With degrees from Queen’s, Columbia and Osgoode Hall Law School, Julia practiced law with Torys in Toronto and Hong Kong and built QD Legal in Singapore before becoming a non-profit CEO with CivicAction, Futurpreneur Canada and the Canada Children’s Literacy Foundation and director of many non-profit and business organizations. She’s been named one of WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, a YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction and Woman of Influence Canadian Diversity Champion and received the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy Leadership Award and the Goodman School of Business Distinguished Leader Award in 2018. Julia is also on the boards of InvestEco, George Brown College, the Canada Post Community Foundation and jack.org, and on the Sidewalk Toronto and Goodman School of Business Advisory Councils.

Sheran “Sharon” Palacio, Ms P or Shar-P is a Belmopan pioneer having lived there since the age of thirteen in the 70's. Her early introduction in to the political arena is quite colourful and goes back to the 2003 when she first served as a PUP City Councilor in Belmopan. 

After graduating from the Department of English at Ankara Gazi University Institute of Education in 1980, Mehmet Duman completed the English Programme of Gazi University Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Language Education in English in 1989. He successfully completed UNESCO International Institute of Educational Planning and Management (IIEP) in 1992 in Paris, where he went with the scholarship of United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in 1991. Having completed his master's in Politics and Social Sciences at the Department of Public Administration of the Social Sciences Institute of Gazi University in 1999, he is currently at the thesis stage at the Business Administration Doctorate Programme of the Institute of Social Sciences at Istanbul Commerce University. 

He started his professional career in the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, where he held several executive positions. Later, he continued in career in the Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports in positions of Education Specialist, as United Nations and European Community Manager in the Directorate General for Higher and Foreign Education.

After working as the Head of Department of Foreign Relations and Information Technologies of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality between 1994-2002, he served as the Founding Secretary General of Adapazarı Metropolitan Municipality between 2002-2003. Between 2003-2010, Duman worked as Chief Counsel to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey. Duman is currently the Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments Middle East West Asia (UCLG-MEWA), which he was elected in 2010, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Academy for Local Government and Democracy (WALD), which he was elected in 2011. 

Throughout his career of 45 years, Duman has represented his country, ministries and institutions in numerous national and international meetings, seminars, forums, congresses and conferences in Turkey as well as abroad.

A registered Architect and Educator based in London, I am currently interim Head of Department of Architecture and Landscape. 

I have lead year 2 of the BA Architecture programme, 3rd year Design Studio 'Contemporary Rural II, Stories of the Territory', the Making strand & live build agenda at 1st Year, Master's Designate: 'Palimpsest, Narrative Environments'. 

I have taught at various architecture schools at MA and BA levels including KADK Copenhagen and the University of Brighton. I studied at the Dublin School of Architecture and UP6 Paris, La Villette, completing my Part 3 studies at UCD/ RIAI.

My research and practice focus on the generation of sensitive, situated and carefully composed projects, often participatory processes that engage with questions around the democracy of place/ space and value the experience of the user.

Matt Peacock founded Streetwise Opera in 2002, a charity that uses music to help people who have experienced homelessness make positive changes in their lives. 

Matt is a former homeless support worker, opera critic and Clore Leadership Fellow. He is one of 30 social activists profiled in Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s book, Britain’s Everyday Heroes and was one of the Evening Standard’s Most Influential Londoners in 2013. He was awarded an MBE for services to music and homelessness in 2011 and is a Trustee of People United.

Anna Schindler, born in 1968, is director of the Office for Urban Development of the City of Zurich since November 2011. The office is part of the Presidential Department and consists of five agencies: Migration and Integration, City and Neighborhood Development, Economic Development, Foreign  Affairs and Smart City. Anna Schindler studied geography at the University of Bern, where she specialized in urban development issues. She worked as a culture and architecture editor for different German and English publications. In addition, she was a lecturer at the University of Zurich and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), where she taught media science, cultural  communication and management. Anna Schindler lives in Zurich with her family.

Nader Ardalan is President of Ardalan Associates, Architecture & Planning. BArch, Carnegie-Mellon and March, Harvard GSD. Co-author, The Sense of Unity, The Sufi Tradition in Persian Architecture, Chicago University Press; Persian Gulf Sustainable Urbanism, Harvard/Qatar Foundation. Former Harvard Senior Research Associate and Visiting Professor at Harvard, Yale, MIT, Tehran University; Founding Steering Committee of Aga Khan Award for Architecture and currently on the Board of Directors, Forum for Architecture, Culture & Spirituality, Inc.

Heba is an urban planner and researcher at Charter Cities Insitute. Her research interests lie in the intersection of human settlements and urban development. She has a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urban Planning from Alexandria University and a master’s degree in Urban Development from the Technical University of Berlin. She has worked on a variety of urban development and research projects with various organizations in the MENA region, the EU, and the US.

Prof. Dr. Ajith Kaliyath is the Urban Chair Professor at Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Kerala, India. He is an urban and regional planner by training. He holds a PhD from the School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom. 

Dr. Kaliyath is a recipient of the British Chevening Scholarship and Overseas Research Scholarship from the Government of UK. He has 22 years of professional experience which include technical, research and academic positions. In the past, he had served the State and Central Pollution Control Boards, Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change, Government of India, German International Cooperation (GIZ), National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), Government of India, School of Planning and Development, Sushant University and a few private sector organisations. 

Dr. Kaliyath had provided intellectual leaderships in the preparation of a Multi-dimensional Prosperity Index for the first 20 smart cities of India and Draft Social Infrastructure Strategy for Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority. Among his various professional roles, Dr. Kaliyath was also the Principal Investigator (India) UK-India ‘Smart Cities Network for Sustainable Urban Futures’ funded by Research Councils UK, Team Leader for Child Friendly Smart Cities and CapaCITIES Programme funded by Bernard van Leer Foundation and SDC India respectively. He was one of the Co-Investigator (India) of a joint research project with University of Glasgow on “Skills for Smart Cities: Role of Universities in India and Kyrgyzstan” funded by Scottish Funding Council. 

Dr. Kaliyath had formerly served the elected executive boards of the Young Academic of Association of European Schools of Planning and oikos International based in St.Gallen, Switzerland. He is a founder member of the ‘Sustainable Chennai Forum’ established by Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chennai, India. Since 2015, Dr. Kaliyath had been the Regional Studies Association's Ambassadors for India and led the process of launching the RSA India Division. In January 2020, RSA elected him as a ‘Fellow’ of the Society. 

Julio Cesar Perez-Hernandez has been an Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture since 2017. He previously taught in this institution as Visiting Professor during the Fall Semester of 2012. An accomplished leader, visionary, historian, and published author, he is a world-class expert in Cuban architecture and urbanism. He has drafted “A Master Plan for 21st Century Havana”, a comprehensive urban plan registered at the Library of Congress in 2006, among other urban plans.

As an academic, he has lectured and taught in the most prestigious institutions of the United States, Canada, Europe, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Bermuda. He is the founding Principal and Creative Director of Caesar Studio | Architects & Planners, a successful international practice ranging from architecture to urban planning and design with a focus on excellence. In this role, he has designed and built projects in the United States, Cuba, Spain, and Panama, some of them recipients of several awards.

Julio Cesar Perez-Hernandez is also the President of both Cuban Chapters of I.N.T.B.A.U. and C.E.U. He has led and organized International Charrettes on Urban Planning and Urban Design annually since 2007, as well as numerous professional Study Tours in Cuba along the past 20 years.

He is the author of the books Inside Cuba (2004) and Inside Havana (2011), both published by Taschen, and two forthcoming books to be published by Andelani Press (Puerto Rico). He has also penned numerous professional articles that have been published in international journals. His academic and professional work has appeared in several international exhibits and publications.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Perez-Hernandez obtained his Diploma in Architecture at the School of Architecture of the University of Havana, Cuba in 1982. He taught Architecture and Urban Design Studios as well as Lecture Courses at his Alma Mater from 1988 to 2006. In 2001, he became a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. This institution also selected him as the 2012-2013 Wilbur Marvin Visiting Scholar.

Professor Nick Dunn is Chair of Urban Design and Executive Director of ImaginationLancaster, the design and architecture research lab at Lancaster University, UK. He is Senior Fellow of the Institute for Social Futures, examining the insights that the arts and humanities can bring to the ways we think, envision, and analyse the futures of people, places, and planet. His research into urban futures has been funded by numerous research councils and the UK’s Government Office for Science and the Ministry of Defence. Nick has worked with the Alliance for Healthy Cites, European Commission, International Dark-Sky Association, World Health Organization, and sits on various scientific committees and advisory boards. He has curated exhibitions and given talks at public festivals and conferences around the world. His recent publications include Designing Future Cities for Wellbeing (2020), Rethinking Darkness: Cultures, Histories, Practices (2020), and Future Cities (2020).

Adel Gamar is Co-Founder and CEO of GLG where he manages the delivery and implementation of the firm’s leadership development and change management services. He is driven to forge effective collaborations among business, government, and non-profit sectors, while creating lasting and impactful solutions. Over the course of his career, Gamar has advised senior leaders of companies, non-profit organizations and governments throughout the world. He served as Education Specialist at UNESCO, Policy Fellow at Harvard Law School, and has delivered executive programs at Harvard.

Professor Alan Shepard is the 11th President & Vice-Chancellor of Western University. He also served as President of Concordia University in Montrealand Provost and Vice-President (Academic) of Ryerson University in Toronto.

Elected to Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate, he earned a PhD in English from the University of Virginia. He is author or editor of three books and many articles focused on the culture of early modern England, early modern literature and science, modern theatre, the future of innovation and the future of universities. 

He has served as a volunteer Universities Canada and the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. Currently, Alan serves as a Vice-Chair on the Executive Committee of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, and also as a board member for Universities Canada, the London Economic Development Corporation, and the Stratford Festival of Canada.

I am an urban development specialist with a particular interest on the interface of economic globalisation, development of land markets and urban growth and their impact on urban equity, particularly in relation to urban land policy and low income housing delivery in the global South and transition economies. My most recent work focuses on urban social sustainability. I have also worked on other projects on housing delivery in UK and healthy urban mobility. 

After completing my PhD at University College London I worked for a period of time in the Middle East on urban development and planning in a number of cities in Iran before returning to the UK in 1997 to pursue my academic career. I taught at UCL and London South Bank universities before joining Brookes in 2003 to lead research and teach in the then Department of Real Estate and Construction and its successor School of the Built Environment. I also led the Real Estate and Land Policy research group of Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development between 2007-2019.

I am on the steering committee of the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign and the Global Network for Sustainable Housing. I am also the Founding Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development.