People (fr)

Jamira Burley is an internationally recognized speaker, social justice advocate, and next-gen social impact consultant. She’s on a mission to lead systematic and sustainable change that improves the lives of young people across the globe. Recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change and Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree, Jamira leads with expertise…

Enrique Peñalosa is an accomplished leader, who has achieved positive results in diverse activities in which he has been involved. He is also an influential thinker on urban challenges particularly those related to sustainability, mobility, equity, public space and well being. Peñalosa has lectured internationally in numerous environmental, urban design and policy and university forums…

Jay Pitter, MES, is an award-nominated author and placemaker whose practice mitigates growing divides in urban centres. She spearheads institutional city-building projects, rooted in neighbourhood knowledge, focused on: cultural heritage interpretive planning, gender-based mapping, inclusive public engagement, safe streets and mobility, social planning, and healing fraught sites. She also shapes urgent city-building conversations through media…

Rahul Srivastava is a co-founder of urbz and The Institute of Urbanology. He studied social and urban anthropology in Mumbai, Delhi and Cambridge (UK). His previous publications include an ethnography of urbanized nomads around Mumbai, a novel published by Puffin, (Penguin, India) and ‘The Slum Outside’, a commentary on Dharavi, co-written with Matias Echanove and…

Matias Echanove co-created urbz with Rahul Srivastava. He spends most of his time in Mumbai and Geneva, and always likes to discover new places and people. Currently obsessed with new models of participatory governance and institution building, Matias has developed an expertise in the organization of participatory design workshops over years of work at urbz.…

Annie Wilkinson is an anthropologist and health systems researcher. She conducts research on zoonotic disease; epidemic preparedness and control; drug resistance; and urban health. She has worked extensively in West Africa, especially Sierra Leone, and within emergency humanitarian and epidemic response. Her recent research explores institutional arrangements around health and disease in informal urban settlements…

Luca Ballarini runs Torino Stratosferica, an innovative project of city imaging, that brings forward visually based narratives and powerful imagery to highlight the potential of the city and leverage its positioning. Torino Stratosferica organizes the international city-making festival Utopian Hours (to be held in Turin, Italy on 23-25 October 2020). Trained in architecture, Luca Ballarini…

He leads the innovation area of Confindustria Bergamo. International expert on urban strategies, graduated in Economics of Public Administration at Bocconi University in Milan and City Design and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics in London. Specialist in the strategic management of projects in Italy and abroad for public administrations and local service…

Arlette Verkruyssen is the Director General of Brussels Housing for the Brussels Regional Public Service. In this role, she leads CALICO (“Care and Living Community”), a co-housing project subsidized by the European program UIA. She is also responsible for mapping out and combating discrimination in the rental market, was the initiator of a regulatory framework…

Emmanuel Pratt received a BArch (1999) from Cornell University and an MSAUD (Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design, 2003) from Columbia University. From 2011 to 2019, Pratt served as the director of aquaponics at Chicago State University, and he was the Charles Moore Visiting Professor at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban…

Mr. Jones has a 35-year record of strong leadership experience in public housing operations, new construction, capital construction, resident services, accounting and finance, auditing and maintenance, and Housing Choice Voucher programs. He currently serves as president and chief executive officer at Atlanta Housing, the southeast region’s largest public housing authority, serving more than 25,000 families,…

Leads McKinsey Global Institute research on China, Asia, and global economic and business trends. Helps cities and regions create sustainable growth and supports the transformation of Chinese companies into global leaders. Jonathan Woetzel is Director of the McKinsey Global Institute and leads MGI research on productivity, urbanization, infrastructure, inequality and regional economies. Based in China…