Matthew Carmona is Professor of Planning and Urban Design at The Bartlett, University College London. He is an architect, planner, and researcher, lecturing at the University of Nottingham and internationally. He is Chair of the Place Alliance, a cross-sector collaborative alliance for place quality, and recently Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Built Environment.  Recipient of Academic Award for Research Excellence and Sir Peter Hall Award for Wider Engagement, in 2018 he won the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Prize Best Published Paper Award. His research focuses on processes of design governance, on the design and management of public space and on the value of design.  In 2018 he launched (www.place-value-wiki.net), a new online resource that brings together international evidence on how place quality impacts on our health, social, economic, and environmental well-being; currently serving as the European Associate Editor for the ‘Journal of Urban Design’. 

Nathan Ogle is the founder of 12CHC|Design Management, an Architectural, Real Estate, Contracts, Entitlements, and Design Consulting business geographically centered in the San Francisco Bay Area with award-winning design projects locally and beyond. His career spans practice, academia, business, construction and he writes extensively on sustainability, culture, thought and design trends. He currently serves on the AIA California Board of Directors, AIACA Urban Design Committee and Board of Governors for a San Francisco Non-Profit Agency, while educating students around the world as an online foundation instructor in Architecture at the Academy of Art University. His passions are family, small stream fishing, tennis, high adventure camping, league basketball, mountain biking, kayaking and collecting mid-century modern furniture. He received his Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in the City of New York and a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech, College of Architecture and Urban Studies in Blacksburg, Virginia.

She is a notable female, African American architect, licensed in New York State and certified as a Minority Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) on the state and city level. She delivers architecture that is modern, expressive, and uniquely reflective of each client’s character and values. Her core ethics and strengths are reflected in the superior work she produces for her clients, educating and engaging their spirits, within the designs, creating adaptable and sustainable spaces.

Michelle is a strong advocate for her clients and the environment, aiming to create and design spaces that she calls ‘socially responsive.’ That is where her mantra comes in: “Essence, Space, Design.” Intrinsic to her superior architectural work and expertise, she does her part through education and helping clients understand what products are good for their project, the environment, as well as health and wellness.

With over 24 years of professional experience in the architecture field. Her work within her firm, and work she has been a participating architect in, have spanned across New York State, various parts of the United States, as well as internationally in the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Prior to starting her own firm in 2008, she has worked with notable firms including Perkins Eastman Architects PC, and Gruzen Sampson.

As for projects within her own firm, of M. Todd Architect she has worked with New York City agencies such as the Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn, NY; Commercial Bakery Renovation in Astoria, Queens, NY; Residential Brownstone Renovations in Brooklyn and Harlem.

Michelle holds a B.A and B.S. of Architecture from City College of the City University of New York; and a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation in which her group won the Master of Science Architecture & Urban Design Program, GSAPP Prize for Excellence in Urban Design (1995). She attended the École des Beaux-Arts de Fontainebleau, France.

Rogier van den Berg is Acting Global Director for WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities focusing on more accessible, equitable, healthy, and resilient cities. And leads global programming on strategic urban planning, land use, urban resilience, equitable development, housing, data, and finance as a core member of the Executive Team, guiding the overall strategy of the Cities program. Rogier is an urban planning and urban development specialist, architect, former entrepreneur and academic; recently expanding the UN-Habitat’s Urban Lab scope to become a multidisciplinary urban project and integrated planning facility working in 80 cities globally, launched in 2014, to address urban planning demand in cities. He has established and implemented development projects and programs together with cities and partners in Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia leading teams working at the intersection of infrastructure, urban planning, urban resilience, climate change adaptation, technology, recovery and reconstruction, and public space. He lives in Rotterdam with his wife, two sons and daughter.