UL WEEK 2023 / AGAINST ALL ODDS / SPEAKERS

Oleksandra is an architect, urbanist, and the Co-founder and head of the NGO Urban Reform (Ukraine). She is working with Ukraine's recovery projects, creating new visions for cities and centers to support urban life and integrate IDP. Since 2014, she has been engaged in social activities. Together with the team, she has implemented different urban projects and advocacy companies in Ukrainian cities.  She's working on the development of formal and higher architectural and urban education in Ukraine. From 2015 to 2021 she was the team lead for the creation and startup of the Kharkiv School of Architecture (KhSA). She has over 10 years of experience teaching and conducting courses and workshops, including for teenagers.

REFUNC is a Dutch-German architecture collective re-connecting people and material.

By changing people’s perception of functionality we try to find solutions which are within anyone’s reach, we want to change your way of thinking. Functions in architecture and design are temporary and often have a limited lifespan. By shifting functions between objects, components or spaces, we are questioning the standard design approach where form follows function. It is this approach where our method meets the goals of circulair thinking. By shifting functionality of existing objects, components or spaces we try to achieve an endless lifespan. We build pilot projects in architecture, interior design and public spaces.

Sam works as a sustainability consultant for the Built Environment team at Metabolic, developing circular interventions and sustainable building strategies to make our built environment future-proof.

After a BSc in Architecture at TU Delft, he developed an interest in sustainable building practices during his MSc Metropolitan Analysis, Design and Engineering at both TU Delft and Wageningen University. His thesis research was on the reuse of building materials in the construction sector, developing a decision framework for how and when to reuse building products. Having worked in the construction sector, he understands and seeks to address the challenges the sector faces when switching to circular building practices.

In his spare time, Sam likes to brew his own beer, putting circular ideas into practice by baking bread from the beer’s waste streams

Shrishtee Bajpai is a researcher, activist, writer working at the intersections of environmental justice, more-than human governance, indigenous worldviews and systemic alternatives. She is part of environment action group-Kalpavriksh (India), Vikalp Sangam, Global Tapestry of Alternatives and serves on the executive committee of Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.

Taneha is an architect, urban designer, and researcher working at the intersection between urban design, landscape architecture, and environmental sciences. In her projects and teaching, she investigates the nexus between space, ecology, culture, and politics. Her current work focuses on situated forms of urban design related to environmental fragility, increasing extreme weather events, and resource depletion. She is co-leader of the Research Group Delta Urbanism, acting as a core member of ‘Redesigning Deltas’ (RDD) initiative, a flagship program of Convergence Alliance-Resilient Delta, head of Transitional Territories Graduation Studio, and editor of the Journal of Delta Urbanism. Her work has been funded internationally and exhibited at the São Paulo Architecture Biennale 2013 and the Venice Architecture Biennale 2002 and 2018 (Dutch, Brazilian and Venetian Pavilions).

Mrudhula Koshy is an Assistant Professor in the Urban Ecological Planning Group at the Department of Architecture and Planning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. Her research examines the conceptual, methodological, and empirical links between uncertainty, resilience, adaptation, and contingency to bridge planning, decision-making and governance approaches in resource-scarce contexts prone to high-impact, low-probability environmental crises, shocks, and stresses. She has broad experience developing context-based, multi-scalar planning and design strategies for complex spatial research to address structural ambiguities and inequities, in Global North and South contexts.

Roberto is an Associate Professor of Spatial Planning and Strategy. Roberto is trained as an architect & spatial planner with a master’s in planning by the University of São Paulo and a PhD by TU Delft. Roberto focuses on governance of sustainability transitions, as well as issues of governance in regional planning and design. This includes special attention to Spatial Justice as a crucial dimension of sustainability transitions. Roberto has also published extensively about informal urbanisation in the Global South, and he does research on how informal institutions influence and shape planning at the local level. He was a consultant for the Union for the Mediterranean and has recently drafted the UfM Action Plan for Sustainable Urbanisation 2040. https://ufmsecretariat.org/urban-agenda/  He is one of the lead investigators of UP 2030 Urban Planning and design ready for 2030, a Horizon Europe project gathering 42 partners seeking to speed up the sustainability transition in European cities.

Caroline is an urban planner, architect, and political scientist. She addresses the social and political dimensions of design. Caroline's research interests encompass the complexity of architecture and planning in post-colonial contexts, intersectionality in/for design and planning, participatory planning and designerly approaches to knowledge production. Caroline encourages advocacy in planning and spatial practices. Strategic planning, she argues, can be acts of resistance, enabling alternative spatial futures.

Malkit Shoshan is a designer, researcher, educator, writer and the founding director of the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST). FAST utilizes research, advocacy, design, and public art to uncover the intricate connections between architecture, urban planning, and human rights. They advance social and environmental justice through collaborative initiatives and designs. Shoshan is the author of numerous books including Atlas of the Conflict (Israel-Palestine, 2011), Village (2014), BLUE: The Architecture of UN Peacekeeping Missions (2023), Border Ecologies and the Gaza Strip (forthcoming). In 2016, Shoshan curated the Dutch Pavilion at The Venice Architecture Biennale and was awarded The Silver Lion for her collaborative project “Border Ecologies and the Gaza Strip: Watermelon, Sardines, Crabs, Sand, and Sediment” in 2021. Shoshan has been a Design Critic at Harvard University Graduate School of Design since 2016.

Vasiliki is an architect and urban planner with more than 15 years of experience, graduate of the European Masters in Urbanism, and particular focus in migration & urbanization. She has worked on projects in Africa, Asia and Europe, while she has participated in several conferences and taught in workshops. Since 2014, she has been working for the United Nations, both in Operational Support and Humanitarian Response, having supported Peacekeeping Operations (Cote d'Ivoire and Sudan), Humanitarian Responses (with UNHCR in Bangladesh, Geneva and Kenya), and Supply Chain (Italy).

In 2010 Patrick Meijers (NL) founded Orange Architects, together with Jeroen Schipper, as an architectural office for international projects. Orange Architects’ first realized project - the Cube in Beirut – was awarded in 2016 with the CTBUH award for best high rise in the Middle East and Africa region. In 2015 Orange Architects also established itself in the Netherlands and now works on a wide portfolio of awarded and sustainable projects. In 2022 Orange Architects was nominated for best for Architectural Office of the Year and in 2023 the project Jonas in Amsterdam was awarded with BNA Best Building of the Year. Patrick Meijers contributes to the Ukraine Netherlands Urban Network (UnUn) and delivers lectures both domestically and internationally, showcasing his expertise, involvement and passion for the field of architecture and urbanism.