Advisors

 

David Adjaye

• Principal Architect, Adjaye Associates

David Adjaye OBE is Principal Architect of Adjaye Associates. Established in 2000, this global practice has won a number of prestigious commissions, the biggest and most recent being the £160million Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO. Adjaye’s projects currently include the $500 million commission to re-design the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History (NMAACH). Adjaye also collaborates with important contemporary artists and curators to create unique spaces for art, including, most recently, exhibition design in 2010 for the all-video SITE Santa Fe Eighth International Biennial Exhibition “the dissolve”.

Adjaye currently holds a Visiting Professor post at Princeton University School of Architecture. He is a RIBA Chartered Member, an AIA Honorary Fellow, a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was awarded the OBE for services to architecture in 2007. Since 2005 he has published numerous books on architecture and has also exhibited widely. Over the course of 10 years, Adjaye has travelled and photographed each African capital city, which culminated as “Urban Africa: David Adjaye’s Photographic Survey”, a unique geo-cultural catalogue profiling the African city in a global context. Presented in exhibition by the Design Museum in 2010 the exhibition will tour globally in 2011. Adjaye has co-presented and hosted a number of television series and radio programmes for the BBC. A documentary of his career so far is currently being planned.

Alejandro Aravena

• Executive Director, ELEMENTAL S.A.

Alejandro Aravena (1967), architect (Universidad Católica de Chile), established Alejandro Aravena Architects in 1994. He was Visiting Professor at Harvard GSD (2000-05) and is currently the Elemental-Copec Professor at UC. He is a member of the Pritzker Prize Jury and has been named International Fellow of the Royal Insti-tute of British Architects (RIBA). Professional work includes educational facilities, institutional, corporate and public buildings, museums, houses and housing, and his last design product for Vitra, the Chairless. Awards include the Silver Lion at the XI Venice Biennale, the Marcus Prize 2010, the Avonni Prize for Innovator of the Year and the Erich Schelling Architecture Medal 2006 (Germany) among other prizes. He regularly lectures and exhibits internationally. In 2011 he will be featured in MA Gallery in Tokyo.

Books by Aravena include Los Hechos de la Arquitectura, El Lugar de la Arquitectura and Material de Arquitectura as well as a monograph on Elemental by Actar published in 2010. Publications on his own work include the monograph Alejandro Aravena, progettare e costruire by Electa, Kenneth Frampton’s 4th edition of Modern Architecture; a critical history, Thames & Hudson’s 60 Innovators shaping our creative future and books by Phaidon and Taschen. His work has been featured in leading architecture and design magazines and journals in over 30 other countries.

Since 2006 Aravena has been Executive Director of ELEMENTAL S.A., a for profit company with social interest working in projects of infrastructure, transportation, public space and housing, partnering with Universidad Católica de Chile and COPEC, the Chilean Oil Company.

Amanda Burden

• Principal, Urban Planning, Bloomberg Associates

Amanda M. Burden, FAICP, is currently Principal for Urban Planning at Bloomberg Associates.

Burden was Commissioner of the New York City Department of City Planning from 2002-2013. As Commissioner for Mayor Bloomberg she spearheaded the largest planning effort in the city since 1961, setting the stage for sustainable development, reclaiming New York’s waterfront, designing new parkland and public spaces such as the High Line and promoting great architecture and urban design in all five boroughs.

From 1983 until 1990, Commissioner Burden was responsible for the planning and design of Battery Park City. Commissioner Burden received a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and an Honorary Doctorate in Public Administration from the Pratt Institute. Ms. Burden’s dedication to design excellence was recognized by the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum which presented her with its 2004 Design Patron Award as well as the New York Chapter American Institute of Architects who presented her with its 2005 Center for Architecture Award for outstanding commitment to design excellence and public participation. Amanda Burden also received ULI’s J.C.Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development in 2009 and the American Architectural Foundation Keystone Award in 2011.

José Castillo

• Principal, Arquitectura 911 SC

José Castillo is a practicing architect and urbanist living and working in Mexico City. He is the principal and founder alongside Saidee Springall of arquitectura 911sc, an independent architectural and urban practice. Among their built works are the expansion of the Spanish Cultural Center in the Historic Center of Mexico City and the CEDIM school of architecture and design in Monterrey. Their urban planning work, includes various transportation corridors in the metropolitan area of Mexico City and, along Arup and JSa, a 57-hectare master plan for the former area of Pantaco, Mexico City. arquitectura 911sc was awarded the first prize in the public competition for a new Performing Arts Center in Guadalajara, Mexico currently under construction. Castillo’s work and writings have appeared in several publications including Praxis Journal, Bomb, Arquine, AD, Architectural Record, 2G, and Domus as well as in the book The Endless City, published by Phaidon. He is a professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana’s School of Architecture in Mexico City and at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design. Since 2005, Castillo has curated various exhibitions including participations at the Rotterdam, Venice, São Paulo and Canary Island Biennales.

Joan Clos

• Executive director, UN-Habitat

Dr Joan Clos was appointed Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme at the level of Undersecretary-General in October 2010.

Born in Barcelona, he is a medical doctor, specialized in Public Health and Epidemiology with a distinguished career in public service and diplomacy. Twice elected Mayor of Barcelona (1997-2005), he was later appointed Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade of Spain (2006-2008). Prior to joining the United Nations, he served as Spanish ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan.

 

Job Cohen

• Party leader from 2010-2012, Labour Party, The Netherlands

Marius Job Cohen was born on 18 October 1947 in the city of Haarlem. After completing high school in 1966 (Gymnasium A) he studied Public law at Groningen University graduating in 1971. He took his PhD at Leiden University in 1981 (Law in relation to university studies). From 1971 to 1981 he was on the academic staff of the Educational Research Bureau of Leiden University. Then, successively up to 1993, he held the positions of senior faculty member, professor and rector of Maastricht University.

From 1993 to 1994 Job Cohen served as Deputy Minister of Education and Science after which he returned again to Maastricht University from 1995 to 1998, as rector. After a brief interim directorship of the VPRO (public sector) broadcasting organisation he served from 1998 to 2001 as Deputy Minister of Justice.

Job Cohen has held several administrative positions in and outside the PvdA (Dutch Labour Party). He was also a member of the Educational Council, the Supervisory Board of the TNO (Dutch organisation for applied scientific research) and Felix Meritis, and the boards of the VPRO and the Jan van Eyck Academy. From 1995 to 1998 he was a member of the Senate (Eerste Kamer van de Staten Generaal), occupying the chair from 1997 to 1998.

From 2001 until 2010 Job Cohen was installed as Mayor (burgomaster) of the City of Amsterdam. On 25 April 2010 the Labour Party elected Job Cohen as their party leader. As the party leader he was also leader of the social-democratic fraction in the Parliament. Cohen resigned as party leader in 2012.

 

Marcelo Ebrard

• President, United Nations Global Network on Safer Cities

Ebrard was Mayor of Mexico City from 2006-2012. Ebrard was the candidate for the PRD-led ‘Good of All’ coalition, having previously held a number of senior positions in the city government, including: Internal Affairs Secretary, Public Security Secretary (later working with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on a Zero Tolerance Policing Strategy for the capital) and Social Inclusion Secretary (overseeing the Progress with Justice program, which provided increased support for public housing and medical care for the elderly).

During his time as Mayor, Ebrard outlined his priorities as tackling crime in the city, addressing the problems of street children, decentralising education policy from the administration to schools, securing a constitution for the city, and introducing energy-efficient vehicles for the city’s bus and taxi fleets. He developed a multi-year Climate Action Program for the city to reduce GHG emissions, better manage solid waste, and encourage more sustainable use of natural resources.

Mayor Ebrard’s administration also invested in infrastructure improvements in the city’s historic centre, made improvements to the city’s sewer systems, created more public spaces, and begun construction of a 12th Metro line. He also addressed the difficult challenge of improving public security by restructuring the capital’s police organisations and tackling corruption.

Terry Hill

• Chairman, Ove Arup Foundation

Terry Hill is Chairman of the Arup Trust and head of the Board of Trustees. Formerly Terry held the position of Arup Group Chairman from 2004-2009 and was responsible for the overall strategic direction of the firm.

Terry has a background in civil engineering and economics and previously held the position of Chairman of the Global Transport Market from 2009-2011. Terry also led Arup’s Infrastructure division, where his role centred on consulting, infrastructure and managing major projects.

Terry has been selected to be the next President of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and is a member of Infrastructure UK Advisory Council. Terry is also a non-executive director of Crossrail Ltd.

 

Julian Le Grand

• Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics

Julian Le Grand is the Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, a Trustee of the Kings Fund, and a Founding Academician of the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences. He has an honorary doctorate from the University of Sussex.

In 2003-5 he was seconded to No 10 Downing St as a senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister. As well as his position at No 10, he has acted as an adviser to the President of the European Commission, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, the OECD, Her Majesty’s Treasury and the UK Departments of Health and Work and Pensions. In 2007 he chaired the Working Group on Social Work Practices for the Department for Education and Science and from 2007 to 2009 he was the Chair of Health England: the national reference group on health and well-being. He has also been vice-chairman of a major teaching hospital, a commissioner on the Commission for Health Improvement, and a non-executive on several health authorities. He has served on many NHS working parties, on several think-tank commissions and on two grants boards of the Economic and Social Research Council.

Julian Le Grand is the author, co-author or editor of eighteen books and over one hundred articles on economics, philosophy and public policy. In 2006 he was one of Prospect magazine’s 100 top British public intellectuals.

Enrique Peñalosa

• Mayor, City of Bogotá, 1998-2001 and 2015-current

Enrique Peñalosa is a leader in the urban field, whose vision and proposals have significantly influenced policies throughout the world. His advisory work concentrates on sustainability, mobility, equity, public space and quality of life; and the organizational and leadership requirements to turn ideas into projects and realities. He is also an accomplished executive, who has achieved positive results in the diverse activities in which he has been involved.

Peñalosa has lectured internationally in numerous environmental, urban design and policy, and university forums and has advised governments in Asia, Africa, Australia, Latin America and the United States. He is currently a consultant on Urban Vision, Strategy and Policy. He is currently President of the Board of the ITDP (Institute for Transportation and Development Policy) of New York and member of the LSE Cities Advisory Board.

Between 1998 and 2001 as Mayor of Bogotá, capital of Colombia with a population of seven million people, Peñalosa profoundly transformed the city, turning it from one with neither bearings, nor self-esteem or hope into an international model for improvements in quality of life, mobility, equity and sustainability and has been awarded important international recognitions such as the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale or the Stockholm Challenge among others. Among his accomplishments were TransMilenio, probably the world’s best bus mass transit system, the 35 kilometer Juan Amarillo greenway, and the 24 kilometer long Porvenir Promenade, a pedestrian and bicycle only thruway.

At the end of 2009 Peñalosa, together with other three former mayors, re-founded the Green Party in Colombia. In October 2015 Peñalosa was re-elected Mayor of Bogotá.

Edgar Pieterse

• Director, African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town

Edgar Pieterse is holder of the DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Urban Policy. He directs the African Centre for Cities and is Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, both at the University of Cape Town. He previously served as Special Advisor to the Premier of the Western Cape Provincial Government and directed a number of urban policy think tanks before his stint in government.

His most recent book is City Futures: Confronting the Crisis of Urban Development (Zed Books, 2008). He has also edited or co-edited the following recent works: Counter-Currents: Experiments in Sustainability in the Cape Town region (Jacana, 2010); The African Cities Reader: Pan-Africanism as a Practice (Chimurenga, 2010); Consolidating Developmental Local Government (UCT Press, 2008) and a notable earlier book: Voices of the Transition: The Politics, Poetics and Practices of Development in South Africa (Heinemann Publishers, 2004). The next African Cities Reader: Mobility&Fixity, is due for publication by mid-2011. Edgar’s research stems from the borderzone between geography, planning and cultural studies with a strong orientation towards political philosophy. As a result his research is wide-ranging covering themes such as African urbanism, cultural planning, regional development, governance, infrastructure transitions, and macro development issues.

Edgar holds a PhD from London School of Economics, an MA in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies (The Hague, The Netherlands) and BA-Honours from the University of the Western Cape. More info is available at: www.africancentreforcities.net.

Richard Rogers

• Founder, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Richard Rogers is the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, the recipient of the RIBA Gold Medal in 1985 and winner of the 1999 Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Medal. He received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (La Biennale di Venezia) in 2006. He was awarded the Légion d’Honneur in 1986, knighted in 1991 and made a life peer in 1996. In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.

In 1995, he was the first architect to give the BBC Reith Lectures – a series entitled ‘Cities for a Small Planet’ – and in 1998 was appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister to chair the UK Government’s Urban Task Force on the state of our cities. He was Chief Advisor on Architecture and Urbanism to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone and has played an advisory role on design to the current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. He has also been an Advisor to the Mayor of Barcelona’s Urban Strategies Council.

Richard Rogers has served as Chairman of the Tate Gallery and Deputy Chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain. He is currently an Honorary Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Trustee of Médicins du Monde and President of The National Communities Resource Centre.

Richard Rogers’ practice – Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) – was founded in 1977 as Richard Rogers Partnership. The practice is best known for such pioneering buildings as the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the headquarters for Lloyd’s of London and Terminal 4, Barajas Airport Madrid.

Saskia Sassen

• Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University

Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and Co-Chair of The Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University (www.saskiasassen.com). Her recent books are Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages ( Princeton University Press 2008) and A Sociology of Globalization (W.W.Norton 2007). She is currently working on When Territory Exits Existing Frameworks (under contract with Harvard University Press). Forthcoming is the 4th fully updated edition of Cities in a World Economy (Sage 2011).

Recent edited books are Deciphering the Global: Its Spaces, Scales and Subjects (Routledge 2007), and Digital Formations: New Architectures for Global Order (Princeton University Press 2005). The Global City came out in a new fully updated edition in 2001. For UNESCO she organized a five-year project on sustainable human settlement with a network of researchers and activists in over 30 countries; it is published as one of the volumes of the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (Oxford, UK: EOLSS Publishers, www.eolss.net ]. Her books are translated into twenty-one languages.

She has received several honours and awards, most recently a doctor honoris causa from each Delft University (Netherlands), DePaul University (USA), and Universite de Poitiers (France). She serves on several editorial boards and is an advisor to several international bodies. She is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Cities, and chaired the Information Technology and International Cooperation Committee of the Social Science Research Council (USA). She has written for The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Newsweek International, among others, and contributes regularly to OpenDemocracy and The Huffington Post.

 

David Satterthwaite

• Senior Fellow, Human Settlements Group
• Editor, Environment and Urbanization, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

David Satterthwaite is a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Editor of the international journal Environment and Urbanization. A development planner by training with a Doctorate in social policy, he has long had an interest in the power of grassroots organizations formed by residents of informal settlements; this was the focus of a book written with Jorge Hardoy in 1989 entitled Squatter Citizen. More recent books published by Earthscan include: The Earthscan Reader on Sustainable Cities (editor), 1999; Environmental Problems in an Urbanizing World (with Jorge Hardoy and Diana Mitlin), 2001; Empowering Squatter Citizen (co-editor with Diana Mitlin), 2004 and Adapting Cities to Climate Change (co-editor with Jane Bicknell and David Dodman), 2009. He was also editor and main author of An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements prepared for the United Nations and published by Oxford University Press, 1996. He contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the Third and Fourth Assessments (1998 to 2007) on urban adaptation and is contributing to the Fifth Assessment that is currently underway. In 2004, he was awarded the Volvo Environment Prize and made an Honorary Professor at the University of Hull.

Deyan Sudjic

• Director, Design Museum, London

Deyan Sudjic is Director of the Design Museum in London. Founded in 1989, the Design Museum is the UK’s cultural champion of design and has won international acclaim for exhibitions of modern design history and contemporary design. Before joining the Design Museum in August 2006, he was Dean of the Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design at Kingston University, Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art, and the Observer design and architecture writer. He was Director of Glasgow 1999, UK City of Architecture and in 2002 he was Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale, which attracted more than 100,000 paying visitors for the first time in its history.

He was for several years Visiting Professor at the Academy of Applied Art in Vienna, running a course in Design History and Theory. From 2000 to 2004 he was Editor of Domus, the international magazine of art, architecture and design, and he was Founding Editor of Blueprint magazine from 1983 to 1996. Deyan has published many books on design and architecture, including monographs on the work of the Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo and the British-based designer Ron Arad. His most recent books are The Edifice Complex (London 2005) and Future Systems (London, 2006). He was appointed as a CABE commissioner in March 2006. In 2004 he was awarded the Bicentenary Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for the promotion of design, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was made an OBE in 2000.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo

• Dean, School of Architecture, Princeton University
• Director, Alejandro Zaera Polo Architects

Alejandro Zaera Polo studied at the E.T.S. of Architecture in Madrid and received a masters (MARCHII) degree from Harvard Graduate school of Design in 1991. In 2011, he founded Alejandro Zaera Polo Architects, building on his work as Co-director of the highly successful Foreign Office Architects that opened in 1992. AZPA is an international practice of architecture and urban design, dedicated to the exploration of contemporary urban conditions, lifestyles and construction technologies. Projects realized include the Yokohama International Port Terminal in Japan and the Barcelona Forum Park in Spain. Besides his architectural work Alejandro is currently the Dean of the Berlage Institute and lectures at several architectural schools around the world. His critical and theoretical work has been published in international magazines and a recent monograph on the work of the practice has appeared as part of the 2G series, a major publication on the Yokohama Terminal has been published by Actar.