Timothy Beatley is the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, in the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, where he has taught for more than thirty years. Beatley is the author or co-author of more than twenty books, including Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities, Native to Nowhere: Sustaining Home and Community in a Global Age, and Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature Into Urban Design and Planning.  His latest book is The Bird-Friendly City: Creating Safe Urban Environments (Island Press, 2020).  Beatley directs the Biophilic Cities Project at UVA (http://biophiliccities.org/) and co-founded UVA’s Center for Design and Health, within the School of Architecture.

As Partner with WHLC Architecture, Rex oversees a broad range of urban planning and architectural design projects throughout the Southeast for university, municipal, institutional and developer clients. His career spans over 40 years of professional practice across the U.S. and England. This experience in a variety of urban centers formed his interest in vibrant civic environments with a human scale. Rex serves on multiple arts, business, civic, municipal, philanthropic and professional boards and committees; each with a deep commitment to enhancing regional and urban conditions.

Adam Greenspan, a design partner at PWP, has been the lead designer on a wide range of projects including public parks, campuses, mixed use developments, competitions, and estates. Adam’s background in art and sociology, combined with years of horticultural practice supports an integrated approach to design and allows him to develop projects from many angles. Adam has collaborated extensively with architects, artists, community groups and public and private owner groups, as well as sub-consultant experts, in the process of realizing exceptional built work. Adam’s recent projects include: the Newport Beach Civic Center Park in Newport Beach California, Constitution Gardens on the National Mall in Washington DC, The Transbay Transit Center Park, San Francisco, Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Singapore, and Glenstone in Potomac, MD. Adam has served on public art selection panels for the City of San Jose and the City of Santa Monica and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Landscape Architecture Foundation. Adam received a Bachelor of Arts, with honors in Studio Art and Sociology from Wesleyan University and a Master in Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Cierra is a native of Kansas City, MO, and recently graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with her dual Masters in Architecture and Masters in Urban Design. Shortly after graduation, she was awarded the E. Todd Wheeler Health Fellowship with Perkins and Will, and is now based in their Seattle office. With this fellowship, she is afforded the opportunity to further explore her research in public health as it pertains to mental health and overall wellness within marginalized communities. During her final year at Washington University in St. Louis, she studied how communities stricken with blight, poverty, crime, and lack of resources can affect the mental fortitude and wellness of its residents, particularly as it pertains to anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Moving forward, she is currently seeking to correlate that research within this global pandemic, and to better understand how many marginalized communities are especially vulnerable to its physical, economical, and environmental effects.

Matthias Olt works as a design leader and architect. Notable examples of his work include Lotte Center Hanoi, Vietnam, and Huarun Tower, MixC Chengdu, China.   Matthias, originally from Frankfurt, Germany, has worked in the industry for 30 years. It’s in sustainability where Matthias truly shines, and his recent TEDx talk is a testament to his command of biophilic design. In 2022, Matthias received a Fast Company Innovation by Design Award for his design of the unTower, aka Use-Neutral Tower. In 2017, Matthias received an AIA Seattle Honors Award for his innovative design of a 39-story Conceptual Mass Timber Tower in Seattle. Matthias is a registered architect and received the German architecture diploma from the University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt, Germany, and he also holds an undergraduate degree in chemical science. He is a Principal in Architecture, Mixed-Use Highrise, at Arcadis.

“My vision is to create spaces of sculptural lightness that inspire ideas, promote joy and elevate sustainable systems.”

Dr. Nikos A. Salingaros is Professor of Mathematics and Architecture at the University of Texas at San Antonio. An internationally recognized Architectural Theorist and Urbanist, he was visiting professor of Architecture at Delft University of Technology, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Querétaro, Mexico, and Università di Roma III. He has directed and advised twenty Masters and PhD theses in architecture and urbanism. Salingaros began as a painter working in the fine Arts, later becoming a scientist and polymath contributing to architectural theory, complexity theory, design philosophy, and urban theory. He holds a doctorate in Mathematical Physics from Stony Brook University, New York. Salingaros published research on Algebras, Electromagnetic Fields, and Thermonuclear Fusion before turning to Architecture and Urbanism. His publications include the books Algorithmic Sustainable Design, Anti-Architecture and Deconstruction, A Theory of Architecture, Principles of Urban Structure, and Unified Architectural Theory, plus numerous scientific articles. He co-authored with Michael Mehaffy the books Design for a Living Planet, and A New Pattern Language for Growing Regions. He collaborated with the visionary architect Christopher Alexander in editing the four-volume The Nature of Order. Salingaros won the 2019 Stockholm Cultural Award for Architecture and shared the 2018 Clem Labine Traditional Building Award with Michael Mehaffy.