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.

Jeremy Bamberg

Co-Founder, Factory

Jeremy Bamberg has diverse work experience spanning various industries and roles. Jeremy co-founded a company called Factory in 2015 and is currently involved in the internationalization of the concept of technology-enabled real estate for high-growth startup companies. At Factory Berlin, they worked as a Community & Outreach member from 2014 to 2015. Jeremy also served as a Venture Partner at Wefunder starting in 2023. In 2012, they worked as a Research Associate at the Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft, and in 2011, they were a Venture at Ashoka. Jeremy founded the Startup Europe Summit in 2015, which aims to bring together startups, investors, policy-makers, and industry leaders to find solutions to policy issues in Europe’s startup communities. Before that, they were a Business Development Intern at Drishtee Development and Communication Ltd. in 2010. Jeremy also hosted the IVCA (International Private Equity and Venture Capitalist Association) at the Global Venture Capital Congress in 2010.

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.

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.

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

Urbanist, Author & Global Advisor

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Urbanist & Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellow 

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

Author & International Advisor

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.

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.

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 of C40

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.

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.

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.

Farah Naz

Author & Engineer

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.

Idoia Postigo

General Director, The Bilbao Metropoli-30 Association

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nadia Verjee

Executive Director, Expo City Dubai

A graduate of University College London in modern European languages and the London School of Economics and Political Science in International Relations, with a specialisation in European Affairs, Nadia Verjee has over 20 years of experience in Government and International Affairs with tenure in Washington DC, Brussels, London, and Dubai.

Nadia has over 20 years of experience in the fields of policymaking, government affairs and international relations. Further experienced in political campaigns, creative communications, content programme design and building teams.

Juan Ignacio Vidarte

Director, Guggenheim Museum

Juan Ignacio Vidarte joined the New York staff of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation as deputy director and chief officer for global strategies in November 2008. He is also the director general of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and divides his time between Bilbao and New York.

Vidarte’s involvement with the Guggenheim Foundation began in 1992 when he served as managing director of the Consortium for the Guggenheim Bilbao Project, overseeing the construction of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. He was appointed director general of the museum in 1996. Under Vidarte’s leadership, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Gold Medal in Fine Arts in 1999, the European Museum Forum Museum of the Year Award in 2000, the Tourist Appeal Award in 2005, and the EFQM Silver Q Award for Management Quality.

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.