Maja Simoneti, PhD, landscape architect, project manager at IPoP - Institute for Spatial Policies, Ljubljana, Slovenia Maja is licensed landscape architect and spatial planner, interested in public policies and knowledge transfer. She has 30 years of experience in planning and design, she participated in several interdisciplinary projects on national, local and EU level, among others in preparation of National spatial strategy and Master plan for the capital city of Ljubljana. She is skilled in collaboration and  communication and active in advocacy for public participation in planning and management. She is interested in applicative research of urban policies, green space planning and management, playgrounds, gardening, participation, and spatial literacy. In her doctoral, thesis she had linked practice and theory and studied how comprehensive and inclusive the system of spatial planning and management of public green space in Slovenia is. Currently she is involved with sustainable urban development and management, promotion of walking, universal design, relations between public health and urban development. Maja is an active member of Association of Landscape Architects of Slovenia and of Chamber for Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia.

Mark Boyle is a Scottish trained human geographer (BSc Geography University of Glasgow in 1988 and PhD in Geography University of Edinburgh 1992) who worked from 2003 to 2007 at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Geography and from 2007 as Professor/Chair of Geography at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. From Aug 2007 to Aug 2012 he served as Head of the large and lively Department of Geography at Maynooth and from 2013 to 2016 as Director of the interdisciplinary National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analyses (NIRSA) at Maynooth. With Caroline Creamer he serves as NUP for Ireland. From January 1st 2018 he will be Director of the Heseltine Institute for public Policy, Place and Practice at the University of Liverpool and Chair in Urban Studies.

Gabriela is a coordinator of the URBACT National Dissemination Point in Lithuania. Since 2011 she has been working as a consultant on environment and energy issues in Association of Local Authorities in Lithuania which also plays a role of URBACT NDP. Within her position her main responsibilities include representation of general interests of municipalities in the fields of urban development, energy efficient refurbishment of buildings and landscape protection at local (Ministries, Parliament, Government) as well as international level. She is also one of the delegates contributing to a national block renovation project called “Energy efficient renewal of urban areas in Lithuania” being implemented in co-operation with Germany. Gabriela has a one-year experience in working on a voluntary basis for a Local Democracy Agency in Serbia on various democracy, regional cooperation and local community related issues. She holds two Bachelor’s degrees in Business studies and administration from Athlone Institute of Technology (Ireland) and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Lithuania) and MBA in Real Estate Management from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.

Mauricio leads Cities of Service’s support to its network of cities, including strategy and design, training, and technical assistance. Cities of Service is a partner of URBACT City Festival. It is a US-based non-profit helping cities use volunteers and citizen engagement to regenerate neighbourhoods.  

Ilinca-Adela Margineanu contributes to the URBACT blog from Bucarest for the URBACT National Dissemination Point in Romania.