Speakers and panelists of the conference "Transforming Cities"

Introducing the speakers and panelists of the conference
Transforming Cities – Shaping Development Policies
(in alphabetical order):

Cláudia Naves David Amorim
Janet Askew
Elisabeth Belpaire
Irene Bertolami
Michelle Ball
Justyna Borucka
Łukasz Bugalski
Federico Camerin
Michał Ciesielski
Piotr Czyż
Edyta Damszel-Turek
Frank D’hondt
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz
Adem Erdem Erbas
Zoltán Erő
Anna Fikus-Wójcik
Maros Finka
Niko Gentile
Giulia Guerri
Markus Hedorfer
Sedat İçöz
Dorota Kamrowska-Załuska
Gabor Kovacs
Rajendra Kumar
Piotr Lorens
Tomasz Łapiński
Edmond Manahasa
Tomasz Majda
Justyna Martyniuk-Pęczek
Weronika Mazurkiewicz
Marcin Mędrzecki
Izabela Mironowicz
Celeste Moretto
Monika Nadrowska
Tsz Lok Jeffrey Ng
Oliver Norman
Lucyna Nyka
Ewa Pielak
Luciano Paná Tronca
Antonio Piredda
Silvia Porcu
Magdalena Rembeza
Iris Reuther
Robert Skrzypczyński
Mark Strauss
Rob Wellburn
Agnieszka Zimnicka

Cláudia Naves David Amorim

Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from University of Brasília, has also a master degree from University of Brasília and Ph.D. from Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", with the thesis developed in Milan Politechnic. She is currently Associate Professor in the University of Brasília, coordinator of the Laboratory of Environmental Control and Energy Efficiency and researcher for the International Energy Agency – IEA, participating in Task 50 (2013-2016) and Task 61 (2017-2021). She is also the coordinator of the Division 3 of the International Commission of the Illumination - CIE, and collaborates in architectural projects focusing in energy and sustainability aspects. Coordinator of the research group Environmental Quality and Daylighting in the Built Environment, she has supervised 28 master’s degrees, 6 PhD Thesis as many graduate works, published 33 articles in journals, organized 9 books, 14 book chapters and 115 articles in congresses. She has also received 21 prizes and titles since 2006, between those the participation in sustainable architecture competitions, and energy efficiency awards. She is active in National Standardization bodies related with energy efficiency in buildings, buildings labelling and environmental comfort. Director of Research in the Deanery of Research and Innovation in the University of Brasilia since 2017.p>

Janet Askew

Certified urban planner with 50 years of professional experience. President of the European Council of Spatial Planners. She has been playing a very active role in the urban planning community for many years and was president of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). She has many years of experience in the public and private sectors as well as in education. She ran the Bristol School of Planning and Architecture in Bristol and is currently Professor of Town and Country Planning Law at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Her main area of research is urban planning law, specializing in regimes and regulations. She is a member of the International Platform of Experts in Planning Law, the result of which is that she has served as an advisor on issues relating to the reform of planning regimes in a number of European countries. She has worked throughout the UK, and has lectured extensively, including giving numerous speeches, in Europe and in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, America and Hong Kong.

Elisabeth Belpaire

An urban planner committed to working at the intersection of planning, health and climate change. She addresses the challenges posed by social and environmental inequalities affecting women, youth, seniors, indigenous communities and invisible urban populations. She has more than 25 years of experience working at different scales, in a variety of roles and contexts, gained in Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Including strategic urban planning, disaster risk reduction, post-conflict program management, urban health and child-friendly approaches. A member of the ISUH and WHO board of experts, she is an international TEDx speaker. She has served on several boards, including currently as President-Elect (2023-24) and President (2024-27) of ISOCARP. She chaired the World Planning Congress in Toronto and Brussels; initiated Women in Planning, co-founded the "Community of Practice on Urban Health" and was a member of the COP26 task force. Elisabeth earned a master's degree in architectural engineering from Ghent University and a master's degree in urban and spatial planning from the Catholic University of Leuven.

Michelle Ball

Michelle Ball graduated from BSc Spatial Planning, TU Dublin in 2019 and began her career as Policy & Membership Coordinator at the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) before joining MacCabe Durney Barnes as a Town Planner in 2022. Michelle graduated from MSc Sustainable Transport and Mobility, TU Dublin in 2023. She is a Corporate Member of the IPI and Licentiate Member of the RTPI.

Irene Bertolami

Urban and environmental planner. She graduated from the Politecnico di Torino in 2023 and is currently a researcher at Eurac Research. Within the research center, she is part of the Urban and Regional Energy Systems group at the Renewable Energy Institute. Her current research activities include evaluating the benefits that can result from urban planning in cities. She analyzes opportunities from European projects related to the concepts of Positive Energy Districts and Climate Positive Circular Communities, such as ProLight and ARV.

Justyna Borucka

Assist. Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Gdańsk University of Technology and the Vice-Dean for Development and Internationalsiation of the Faculty of Architecture, Since 2015 board member and vice president of Polish Architects Association (SARP o.Wybrzeże). DAAD Scholar of International Women’s University Kassel, Germany (2000), DAAD postgraduate scholar at HAWK, Hildeshiem, Germany (1999-2000). Visiting researcher at many European universities among others: HafenCity University, Germany, L’Aquila University, Italy, Royal Academy Copenhagen, and DTU, Denmark, Aalto University, Finland, Gazi University, Turkey, TU/e Eindhoven University of Technology, Nederlands, Pavia University, Florence University,Italy. Visiting professor at Sapienza University of Rome (2016) and KADK (2018), recently at Luzofona University, Lisbon, Portugal (2023). Conducting research and actions promoting various forms of participation and urban regeneration interventions into the public spaces and preservation of CH. (among others Urban Walk project, , National Center of Research Gospostrateg Market Regeneration project, H2020 SOS Climate Waterfront project, H2020 Prometheus project).

Łukasz Bugalski

Łukasz Bugalski – urban planner, architect, academic teacher. Graduate of the Faculty of Architecture of the Gdańsk University of Technology (2013). He obtained his PhD in technical sciences in the discipline of architecture and urban planning at the same university (2018). Scholarship holder of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie program (2017-2020) in the field of critical heritage studies carried out as part of the "CHEurope" project (MSCA Innovative Training Network) at the _Istituto per i Beni Artistici, Culturali e Naturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna_ (Bologna, Italy). Scholarship holder (2022) of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, under which he implemented the project "RECONSTRUCTED - rethinking the so-called Polish school of conservation based on new source materials”. Currently (since 2020) he works as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the Gdańsk University of Technology. Member of the Polish National Committee of ICOMOS Commission for Protection of Urban Heritage. In his research work, he focuses on broadly understood issues related to urban heritage: the history of urban planning, urban morphology, heritage management and the threats related to the rapid growth of the tourism economy.

Federico Camerin

Urban planner, graduate of Università IUAV in Venice (2014). In 2014-15 and 2016-17, he received research scholarships at the same university. In 2020, he was awarded a double doctorate and a post-doctorate by Universidad de Valladolid (Spain) and Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (Germany) as part of the European joint doctorate "UrbanHist." He was a post-doc fellow in "Urban Planning" at the IUAV (2021), and is currently a post-doc researcher for "Margarita Salas" at the Universidad de Valladolid and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (2022-24). His research and professional interests include urban planning, planning history, urban management and urban revitalization.

Michał Ciesielski

Urban planner, author and co-author of several dozen local plans, spatial policies, strategies, participation processes, revitalization programs, analyzes and expert opinions in various Polish municipalities. He has been combining work in planning practice and cooperation with universities; member of the Task Force for Cities and Metropolitan Areas at the National Spatial Development Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In his doctoral dissertation (2023) the uncodified spatial planning practices at the local level in Poland is analyzed. He publishes texts in professional periodicals as well as in scientific journals. He cooperates with numerous specialist organizations, NGO’s, institutions at local and government level, e.g: Foundation in Support of Local Democracy, Society of Polish Town Planners, Shipyard Foundation and many more.

Piotr Czyż

Architect and philosopher, academic teacher at the Faculty of Architecture, Gdansk University of Technology, lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk. Academically engaged in the social role of architecture and the cultural background of modernism and postmodernism. Participant in urban initiatives. Coordinator of social and research and implementation projects. Consultant in many participatory processes. Co-founder and president of the association City Initiative.

Edyta Damszel-Turek

Since 2015, director of the Gdansk Development Office; graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Gdansk University of Technology and postgraduate study of Urban Planning and Spatial Management "Space Design and Management". She has worked at the Gdansk Development Bureau for more than 20 years: first as an assistant, then as chief designer - author of many local plans. For eight years she served as the head of urban planning teams. She combined her duties of leading urban planning teams with her position as the lead designer of the team dealing with the regulation of the city's aesthetics as part of the study "Concept for the Regulation of the City's Aesthetics". She is the general designer of the 2018 Study of Conditions and Directions for Spatial Development of the City of Gdansk. He works with the team for the Development Strategy of the City of Gdansk 2030 Plus, as coordinator of one of the Operational Programs - Public Space. She is also a member of the Provincial Urban Planning and Architectural Commission at the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Frank D’hondt

Frank is a founding member and director of the Territorial Capital Institute, a knowledge-based platform for the exchange of theory and practice on the topics of integrated spatial development and the creation of public spaces. In these activities, Frank draws on his experience with the New Urban Agenda and the International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning. Frank worked for 15 years in the European Union countries, where he mainly dealt with cross-border and transnational planning issues, and then for another 15 years outside the EU, including Kosovo, Palestine, Nepal, Afghanistan, the Arab Emirates, Kenya, Myanmar, China, Japan, the Caribbean region, East Timor, Gambia and Somalia. Frank specializes in national urban policy, metropolitan planning, post-conflict/disaster reconstruction planning and participatory conceptualization and creation of public spaces. With UN-Habitat, Frank published the book "Visioning as Participatory Planning Method" and drafted the manual "International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning (IGUTP)".Frank has participated in several ISOCARP world congresses, co-organized UPATS in Gaza, Palestine and Whan, China, and collaborated in the preparation of the ISOCARP Review publication.

Aleksandra Dulkiewicz

Polish local authority official and lawyer. She graduated from the III High School in Gdansk. Studied law at the University of Gdansk and at the Paris Lodron University in Salzburg. She started gaining her experience at the side of Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz as his assistant. She participated in Gdansk's preparations for UEFA EURO 2012™. She took part in the creation of the European Solidarity Center. In March 2017, Gdansk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz entrusted her with the position of his deputy for economic policy. During the 2018 local elections, she was head of Pawel Adamowicz's "Everything for Gdansk" election staff. After a knifeman took the life of Mayor Pawel Adamowicz on January 13, 2019 during the GOCC finale, she accepted the duties of acting mayor of the City of Gdansk. In early elections, she was elected Mayor of the City of Gdansk. She serves as Vice President of the Council of the Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Union of Polish Metropolises Foundation. A member of the European Committee of the Regions, she chairs the Ukraine Working Group.

Adem Erdem Erbas

Works as a professor at the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Istanbul, Faculty of Architecture. He received his bachelor's degree in 1993, his master's degree in 1995 and his doctorate in 2000 from the same university. He teaches at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. He also serves as pro-rector. He cooperates as a lecturer and participant in various programs with numerous universities at home and abroad. In recent years, he has studied in the "International AGORA Research Project" group in cooperation with the Gdansk University of Technology. He has served as an expert for the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey. He is currently pursuing academic studies in sustainable development and strategic urban planning. His research focuses on planning issues for metropolitan cities, especially Istanbul, and includes topics such as coastal planning, port rehabilitation projects, logistics, and cultural heritage preservation. In recent years, he has focused his work on articles and research on planning issues in multi-tiered cities. He is a member of ISOCARP and the Turkish National Committee of Regional Sciences and the Istanbul Historic Areas Advisory Board.

Zoltán Erő

Graduate of Budapest Technical University, architect, urban planner, founder of Palatium Studio Ltd. and founding curator of the Center for Contemporary Architecture. He is involved in architectural heritage preservation and infrastructure design. In addition to participating in urban planning and public space development projects, he has been involved in the revitalization of historic cities, public spaces and buildings for years. Around 2000, he worked on the urban renewal program and development concept for Budapest. As the general architect for Budapest's Metro4 subway line, he was the head of the team responsible for the architectural concept, as well as the designer of four stations. As an expert, he worked for the EU on historical heritage issues. He has also worked for the heritage programs of the Hungarian National Cultural Fund. He is a lecturer and publicist, and has been Budapest's chief architect since 2020.

Anna Fikus-Wójcik

An architect and urban planner, since 16 years associated with the Gdańsk Urban Development Office, currently the main designer and manager of the Public Spaces and Landscape Team. She studied at the Faculty of Architecture on Krakow University of Technology, Poznań University of Technology and École Supérieur d'Arts Appliqués Boulle in Paris. Since 2003 has been cooperating with Studio Fikus. In the years 2004-2008 she was an academic teacher. Author of number of local spatial development plans, studies and analyzes about the development of various parts of the city. Leading co-author of strategic urban policies: Gdańsk Green Policy and Gdańsk Water Policy, documents reffering to sustainable development and management of blue-green infrastructure. Since 2016 the co-leader of the Gdańsk Local Spaces project dedicated for improvement the quality of public spaces and coordination of activities related to their arrangement. In her professional work, she has been focusing for years on topics related to public spaces, including waterside areas, greening the city and incorporate the potential of water and retention to improve the quality of life and resistance to climate change.

Maros Finka

President of the Association of European Schools of Planning (2020/22), professor at Slovak Technical University in Bratislava and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, UN Habitat III expert, director of the SPECTRA EU Center of Excellence at STU in Bratislava. He also headed the Institute of Spatial Planning at STU there for many years and worked as a government expert. Prof. Finka participated, also as a team leader, in more than 40 national and more than 35 international research projects covering the topics of European spatial planning, urban development and revitalization, and environmental planning. He was a member of national and international scientific councils. He is the author or co-author of 41 books, more than 100 published articles, more than 120 papers presented at international scientific events. He is co-chair of SPA-CE.NET - the Network of Spatial Research and Planning Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the Alliance of EU and Chinese Universities for Smart Sustainable Development and Innovation.

Niko Gentile

Graduated in 2017 with PhD in Architecture and Construction, Lund University. He is currently Associate Senior Lecturer in the Department of Buildings and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University. His work is mainly focused in the field of lighting and daylighting. He mixes technical and observed-based evaluations, blending my background in building physics with principles and methods from the domains of environmental psychology and architecture. He also looks at daylighting and lighting systems in a whole-life cycle approach, to better understand the environmental impact of solutions. His current research focuses mainly on two topics: 1) the role of user in driving energy saving for integrated daylighting and electric lighting solutions, targeting mainly at the role of controls, 2) early design methods and tools in urban planning to guarantee adequate solar access. He is also particularly interested in pedagogy and innovative teaching methods. Beside the development of traditional courses at LTH, he is a part of NLITED, a modular need-based online course in daylighting of buildings for traditional students and lifelong learners, and I co-authored the book "Daylighting and lighting under a nordic sky". He participated in the International Energy Agency (IEA) SHC Task 50 and I lead Subtask D of IEA SHC Task 61 / EBC Annex 77 together with Prof Werner Osterhaus, Aarhus University. He lead Subtask D "Applications and case studies" of the newly approved IEA SHC Task 70 (coordinated with IEA EBC) "Low Carbon, High Comfort Integrated Lighting".

Giulia Guerri

A native of Florence, she is an urban planner and research fellow at the Institute of BioEconomy of the National Research Council of Italy, graduated in Environmental, Territorial and Landscape Planning, with a second level University Master in GIS science and remotely piloted systems for the integrated management of natural resources. She deals with environmental urban analyses with geospatial
and remote sensing data through Geographic Information Systems and environmental modeling software. Her research activities are focused on urban landscape, morphology and microclimate, with particular regard to microclimate simulations of urban planning scenarios to mitigate the heat island phenomenon.

Markus Hedorfer

Wriginally from southern Germany works as a planner in Italy. He is, from where he moved to Venice in 1984, where he graduated with a degree in urban and regional planning from IUAV University. His career, which began in the 1990s, has included, in addition to classic planning activities, multi-criteria assessment, environmental planning in the Venetian Lagoon, contaminated land remediation, feasibility studies, spatial information systems, cartography and remote sensing. More recently, he has focused on visioning and scenario development. He has gained professional experience in Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean (valorization of Venetian historical heritage), as well as in Germany and Angola. He also worked academically as a lecturer for several years, mainly at IUAV. In 2010 he participated in the founding of HESC, a private planning firm based in Venice. In 2002, he joined ASSURB, the Italian national association of urban planners, where he served successively as a board member (2004-2010, 2016), delegate to ECTP-CEU (2017) and president (2019-2022). He currently serves as vice president of the ECTP-CEU and focuses on migration and integration issues, as well as on promoting and building recognition of the planning profession. Following the Russian aggression against Ukraine, he is supporting Ukrainian colleagues in post-war reconstruction planning efforts by chairing a special ECTP-CEU working group.

Sedat İçöz

A Turkish urban planner of the younger generation, graduated from Çukurova University, where he earned a master's degree in surveying in 2016. He graduated from Amasya University in 2022 with a master's degree in urban and regional planning. He specializes in geographic information systems (GIS) and solving public transportation problems.

Dorota Kamrowska-Załuska

architect and urban planner, Associate Professor and Director of mid-career program on Urban development and management of metropolitan areas, at the Department of Urban Design and Regional Planning at Faculty of Architecture, Gdansk University of Technology; Visiting Scholar and Research Fellow at several research institutions incl. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2013), Charted Urban Planner with more than two decades of experience working both for public and public sector across Poland, France, and Asia; taking part in various participatory research and user-oriented design projects, with emphasis on inclusivity and community engagement; author of more than 50 papers on the use of Big Data and AI in planning, participation and social innovation in urban regeneration, smart cities and development of metropolitan areas and a book on sustainable urban regeneration. Board Member of the International Society of City and Regional Planners and a longstanding Board Member of the Association of Polish City Planners, w here she previously served as the President of its Gdansk Division, a member of Pomeranian Voivodship's Urban and Architectural Commission.

Gabor Kovacs

Since 2008 he has been managing the design of residential developments in Hungary and international markets on behalf of Cordia - Futueral Group. He holds a degree in architecture from Pecs University of Technology and a degree in real estate development from Budapest University of Technology and Economics. He gained design experience in Hungary and Spain designing residential, office and commercial buildings, as well as renovations of historic buildings.

Rajendra Kumar

An architect, curator and publicist based in New Delhi, he is director of LPU University's School of Architecture and Design. He has won a number of awards for the best academics in India. He holds a degree from Chandigarh College of Architecture and a postgraduate degree from Politecnico di Milano. He is a member of ISOCARP and the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, USA. He has received the U.S. Congressional Scholarship for the New Urbanism. He is actively involved in academic and research activities. He advises numerous national international organizations, including the UN, WHO, and UN Habitat. He has diverse experience covering projects from the urban scale to buildings and interiors. He is the author of more than 100 publications. He has appeared on television channels, radio, print and online media and, as a guest lecturer at universities around the world. He has been a guest speaker at numerous international conferences on urban development, social and environmental issues.

---

Piotr Lorens

Head of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the Faculty of Architecture, Gdansk University of Technology and - since 2021 - Architect of the City of Gdansk. Fulbright scholar, actively involved in the work of scientific committees (including within the structures of the Polish Academy of Sciences) and professional associations (including ISOCARP, TUP, ICOMOS and TICCIH). He also works on the planning and implementation of various urban planning projects and undertakings, primarily related to urban transformation and renewal.

Tomasz Łapiński

He has been involved in the real estate development industry in Poland for 15 years. Since 2021, he has been the managing director of Cordia Polska Residential Investments, a company he has already co-founded since 2017. Since 2020, he has also been a member of the board of directors of WWA Development SA (ex-Polnord SA), and since 2021, the president of the board.

Edmond Manahasa

Affiliated with the Epoka University in Albania since 2008 as a lecturer in the department of architecture. Currently (from 2017), Edmond Manahasa is the head of the department of architecture. He is co-editor of the book Current Challenges in Architecture and Urbanism in Albania. His research is focused on the field of built environment psychology, including the themes of urban identity, post-socialist urban developments, housing typologies, gated communities, city image and mapping of social space, and post-socialist housing developments. He has also conducted studies on the topics of Ottoman period architecture in Albania and Kosovo.

Tomasz Majda

Graduate and employee of the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology. President of the Society of Polish Town Planners. Polish Delegate in the European Council of Town Planners ECTP-CEU. Member of the Main Urban and Architectural Commission. Chairman of Urban and Architectural Commission of the city of Warsaw. Member of the working teams of Polish Academy of Science. The owner of a design office, the author of local plans, strategies, urban designs, concepts of functional areas. Expert in the advisory team of the development strategy of the new part of Nanjing along the Yangtze River in the perspective of 2049 and the development plan for the 2030s. Lecturer of the training program in Abu Dhabi, workshops in Shenzhen and Yekaterinburg.

Justyna Martyniuk-Pęczek

Her academic and design activities have focused on lighting, urban planning and design. She studied at the Gdansk University of Technology and the Warsaw University of Technology, was a Fullbright Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a DAAD Foundation Scholar at Stuttgart Universitat. While still a third-year student, she organized the First National Meeting of Architecture Students - OSSA 1997. Since 2010, she has been conducting interdisciplinary research on lighting (daylight and electric light), energy efficiency and urban planning. He is also currently conducting research on "productive cities" and "energy transition." She mainly focuses on suburbanization issues and tries to combine this with entrepreneurial development. She is the author of numerous monographs and publications in scientific journals. Experienced designer with a porfolio of more than 40 lighting and illumination projects for public spaces and buildings. In her professional work she combines the art of creating urban spaces and designing lighting and illumination. He is a member of national and international research teams, including CIE-JTC18: Lighting Education.

Weronika Mazurkiewicz

Assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Gdansk University of Technology and an active architect and urban planner. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Polish Urban Planners and the association AESOP (Thematic Group for Public Spaces and Urban Cultures). Since November 2021, she has been the President of the Gdansk branch of the Society of Polish Urban Planners, where she is the initiator and organizer of the Film Meetings with the City and tries to promote the idea of flexible planning based on master plans by co-organizing the Flexible Planning Conference in Gdansk. In her research and teaching work, she combines the issues of spatial information systems (GIS), masterplanning, public participation and collaborates with the architect of the city of Gdansk. From 2018 to 2022, she was a member of the consortium of the project Social and economic development of Poland under the conditions of globalizing markets (co-author of the Market regeneration strategy). She cooperates with the association Inicjatywa Miasto and the Institute of Urban Culture in Gdansk. She has held research internships at universities in Ljubljana, Vienna and Lisbon. As an architect, she has worked in Karlsruhe, Warsaw and Gdansk, among other cities.

---

Marcin Mędrzecki

Director in Colliers' Investment Services Department responsible for the processes of acquiring or selling office and warehouse assets with a track record of investment transactions exceeding €2 billion and more than 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate market in Poland. Marcin joined the company in 2009 as Director of Asset Management. He has a degree in law. He previously worked at Norblin Group and Europolis Real Estate Asset Management, where he was responsible for managing their real estate portfolios, including asset management, reporting and lease negotiations.

Izabela Mironowicz

Radical urbanist, professor at the Department of Urban Design and Regional Planning at the Faculty of Architecture, Gdańsk Tech. She investigates the transformation of cities. She is aware that the only real challenge they face today is planetary crisis. She advocates degrowth and explores how its postulates can be implemented in urban areas. She maintains the 'honest hope of the pessimists' that Dawid Juraszek wrote about (in Polish only, sorry!). In other words, she believes that it is worth looking for ways to preserve the human species and cities on planet Earth. She therefore supports an approach that prioritises the survival of ecosystems rather than human whims at the heart of the transformation of space. She hates the expression 'identity of place' (she will be happy to explain why). Besides, she has been a visiting professor at the Université Paris Sorbonne and the Université des Alpes in Grenoble. She sits on the Scientific Council of the Leibniz-Institut für ökologische Raumentwicklung (IÖR) in Dresden and advises the Slovak Accreditation Commission. Secretary General of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) from 2011 to 2015.

Celeste Moretto

She graduated from the Polytechnic University of Turin with a master's degree in urban planning. She is currently working in the field of UXO research and geophysical analysis for a company based in Padua. She is interested in active tourism and music. She has been a member of the cityorchestra as a flutist for 13 years.

Monika Nadrowska

A graduate of Silesian University of Technology, where she completed her master's degree in architecture in 1999, and 2 2007 defended her doctoral thesis Operational Planning in the Process of Transformation of Post-Industrial Areas. She has received scholarships from the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU and the Nowicki Foundation. She has many years of experience as an urban and spatial planning planner and as an administrative employee in Poland and Germany. She headed spatial planning teams in Achim and Bremen, where she is still involved in drafting the principles and objectives of spatial development and mobility policies taking into account the requirements of climate protection and climate change mitigation, managing the drafting and implementation of spatial development plans, conducting cases and projects related to complex transformations of public space, coordinating public consultations and revitalization programs, and preparing and implementing urban planning competitions.

Tsz Lok Jeffrey Ng

Jeffrey is a chartered town planner and has extensive planning experience in the UK and Hong Kong. Jeffrey is currently working at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead as the Principal Planning Officer. Jeffrey has been elected to the RTPI Board of Trustees as Trustee for Young Planner. He has also held roles on the RTPI South East since 2018, as a member of the Regional Activities Committee, and later as Honorary Treasurer and a member of the Regional Management Board, supporting Region, the CPD development, minerals and waste planning, and the planning schools’ partnership in the Region. Jeffrey has a passion for volunteering in planning. Jeffrey was one of the UK representatives to attend the Young Planners Worksop of the European Council of Spatial Planners in Paris and Plymouth and was the Member of the International Committee. Jeffrey was also a member of the BOB-MK Steering Group to support the CPD training development. Before moving his planning career to the UK, Jeffrey was a member of the Faculty Board of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong. Jeffrey was also a Youth Ambassador of the Macao Urban Planning Forum, Hong Kong City Gallery, and the HKMTR Island West Line Community Project. Jeffrey has been rewarded with several highly prestigious scholarships and awards from his universities, employers, and the RTPI. Jeffrey is the winner of RTPI South East Young Planner of the Year 2018, the Finalist of the Young Planner of the Year 2020 and 2021, and the Finalist of the "Employee of the Year" 2018 in Surrey County Council.

Oliver Norman

Oliver is a planner working in London, leading the development of the Local Plan for Waltham Forest. His experience spans housing, economic growth, and work at the intersection of digital and planning, having joined local government from a technology startup. Oliver graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a BA in Geography, and an MSc in Regional and Urban Planning Studies.

Lucyna Nyka

Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Gdańsk University Of Technology. Lecturer at the Department of Urban Architecture and Waterfront Spaces. She was awarded a postdoctoral (DSc) degree at the Wrocław University of Technology in 2007 and a professorial title in 2016. Member of the Committee of Architecture and Urbanism of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and numerous international research and teaching associations (CITAD, EAAE), vice-president of the World Institute for Engineering and Technology Education, International Academic Advisory Committee (WIETE-IAAC) and advisor to the Baltic Sea Cultural Center Advisory Board appointed by the Marshal of the Province. Her areas of interest include contemporary architectural theory, green architecture, bio-architecture as well as cultural strategies for urban renewal. She researches issues of climate change and the intersection of urban and water environment including historical hydrographies, floating and amphibious architecture.

Ewa Pielak

Economist, graduate of the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Deputy Director of the Gdańsk Development Office, head of the Revitalization and Cultural Heritage Team, member of the Revitalization Committee. Since 2007 she has been associated with the Gdańsk local government, where she has been in charge of revitalization since 2009. She is part of the authoring team of the Municipal Revitalization Program of the City of Gdansk. For eight years she has been coordinating revitalization projects subsidized by European Union funds, for which the Municipality of Gdansk has received many awards, including Pomorskie Sztormy, Wings of the Tri-City and the European award in the RegioStars competition.

Luciano Paná Tronca

Luciano has a background in supply chain management, strategy, transport, and urban planning. He is currently doing the Sustainable Development and Climate Change PhD programme in Italy. Previously, he has worked in London in consultancies (planning and climate change) as well as as a Research Fellow at UCL. He holds a Msc from the University of Westminster and a Posgrad in Urban Planning from the Politecnico Catalunya. His current research focuses on urban freight innovation ecosystems, where he is looking at incentives and planning frameworks to incentivise the uptake of technology and processes to help with the transition to better city logistics.

Antonio Piredda

Lives in Olmedo in the province of Sassari, Sardinia. He graduated with a CAT (Construction, Environment and Territory) degree in surveying from Angelo Roth High School in Alghero. He is currently completing a degree in city planning, land use, environmental and landscape design at the Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Design at the University of Sassari in Alghero.

---

Silvia Porcu

lives in Villaputzu in southern Sardinia. She graduated from the Giordano Bruno Science High School in Muravera in 2018. Currently completing a degree in city planning, land use, environmental and landscape design at the Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Design at the University of Sassari in Alghero.

---

Iris Reuther

From 1979 to 1984, she studied architecture at the Hochschule für Architektur und Bauwesen in Weimar (now Bauhaus University), where she received her doctorate. Then, from 1987 to 1990, she was a research assistant at the Institute for Urban Planning and Architecture at the Bauakademie in Berlin, and from 1992 she ran her own urban planning practice in Leipzig (conceptual planning, integrated urban development, research and process support). From 2004 to 2013, she was professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Kassel. From 2002 to 2006 she was a member of the Building Council in Zurich, and from 2008 to 2012 in Berlin, where she also judged numerous competition procedures. She has published on topics such as regiopolis, conceptual planning and design on brownfield sites. Since 2013, she has headed the Department of Building and Urban Development at the Bremen City Council, where she is responsible for urban planning, building quality and housing. He is a member of DASL, SRL and an associate member of BDA.

Robert Skrzypczyński

Urbanist, faculty member at Gdansk University of Technology (Faculty of Architecture) and a PhD student at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Faculty of Architecture). His research interests focus on the concept of degrowth, especially in relation to the management of basic resources (water, energy, food) in cities and other human settlements. Author or co-author of 12 scientific publications, active in popularizing knowledge about degrowth, in 2017-2019 member of the Wroclaw Civic Budget Advisory Council.

Mark Strauss

Architect, planner, urban planner, former president of the New York District of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and co-chairman of New York New Visions - the association of architects, planners and engineers that defined the principles for rebuilding Lower Manhattan after September 11, 2001. Promoter of architectural excellence in public spaces. He has devoted his more than 45-year career to, among other things, developing strategies to support communities, institutions and developers in revitalization processes. In 2020, after retiring from the leadership team of FXCollaborative Architects and Planners, he focused on teaching and community service. He took a position as an adjunct professor at New York University's Schack Real Estate Institute, where he teaches planning and design issues for developers. He is also co-chair of the UrbanPlan program for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and a member of the Planning Committee for the Municipal Art Society of New York. In 2021, he was selected as a Fulbright Specialist in Urban Planning and is currently working with the Gdansk University of Technology. He lives with his family in Manhattan.

Rob Wellburn

Rob is particularly interested in how planning can shape places that lie at the intersection of competing land uses. He has experience working in strategic spatial planning in both the United States and in the United Kingdom, most recently leading on industrial land use policy for the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Rob has a Masters in Urban Planning from the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and a Bachelors in Geography from the University of Oxford. He is an Associate Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Agnieszka Zimnicka

Urban planner with experience in architecture, planning and urban management. Her comprehensive professional experience of more than 25 years includes property management, urban design, planning policy, academic publications, international research and development projects. Since 2008, she has been involved in shaping London's spaces through plan-making, place-making and regeneration, in outer and central London neighborhoods. She shares her knowledge through academic publications, lectures at the Gdansk University of Technology, the New London Architecture network and design reviews for Design South East (UK). Her recent research has focused on: land use quality, visual communication in development strategies, spatial development management in metropolitan areas, and engagement strategies for urban revitalization initiatives.