private sectors. Peter has led major projects across Australia, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom. His ability to marry urban planning and economic considerations has made him a trusted advisor internationally to major private and public companies and all levels of government. In July 2024, Peter was appointed to the Board of Urban Utilities. Peter also has roles as a non-equity Strategic Advisory Director at Urbis Ltd, as an Industry Fellow in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Queensland, as a member of the Mater Strategic Development and Sustainable Infrastructure Committee established to advise the Board of Mater Misericordiae Limited, and as a member of Economic Development Queensland, Expert Advisory Panel and the Queensland Urban Design and Places Panel.

Sarah Ichioka

Urbanist, Strategist, Curator, & Author

Sarah Mineko Ichioka is an urbanist, strategist, curator and writer. She leads Desire Lines, a strategic consultancy for environmental, cultural, and social-impact initiatives and organizations. Her latest book, Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, co-authored with Michael Pawlyn, proposes a bold set of regenerative design principles for addressing our compound environmental and social crises.

Sarah has been recognized as a World Cities Summit Young Leader, one of the Global Public Interest Design 100, a British Council / Clore Duffield Cultural Leadership International Fellow, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. A sought-after public speaker, she regularly delivers keynote lectures and panels on regenerative culture, design and development at high-profile events around the world.

Clare Inkster

Human Curiosity & Insight Consultant

Clare Inkster is a Curiosity Coach at the Global Curiosity Institute. She’s worked in human insights across various global Fortune 500 companies, including Nestle, McDonald’s, Sainsbury’s, and Unilever. She’s fascinated by neuroscience, behaviour change, and psychology. In more recent years, Clare has been applying her marketing knowledge to help clients understand how to help people lead happier and more meaningful lives. Her exploration led to an MSC in applied positive psychology and coaching, where she specialized in creating and testing workplace curiosity interventions. She lives and breathes curiosity and truly believes that work should be a place of activity that makes us come alive.

Eider Inunciaga

Councillor, Basque Language & Citizen Participation, Bilbao City Council

Eider Inunciaga is the Councillor for the Basque Language, Attention, and Citizen Participation at Bilbao City Council. She is dedicated to preserving and promoting the Basque language while fostering inclusive public engagement within the city. Through her leadership, Eider aims to strengthen the connection between the local government and its citizens, ensuring that Bilbao’s diverse communities are heard and empowered in shaping the city’s future.

Jaime J. Izurieta

Founder & Chief Creative, Storefront Mastery

Jaime is the founder and chief creative of Storefront Mastery, author of Main Street Mavericks. Originally from Ecuador, Jaime is a small business owner, trained architect, preservationist and urban economic development specialist with a focus on improving the quality of the interaction between users and the built environment. By bringing together design, experiential strategies, economic development and city marketing, Jaime designs strategies to transform the way local business owners and place managers see their businesses and their town. With extensive experience in private architectural practice, historic property redevelopment, public service and arts promotion, Jaime now proudly serves communities all over the nation from Montclair, New Jersey.

Hans Karssenberg

Partner, Founder & Public Developer, Stipo

Hans Karssenberg is founder, partner, public developer, placemaker and trainer at STIPO – team for better cities. He leads complex projects and processes of urban and area development on a local and regional level, always in co-creation, and always aimed at genuine long term sustainability. Hans is active in place-led development and human area development and area transformation, city wide strategy, social and economic innovation, quality of public space, system change for human scale. He is initiator, leader and driver behind the international program The City at Eye Level, leader in Placemaking Europe and proud member of PlacemakingX.

Geci Karuri-Sebina

Associate Professor, Wits School of Governance

Geci Karuri-Sebina is a Johannesburg-based scholar-practitioner working on urban planning and governance issues. She is currently an associate of the South African Cities Network, a visiting research fellow with the Wits School of Governance, and a national organizer of the Civic Tech Innovation Network in South Africa. Her interests span a range of development, foresight and policy, innovation and practice topics relating to the intersection between people, place and technological change, focusing on the global south.

Bruce Katz

Author & Co-Founder of New Localism Advisors

Co-founder (with Jeremy Nowak) of New Localism Advisors, whose mission is to help cities design, finance and deliver transformative initiatives that promote inclusive and sustainable growth. Heinz Award in Public Policy in 2006 for his contributions to understanding the “function and values of cities and metropolitan areas and their profound influence on their economic vitality, livability and sustainability”.

He regularly advises global, national, state, regional and municipal leaders on public reforms and private innovations that advance the well-being of metropolitan areas and their countries.

Dr Inhee Kim

Director, Research Planning and Coordination, Seoul Institute (SI)

Dr. Inhee Kim is a Senior Research Fellow at the Seoul Institute specializing in urban planning and Design Research. Focusing on innovative urban solutions and sustainable development, Dr. Kim plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of Seoul’s urban landscape. His work bridges the gap between research and practical implementation, contributing to the city’s evolving infrastructure and urban resilience strategies.

Michael Koh

Executive Fellow, Centre for Liveable Cities

Michael Koh is the Executive Fellow at the Centre for Liveable Cities, Ministry of National Development, Singapore, where he is involved in research, organization of the World Cities Summit and Mayors Forum, capability development and international advisory projects.

Dr Anne Kovachevich

National Sustainable Buildings & Precincts Lead, Mott MacDonald

Anne is an experienced sustainable buildings consultant who now leads sustainable buildings and precincts at Mott MacDonald. Anne’s innovative approach to design and sustainability is internationally recognized with invited and keynote presentations including the Singapore Government, the Green Building Council and NASA Langley. Anne has facilitated many workshops, most recently a strategy workshop for the South East Queensland water industry in which long term future scenario’s were developed. Anne is one of 9 people appointed in Australia to the Green Building Council of Australia Technical Advisory Group for 2024-25. She is a Green Star Assessor for Buildings and Communities and is a Green Building Champion (2022).

Daria (Dasha) Krivonos

CEO, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Daria (Dasha) Krivonos is CEO of the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. She has a background in strategic risk management across multiple sectors. She firmly believes that managing short-term risks and looking beyond the immediate planning horizon are equally essential approaches to manoeuvring an organization through future uncertainties.

Tommi Laitio

Urban Strategist & Founder, Convivencia Urbana

Tommi Laitio is an award-winning leader and strategist on cities, partnerships, and public spaces. With over two decades of experience in city leadership and public innovation, he consults organizations that want to turn urban friction into thriving public life and places—and great places to work.

Charles Landry

Imagination & Creativity in Urban Change

Charles Landry is an author and international adviser on the future of cities best known for popularising the Creative City concept. His book The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators became a movement to rethink the planning, development and management of cities.

Oliver Lang

CEO & Co-Founder, Intelligent City

Oliver Lang is a German Canadian urban entrepreneur and licensed architect with over 30 years of professional experience. He was educated at Columbia University, TU Berlin and ETSA Barcelona, and is an RAIC Fellow. He is the CEO and Co-Founder Intelligent City, and Principal and Co-Founder of LWPAC.

Erin Lee

Founder, Mindful Moments, Singapore

Erin Lee is a certified mindfulness teacher and founder of Mindful Moments Singapore. With a passion for helping individuals cultivate greater awareness and well-being, Erin specializes in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness coaching. She has guided numerous individuals and groups through her programs, empowering them to lead more mindful and fulfilling lives. Erin’s approach integrates her extensive training with a compassionate and accessible style, making mindfulness practice approachable for everyone. Her work is dedicated to fostering mental resilience and emotional balance in an increasingly fast-paced world.

Kate D. Levin

Principal, Bloomberg Associates

Kate D. Levin oversees the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts program, supporting a range of organizations and activities in the United States and around the world. Current initiatives include management training, public art, and digital technology. She is also a principal at Bloomberg Associates in Cultural Assets Management. Client cities have included Athens, Bogotá, London, Nashville, Newark, and Oakland.

From 2002-2013, Levin served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Managing the largest single arts funder in the U.S., she increased support for cultural organizations, and expanded creative sector participation in economic development, tourism, human service, and education initiatives. During her tenure capital funding recipients tripled, while agency-sponsored technology and capacity building projects strengthened non-profit leadership. Levin oversaw the city’s permanent public art commissioning program, and helped develop and promote numerous temporary exhibitions and performances.

Klaus Klaas Loenhart

Founder of terrain: integral designs

Klaus Klaas Loenhart is a passionate eco-innovator, founder of terrain: integral designs, terrain.cloud and Professor at ia&l Landlab TU Graz, Austria. As a multi-disciplinarian, he and his teams envision nature-inspired, impact-focused design solutions for reconnecting urban society with our living world.

Johannes Lutter

Head of International Relations, Urban Innovation Vienna

Johannes Lutter is the Head of International Relations & Strategic Partnerships at Urban Innovation Vienna, where he leads global collaborations to foster cutting-edge solutions in urban development. With a focus on creating sustainable, smart cities, Johannes leverages his extensive expertise in international relations to connect Vienna with global innovators, driving strategic projects that enhance urban living for future generations.

Debbie McNamara

Chief Executive Officer, Economic Development Queensland

Debbie McNamara leads Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) with a vision for driving economic growth, urban development, housing affordability, and environmental sustainability. With over two decades of experience in development, infrastructure, and urban renewal, Debbie has significantly impacted both the public and private sectors. Debbie’s career began in funds management after studying economics. Her passion for tangible community impact led her to property management in the UK, where she spent 20 years leading various urban renewal projects, including a notable tenure in Glasgow.

Mirik Milan

Cofounder, VibeLab

Mirik is a former nightlife promoter and one of the first night mayors in the world, he has played an instrumental role in the reshaping Amsterdam’s nightlife scene into one of the most vibrant and economically robust in the world, and his innovative position is been replicated in major cities around the world, like New York, Paris and London. Nowadays Mirik Milan is a nightlife advocate, co-founder of VibeLab and author of the paper ‘Governing the night-time city: The rise of night mayors as a new form of urban governance after dark’. In January 2020 the journal Urban Studies released this first qualitative study on night mayors around the world.

David Miller

Managing Director, C40 Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy

He is the Managing Director of the C40 Centre for City Climate Policy and Economy. He was Mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010 and Chair of C40 Cities from 2008 until 2010. Under his leadership, Toronto became widely admired internationally for its environmental leadership, economic strength, and social integration.

Neo Mogodi

Key Communications Lead, Social Employment Fund

She is a seasoned practitioner in the communications and public relations space. She has a career spanning over two decades, having worked for multinationals and South African-based companies in the financial, mining and engineering space. Neo is the key communications lead on the Social Employment Fund.

Dr Tim Moonen

Co-Founder & Managing Director, The Business of Cities

In the last 15 years Tim has worked in and advised more than 100 global cities, regions, businesses and institutions. He has chaired more than 100 panels and conferences, and co-authored more than 50 reports and books on city competitiveness, governance and performance. He also teaches executive-level education for international companies and universities.

Tim has a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Bristol and holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and the Universidad Europea de Madrid.

Carlos Moreno

Author & Urbanist

University professor, Carlos Moreno is an international scientific personality. Recognized specialist of the intelligent control of the complex systems, he is also a pioneer in the field of the intelligent cities with his vision of a Human Smart City, a living city, of which he is one of the initiators and the organizers on the world scene.

Isabella Muñoz

Director of Knowledge Management, Secretariat for Women in Bogotá

Isabella Muñoz is an economist with a Master’s degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Gender, Peace and Security from the London School of Economics under the Chevening-LSE Peace Scholarship. She has more than ten years of experience in economic and social research, implementation of public policies, and integration of the gender approach in the international cooperation sector. Currently, as Director of Knowledge Management of the Secretariat for Women in Bogotá, she oversees the Women and Gender Equality Observatory and the care information system.

Sandhya Naidu

Founder, Community Design Agency

Architect Sandhya Naidu Janardhan is the Founder and Managing Director of Community Design Agency (CDA) is a Mumbai-based social enterprise working towards a world where everyone enjoys vibrant, safe, healthy spaces to live, work, and play. At CDA, she has led the creation of spaces that are foundational to climate resiliency, gender, economic and social inclusion, health and overall well-being, thereby catalyzing generational change for communities across 4 Indian Cities. Sandhya is a TED India Fellow, a Young Climate Prize Design Champion and, more recently, is the recipient of the 2024-25 Berkeley Rupp Prize for outstanding female architects working in the social sphere.

Vivek Narain

Founder & CEO, The Quorum Club

Vivek Narain’s curiosity for the world, has helped shape The Quorum as the quintessential third space for the most pertinent cultural experiences encapsulated by its unique blend of hospitality. Vivek has a background in investment banking and real estate, and loves to travel and dive into current affairs, when he is not planning the course for The Q’s next innovative leap.

Farah Naz

Director of ESG and Innovation

Head of innovation and ESG for the Middle East and Africa. She is a chartered engineer, award-winning climate change strategist, and co-author of the Middle East region’s first book on net zero cities.

Farah has over 20 years of experience in the built environment, having worked on iconic projects such as the Museum of the Future, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Bee’ah HQ in Sharjah, and the Expo 2020 Sustainability Pavilion.

Larry Ng Lh

Former Managing Director of World Cities Summit

Former Managing Director of the World Cities Summit and Former Prize Secretary of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize (Urban Redevelopment Authority), Former Commissioner General of the Singapore Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai UAE.Former Registrar of the Board of Architects of Singapore.

Margaret O’Connor

Chairperson, Launch Africa

Margaret O’Connor is the London-based Chairperson of Launch Africa. Together with the board, she provides oversight on corporate governance, regulatory compliance, commercial strategy, and investor due diligence. She also supports the management team’s work expanding trust networks with global investors and channel partners.

Margaret’s portfolio includes serving on the Investment Committee of Five35 Ventures, a gender smart VC fund that shares Launch Africa’s back office and is an independent NED of a London Stock Exchange-listed Investment Trust backing pre-IPO tech companies. The governance and risk mitigation insights she brings to her fund management roles are shaped by 30+ years operating in Asia, the US, Europe, and Africa.

Paul Owens

Co-founder & Director, BOP Consulting

Paul Owens is a leading international advisor and practitioner in cultural policy and creative economy. He is Co-Founder of BOP, and alongside his fellow directors he has pioneered now well-established methods to measure the impact of cultural policy.

Jasmine Palardy

Partner, The Good Future Co.

Jasmine is a community-builder and urban optimist who brings creators of all stripes together to shape more collaborative and future-ready places.

She has spent her career leading community engagement and activation programs that accelerate innovation, deepen human connection and foster special places that are fertile sandboxes for transformative ideas.

Jasmine is tremendously proud of the city and region-shaping projects she has helped to shape in Calgary, NYC, Vancouver and San Francisco and in building up lab-like accelerators to advance urban innovation and community capacity with global experts from across the world.

Steven Pedigo

Director, Lyndon B. Johnson School Urban Lab

Steven Pedigo is the Assistant Dean for Faculty of Practice and Policy Engagement at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and the director of the LBJ Urban Lab. As an expert in urban economic development, regional cooperation and placemaking, Pedigo has developed strategies for more than 50 cities and regions in the United States and other countries, including New York, Jerusalem, Vancouver, Dallas, Washington, DC, Brisbane, the Yukon, Tulsa, Austin, Portland, Newark, San Diego-Tijuana, Miami, Sao Paulo, Monterrey, Mexico City and many others.

Kate Philip

Programme Lead, Presidential Employment Stimulus, Presidency, South Africa

Dr Kate Philip is the Programme Lead on the Presidential Employment Stimulus in South Africa. Against the backdrop of the pandemic and its associated job losses, this stimulus has rolled out mass public employment programmes as well as livelihood and enterprise support measures. Since October last year, over 300,000 young people were placed as school assistants throughout the country, subsistence farmers received production input vouchers, environmental programmes were scaled up and over 30,000 people in the creative sector received support to create new work, amongst other programmes. Dr Philip also played a lead role in the design of South Africa’s Community Work Programme, which employs 240,000 people. Through the ILO, she supported the Government of Greece in the design of an employment programme at the height of the Greek crisis. She is author of ‘Markets on the Margins: Mineworkers, Enterprise Development and Job Creation’ (James Currey, London, 2018).

Idoia Postigo

General Director, Bilbao Metropoli 30

Since the inception of the Association for the Revitalization of Metropolitan Bilbao (Bilbao Metropoli-30) in 1991, Idoia Postigo has been responsible for promoting and disseminating the revitalisation plan and implementing its strategic actions. Making use of her 30 years of international experience in urban planning strategies, Idoia’s work has positioned the Association at the centre of the metropolis’ urban development and an influencer of all the main actors responsible for it, especially public institutions and citizens. Idoia’s influence spans widely, as an active member of many local boards, societies, and networks, including the Advisory Council of the Urban Agenda at Euskadi-Bultzatu 2050, the Bilbao-Bizkaia Action Group, and the Bilbao Port Community UNIPORT. She is also a published author, graduated in political sciences, international relations, psychology, and organisational behaviour, and – seeing interpersonal relationships as fundamental in her field – a teacher in training modules for Emotional Intelligence, Social Skills, Team Management, and Motivation.

Michel Poulain

Initiator of the concept of Blue Zones', Professor, UCLouvain (Belgium) & Tallinn University (Estonia)

Michel Poulain was originally skilled in astrophysics at University of Liège (Belgium), he received a PhD in demography at UCLouvain (Belgium). As demographer, he is specialized in Longevity studies. Currently emeritus professor at UCLouvain, he is also Senior Researcher at the Estonian Institute for Population Studies at Tallinn University (Estonia). He has been President of the Société Belge de Démographie (1984-1990) and later of the Association Internationale des Démographes de Langue Française (AIDELF) (1988-2000). Involved in centenarian’s studies since 1992 he is active member of the International Database on Longevity (IDL) and the International Centenarian Consortium (ICC). In 2000, he was involved in validation the age of the numerous centenarians in Sardinia and introduced the concept of Longevity Blue Zone as area where the population experiences an exceptional longevity and includes a large number of centenarians. So far, he identified 5 Blue Zones: Ogliastra in Sardinia, Okinawa in Japan, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Ikaria in Greece and more recently Martinique, the French Oversea Department.

Francisco Purroy

Director, Land Life Iberia

Director of Land Life in Spain and Portugal and ambassador for trees.org. Francisco is dedicated to combatting the climate emergency. Coming from a family of biologists, a passion for ecology and nature conservation is intrinsic in his DNA. His mission is to restore degraded land by planting native mixed forests, creating a green belt that protects the Iberian Peninsula, and restoring biodiversity through their projects.

Asier Abaunza Robles

Councillor, Bilbao City Council

Asier Abaunza Robles holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Public University of Navarre. He is currently Councillor Delegate for Urban Planning, Strategic Projects and Public Space. He has been a councillor in the Bilbao City Council since 2007. During this period, he has been responsible for Mobility, Urban Planning, Civil Works, Services and Public Space. He has also been a member of several Boards of Directors, has chaired districts 1 (Deusto) and 3 (Otxarkoaga-Txurdinaga), as well as several municipal companies (Artxanda Funicular, Surbisa and Bioartigas). Previously, he worked at Lantik, at the Derio Agricultural School, in several private companies and as an advisor to the General Secretariat for Foreign Affairs of the Basque Government.

Anthony Ryan

CEO, Brisbane Economic Development Agency

Anthony Ryan is BEDA’s Chief Executive Officer.Recognised as a ‘Queensland Great’ in 2013, Anthony is a well-respected and self-confessed sport loving local who is known for the passion and entrepreneurial spirit that he brings to all professional endeavours.An inspiring leader with a proven track record in delivering strategic business outcomes and strong partnerships, Anthony is responsible for leading BEDA to drive sustainable economic growth for the City.

Feletcia Saleh

Community Engagement Unit, Ramallah Municipality

Feletcia Saleh works at the Community Engagement Unit at Ramallah Municipality. For her work on Ramallah’s Active Aging Initiatives in Palestine, she is one of the finalists for the Partners in Progress award. The Ramallah Municipality’s “Forum of Expertise” addresses the global aging population challenge by creating a community center to improve the elderly quality of life. It tackles social isolation and health disparities and boosts community participation through engagement, well-being, and fostering a sense of belonging. Nestled in Ramallah’s Old City, the Forum empowers self-sufficient seniors with volunteer-led workshops, public-private partnerships, and intergenerational connections.

Carmen Santana

Architect 

Carmen Santana is an Architect who received the Spanish Urbanism Award 2021. She is a partner of ARCHIKUBIK and co-founder of @kubik multidisciplinary space in 1995. She specializes in urban ecology, sustainability in the Information Society, and the impact of ICTs on urban environments. She is also a teacher and lecturer.

Alex Sarian

President & CEO, Arts Commons

Alex joined Arts Commons as President & CEO in May 2020, after nearly two decades of leadership roles in New York City, most notably as the senior executive at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts responsible for international consulting, regranting initiatives, artistic programming for young audiences and families, community engagement, and the institution’s famed education department. Prior to his time at Lincoln Center, Alex served as the Director of Education of the award-winning, off-Broadway MCC Theater, where he had the pleasure of working with a roster of acclaimed artists, including Theatre Calgary’s Artistic Director, Stafford Arima.

As a recognized authority on the civic role of arts institutions, Alex has worked on cultural projects in 15 countries spanning five continents, and has taught at New York University, Pace University, and City College of New York. He has served on governing boards and special advisory committees for institutions including Tourism Calgary, the Calgary Downtown Association, SXSW, Museo de Arts Moderno de Buenos Aires, The New Group, and the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize.

Tara Heuzé Sarmin

Co-founder, Communes

Tara is the cofounder of Commune, the first urban coliving for single-parent families, Tara has extensive expertise in ops, proptech, community organising and gender (in)equality. She is an accomplished social entrepreneur, working on grand plans backed by data, and constantly searching for ways to improve our society as a whole.

Gregorio Lucena Scarpella

Director, GCDN

Gregorio Lucena Scarpella is the Director of the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN), a membership organization of over 60 international cultural districts with a mission to improve the quality of urban life through the arts, culture and creative industries.

As Director of GCDN, Greg is responsible for the management and development of the network and the stewardship of its members. He devises the network’s overall strategy and oversees its portfolio of content and activities, including the GCDN annual convening – a flagship event which brings together members as well as other civic and cultural leaders from around the world and provides a unique forum for the development of new ideas and collaborations.

Jason Schupbach

Author & Dean, Antoinette Westphal College, Drexel University

Jason Schupbach is the Dean of the Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University. He was formerly the Director of the Design School at Arizona State University, the largest and most comprehensive design school in the United States. In this position, he started the ambitious ReDesign.School project to reinvent design education for the 21st century, and is a key advisor to ASU on diverse projects such as the Center for Creativity and place, Roden Crater, the Creative Futures Lab, and ASU’s Los Angeles downtown home. Previous to this position he was Director of Design and Creative Placemaking Programs for the National Endowment for the Arts, where he oversaw all design and creative placemaking grantmaking and partnerships, including Our Town and Design Art Works grants, the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design, and the NEA’s Federal agency collaborations.

Elinor Seath

Ramsgate Cultural Consortium Co-ordinator

Eli has lived in Thanet for five years, having previously co-founded the award-winning Art4Space in Stockwell. With twenty two years’ experience of setting up, project managing and delivering community arts projects across London, she is now developing relationships across the local and wider community, ensuring we create a relevant space that brings people together.

Matthew Singleton

COO, Odonata Foundation

Matt has a varied range of experience in conservation strategy, urban design, and team leadership, with a particular focus on landscape conservation, focused on threatened species recovery, Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design (BSUD), and project planning. He has hands-on experience in managing the complexities and challenges presented within the environmental movement, where his strengths lie in making things happen. As Chief Operating Officer at Odonata Foundation, Matt is responsible for delivering the Foundation’s mission to save species, developing a dynamic array of case study projects designed to inspire others to value biodiversity at the core of project design.

Raynuha Sinnathamby

Chief Executive Officer, Springfield Land Corporation

Raynuha Sinnathamby is the Managing Director of Springfield City Group, the development group behind the award-winning satellite city of Greater Springfield. After graduating from The University of Queensland (UQ) with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, she practised property law before joining the Springfield City Group in 1998 as Director of Corporate. In 2013, she was appointed Managing Director of the Springfield City Group, a role that has seen her become closely involved in the development of the Greater Springfield region through government liaison, partnership development and stakeholder management. Greater Springfield is now home to nearly 40,000 people and has won numerous awards, including the 2010 International Real Estate Federation Prix’ d’ Excellence Award for World’s Best Master Planned Community.

Anya Sirota

Principal, Akoaki

Anya Sirota is a Ukrainian-born architectural designer and educator and founding principal of Akoaki, an internationally recognized studio specializing in public space and cultural infrastructure. Since its founding in 2008, Akoaki has earned a reputation for blending aesthetics, social enterprise, and programming to create spaces that generate positive social change. With a process-driven approach, the studio undertakes projects that bridge architecture and community while seamlessly incorporating environmental and ecological considerations into transformative urban interventions.

Helle Søholt

CEO, Gehl & Chairperson of the Board, BLOXHUB

Helle Søholt, Founding Partner and CEO of Gehl, is revolutionizing urban design and development on a global scale. Inspired by Jan Gehl’s human-centric philosophy, she champions sustainable and livable cities. Gehl’s multidisciplinary approach emphasizes community engagement, technology integration, and social infrastructure development. Their innovative projects worldwide reflect a commitment to transformative urban design rooted in sustainability and inclusivity.

Elaine Tan

Director-Research, CLC Singapore

She is the Director of Research at the Centre for Liveable Cities, Ministry of National Development, Singapore where she oversees research in the areas of climate change, resilience, ageing and health. Prior to this, Elaine was Director of Strategic Research at the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), where she spearheaded URA’s R&D efforts and directed key research programmes through Singapore’s Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge, under the auspices of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. Elaine was also formerly the Director of Architecture & Urban Design Excellence at the URA, working closely with the industry to advance the state of architecture and urban design in Singapore through new initiatives and programmes.

Kate Thompson

President & CEO, CMLC

Kate Thompson is the President & CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC). She is responsible for the overall direction, business strategy, and operations of the organization. Thanks in large part to Kate’s exceptional leadership and foresight, CMLC is now overseeing more than $1 billion in development projects in East Calgary—including the BMO Centre expansion, 17th Avenue SE Extension and Victoria Park/Stampede Station rebuild, Arts Commons Transformation, and the redevelopment of East Victoria Park into Calgary’s Culture + Entertainment District. Kate has held numerous positions of leadership since she joined CMLC in 2013, including Director of Development, Vice President of Projects, and Vice President of Development.

Latika Thukral

Co-founder, iamgurgaon

Latika Thukral is co-founder of ‘Iamgurgaon’, an NGO she started in 2008 along with two other women. Prior to that, she had been working with Citibank for 18 years – Latika quit her job to spend time with her two boys, and pursue her dream of setting up an NGO to contribute to the betterment of Gurgaon, her home for the last 16 years. ‘Iamgurgaon’ is a movement that is attempting to create a platform to enable citizens of Gurgaon to work towards improving every aspect of life in the Millennium City. The NGO has been actively working with civic bodies and RWA’s in Gurgaon. ‘Iamgurgaon’ aims to identify projects and proactively work with the local administration as well as corporates based in Gurgaon. For her services, Latika received an appreciation award from the Haryana Government, on Republic Day in 2010. ‘Iamgurgaon’ has been working with the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon in creating the Aravalli Biodiversity Park, a revival of a forest on 550 acres (approx.) of MCG land. Another initiative of the NGO is the planting of a million trees in Gurgaon – 40,000 have already been planted, in a campaign that has seen huge participation from Gurgaon-based corporates.

Maria Vassilakou

Founder, Vienna Solutions

Maria Vassilakou envisages cities as open, green, affordable, family friendly and diverse places for life. In her 9 years serving as Vice Mayor she implemented successfully a vast transformation agenda comprising numerous innovative projects, contributing substantially to Viennas Nr1 position in all major international livability rankings within the last decade.

Maria Vassilakou now works worldwide as an independent advisor on urban transformation. After leaving office, she founded Vienna Solutions, a network of experienced Viennese urban experts and practitioners, with whom she cooperates building flexible teams to deliver complex urban projects. She shares her experience and know-how from Vienna – the worlds most livable city – with cities, NGOs, organizations and corporations developing strategies, agendas and solutions, organizing transition management and capacity building for livable, sustainable and inclusive cities.

Sebastien Vauzelle

Head of the Local2030 Coalition Secretariat

Sébastien Vauzelle is the Head of the Secretariat of the Local2030 Coalition, the UN system-wide mechanism to advance the crucial engagement of local stakeholders in the SDGs.

He has been working with the UN for 17 years as a policy advisor and Senior Economist specialised in local development. In different UN Agencies and at local, national, regional, and global levels, he has provided policy advice and technical support to sustainable development policies and practices, with a special focus on SDG localization, in ten countries over four continents. He has supported major political and socioeconomic reforms with a demonstrated strategic vision for resilience and sustainable development, jointly with local and national governments and sustainable development stakeholders while piloting innovative solutions through participatory, forward-looking approaches.

Simón Arango Velásquez

Leader Smart Cities

Simón Arango Velásquez is a mechanical engineer with an MBA from Universidad EAFIT, currently leading the Smart Cities strategy at the Ruta N Corporation, where he drives technological innovation projects for the sustainable urban development of Medellín. With over 10 years of experience, he has optimized logistical processes, automated production systems, and implemented innovative digital transformation solutions.

Rosanna Vitiello

Creative Director, The Place Bureau

Rosanna is a cultural strategist and urban researcher focusing on how cities speak to us, and how we speak back. She explores how we experience places, what they mean to us, and how we share their stories. These aspects of places are often forgotten, but important in building a sense of belonging and identity. Rosanna co-founded The Place Bureau to work with communities and design teams, understanding the culture of places and reimagine what they could be. She gets involved in emerging urban districts all over the world — from rethinking London’s Euston, to new cultural districts in Chengdu, China, and exploring Dagenham Dock closer to home.

Stephen D. Willacy

Architect & Urban Advisor

Stephen brings a rich and unique set of competencies to the table, combining international experiences as a practicing architect and urbanist, teaching and research and most recently, as a leading civil servant in the Aarhus City Council. Stephen has been a partner in the internationally acclaimed Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects with responsibilities for starting up their offices in London, UK and Shanghai, China; Associate Professor and researcher at Aarhus School of Architecture; Guest Professor at Arizona State University, USA, and is currently as honorary professor at The University of Dundee, Scotland.

Anupam Yog

Managing Partner, XDG Labs

Anupam Yog is an established global expert and trusted adviser to cities, companies, universities, communities and entrepreneurs. With extensive international experience, and formally trained as an MBA, he is a skillful creative strategist, researcher, curator, facilitator and project manager. In a career spanning over two decades, Anupam has held leadership roles and senior management appointments in Real Estate, Consulting, Technology, Higher Education and Social Impact organisations. He continues to be active in all these sectors, bringing a multi-disciplinary, collaborative and hands-on management approach to complex challenges.