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Speaker Biographies 

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Pablo Francisco Miguel Aguilar González, has 31 years of experience in Urban Legislation. He was Director of Urban Development in Mexico and specialized in Urban Planning Law municipal official. Specializing in defense urban planning and constitutional litigator in Latin America.

Consultant governments and municipalities in Latin America. Consultant and trainer in urban legislation for Professional Associations, Governments, Experts Building and Urban Development, Universities in Mexico and Latin America. Advisor consultant development companies and investors for urban development projects in Latin America. Head of the law firm “Urban Lawyers” with Latin American scope in Urban Law. Lecturer in Europe, Asia, Africa and America in the field of urban law and human settlements legislation. Founding President of the National Legal Center for Urban Studies AC. President of the Association of Urbanistic Jurisprudence, CJUR International, Lead Partner of UN Habitat World Urban Campaign. Member of the International Academic Association on Planning Law, and Property Rights. Member of the International Research Group on Law and Urban Space. Member of the group of legal experts for the implementation of the New Agenda and UN Habitat & ECLAC Regional Action Plan for Latin America. Speaker and active participant about urban matters during the Habitat III Conference, and the UN Habitat  World Urban Forums. Author of books and publications of Urban Planning Law in Mexico.

Rachelle Alterman Rachelle Alterman (Prof. emerita at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology - and Senior Researcher at the Neaman Institute for National Policy Researchis an elected Member of the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities. She is an urban planner and lawyer, holding degrees from the University of Manitoba in Canada (BA Hon. and MCP), a PhD from the Technion, and LLB from Tel Aviv University (in this order). She specializes in comparative planning law, land policy and housing rights, and heads the Faculty Laboratory on these topics. She is the Founding President of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law and Property Rights and an Honorary Fellow of the Association of European Schools of Planning. See her publications on ResearchGate.

Toki Ashraf serves as a lecturer of Law at the State University of Bangladesh. He holds both a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law from the University of Dhaka. During his academic journey, Toki was actively engaged in moot court competitions and dedicated voluntary work, focusing on the human rights of minority groups in Bangladesh. His research interests lie in comparative constitutional studies, public international law, sustainable development, and environmental law. Alongside his teaching, he is working as a research assistant in Strategic Environmental Development (SED). He is an enrolled advocate of the District and Sessions Judge Court Dhaka Bangladesh. As an enrolled advocate, Toki brings practical legal expertise to his academic role. At the State University of Bangladesh, he is instrumental in mentoring and training students, guiding them to success in international moot court competitions. Toki delivers lectures on a range of subjects, including public international law, international environmental law, contract law, and criminal law.

Felemont Banda is a lecturer in urban law at the School of Built Environment, Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS). He is an advocate admitted to practice law in the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal and High Court. His areas of research interest include the interface between urban law, urban governance, socioeconomic rights and urban planning. He holds a Master of Laws (By Research) from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; MSc in Urban Planning and Management from the University of Twente, The Netherlands; Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Laws (LLB-Honours) from the University of Malawi. He is currently a Canon Collins PhD (Law) scholar with the University of Witwatersrand researching on Urban Law focusing on urban governance.

Yishai Blank is the Dean and Professor of Law of Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Law. His teaching and research focus on local government law, urban legal theory, administrative law, global cities, sexuality, and legal theory. Professor Blank is a graduate of Tel Aviv University (LL.B. and B.A. in philosophy) and of Harvard Law School (S.J.D.). He served as law clerk of Justice Aharon Barak, former President of the Israeli Supreme Court. A three times recipient of Israel Science Foundation grants, he was a visiting professor at numerous elite law schools including Harvard, Cornell, Toronto, Queens, Sciences Po (Paris), and Hamburg University. His articles have been published in top law reviews, including Stanford Law Review, Cornell Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Harvard Journal of International Law, Fordham Urban Law Journal, Harvard Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review, and more.

Susan Bright is a Professor of Land Law at New College, University of Oxford. Her research is primarily focused on property law and much of her recent and ongoing work is concerned with complexities stemming from multi-owned property. This includes exploring the challenges of net zero, building safety problems, the running of modern privately managed housing estates, and particular issues around high-rise towers. She has set up the Housing after Grenfell blog for discussion of these issues, as well as for conversations around housing and law more generally.

Nestor Davidson joined Fordham Law School in 2011 and was named the Albert A. Walsh Professor of Real Estate, Land Use and Property Law in 2017. Professor Davidson is an expert in property, urban law, and affordable housing law and policy, and is the co-author of the casebook Property Law:  Rules, Policies and Practices (7th ed. 2017).  Professor Davidson founded and serves as the faculty director of the law school’s Urban Law Center and previously served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Professor Davidson practiced with the firm of Latham and Watkins, focusing on commercial real estate and affordable housing, and served as Special Counsel and Principal Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Professor Davidson earned his AB from Harvard College and his JD from Columbia Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge David S. Tatel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Justice David H. Souter of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Papon Dev boasts over 15 years of diverse professional experience across renowned universities and research institutions such as Technical University Berlin, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) Berlin, and Khulna University, Bangladesh. His expertise also extends to collaborations with national and international NGOs, banks, consulting firms, and public institutes, including Bernard Van Leer Foundation, Save the Children, World Bank Group, Global2015 e.V., Shushilan, Economic Research Group, and the Berlin Senate Department for Housing and Urban Development, among others. His work predominantly focuses on urban development, climate resilience, poverty reduction, and community development issues across Asia, Europe, and Africa. Papon holds an M.Sc. in 'Urban Development' from TU Berlin and a B.Sc. in 'Urban & Rural Planning' from Khulna University, Bangladesh. Recently, he successfully completed his doctorate, concentrating on green and carbon-neutral neighborhood strategies with specific emphasis on LEED, BREEAM, GPRS, and DGNB certifications. Currently, Papon serves as the "Deputy Director" of the Construction and Real Estate Management program, a collaborative initiative between Metropolia University of Applied Science Helsinki and HTW Berlin.

Yustina Trihoni Nalesti Dewi is currently an associate professor and Head of The Research and Community Service Office of Soegijapranata Catholic University Indonesia. Her background is in international human rights and humanitarian law, and she is dedicated to a multidisciplinary and comprehensive perspective on humanitarian challenges and a desire to produce tangible and workable research outputs. She was invited as a visiting scholar at Flinders Law School, Adelaide, Australia (2010 and 2013) and as a guest researcher at the Norwegian Center for Human Rights, Oslo University, Norway, in 2009. She has researched individual criminal responsibility for war crimes and conflict resolution, mostly in Maluku. She is highly productive in terms of academic publications and has extensive experience in teaching and dissemination. She is an academic partner of the ICRC and has been involved in numerous discussions and academic events as an invited speaker. She contributed to several public policy drafting and legislative regulations, such as integrating war crimes into civilian and military criminal law and strengthening customary institutions in the context of post-conflict reconciliation. She has worked in several multidisciplinary teams in the past.

Hassan Elmouelhi is an architect and urban planner by training and works after getting his PhD (Berlin Technical University) since 2014 as a senior researcher, post-doc and project leader at the department of Urban Development, Campus El Gouna, and the department of International Urbanism and Design-Habitat unit at the Berlin Technical University (TU Berlin), Germany. His academic interests within the field of international urbanism include: culture and urban informality in relation to aspects of urban development and governance in the global South. In partnership with several academic institutions, and international cooperation organizations (e.g., UN Habitat and GIZ), he is involved in projects that cover interdisciplinary topics, mainly urban management, climate change adaptation, disaster risk management, public space, refugees and migration, urban mobility, urban law, new settlements, land management, in addition to the localizing global agendas. He participated as a consultant and expert for international cooperation organizations in projects in Egypt, Germany, Tunisia, Tanzania, South Africa, Malaysia, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and India. His latest contribution as a consultant was as the main author for the “State of Arab Cities Report-2022” for the UN Habitat-Regional office for Arab states, published in February 2022.

Dr. Arig Eweida has pursued a career in academia since 2007 and works now as an Assistant Professor of Public Law at the Faculty of Law, Alexandria University, where she teaches Constitutional and Administrative Law for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at several private universities in Egypt, such as the German University in Cairo and the Arab Academy for Science and Technology. In addition to her research in administrative and constitutional law, she has a growing interest in development and urban studies. Therefore, she has received a master’s degree in public policy from the American University in Cairo (2023), in which she worked on numerous development and urban issues.

Rongedzayi Fambasayi a passionate champion of children, play and inclusive cities. He is an international children’s rights lawyer with over a decade of progressive experience leading multi-country and multi-donor projects; a holder of a PhD in Law and Development focusing on children’s rights (North-West University, South Africa). He has a global outlook having previously worked with leading international and pan-African child rights organisations driving law and policy reform, campaigns, and advocacy across Africa. Recently, Rongedzayi served as the Managing Director of Play Africa – a pioneering children's museum in southern Africa based in Johannesburg, South Africa and also as an independent External Expert in the Working Group on Children's Rights and Climate Change of the African Union's Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (2022-2023) advocating for the mainstreaming of a child-rights-based approach to climate action and access to climate-justice for children. He currently serve as a Board Member for the Association of Children’s Museums.

Dan Farbman joined Boston College Law School in 2017. He teaches classes on constitutional law, local government law, movement lawyering, inequality, and legal realism. His research focuses on the legal history of radical reform movements in public law from both an institutional perspective and the perspective of the practice of cause lawyering. For three years prior to joining BC Law, he was a Climenko Fellow and lecturer at Harvard Law School. Farbman’s work has been published in the California Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, Fordham Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, and Yale Journal of Law and Humanities. He is currently working on a collective history of abolitionist lawyers and lawyering in the United States between 1820-1865. After graduating from Amherst College in 2001, Farbman spent a few years in New York City trying (and failing) to make it as a professional actor before he enrolled at Harvard Law School. After graduating law school in 2007, he was a clerk for Judge Margaret Morrow on the Central District of California in Los Angeles before beginning a Skadden Fellowship at Advancement Project in Washington, D.C. In this role, he worked with community organizers around the country on grassroots efforts to fight racial injustice in public education, with a particular focus on the school to prison pipeline. After leaving practice, Farbman pursued a Ph.D. in American studies at Harvard University. 

Diego Gil is an Assistant Professor of Law and Society at the School of Government, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He holds and LL.B. from the University of Chile and a masters (J.S.M.) and doctorate (J.S.D.) at Stanford Law School. His research primarily focuses on housing and land use law, property rights, socio-legal studies, and law and development, focusing on the sociolegal aspects of urban development and housing policies. His scholarly contributions have been published in high-impact journals such as Law & Social Inquiry, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, American Journal of Comparative Law, Cities, and Journal of Urban Health. Before arriving to Pontificia Universidad Católica, he was the Teaching Fellow in the Stanford Program of International Legal Studies and a Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School.

Indrė Jonaitytė-Gricė has extensive knowledge and experience in preparing and executing complex international and domestic real estate acquisition and mergers. According to clients, Indre takes their need into account perfectly and is 100% available. Focused on the result and the client himself. She perfectly understands the nature of the client’s activities, how their business works and what result the client is seeking.

Caroline Hunter is a Professor at York Law School, University of York, UK. Her research is focused on housing law and policy. She is currently a co-investigator in an ESRC funded project “Understanding criminality in the private rented sector and co-producing solutions”.

John Infranca is a Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School and served as Florence Rogatz Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School in Spring 2024.  Professor Infranca's scholarship focuses on land use regulation, affordable housing policy, property theory, and law and religion. His scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including the Georgetown Law Journal, Iowa Law Review, Boston College Law Review, Florida Law Review, Richmond Law Review, Pepperdine Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, Yale Law & Policy Review, and Stanford Law & Policy Review. His article Differentiating Exclusionary Tendencies was selected for presentation at the 2020 Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum. The New State Zoning: Land Use Preemption amid a Housing Crisis was selected by the Land Use & Environmental Law Review as one of the three best land use articles of the year. Professor Infranca is also co-editor of the Elgar Research Agenda for Land Use and Planning Law and the Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy.  He is the lead researcher for the Massachusetts Zoning Atlas. His current research projects examine the legal and intellectual history of single-family zoning districts, land use and other regulatory barriers to the development of new forms of housing, the relationship between land use processes and the rule of law, Catholic Social Teaching and various urban law and policy issues, and topics at the intersection of religious liberty and property.

Julius Kavuma Kabenge an advocate, has been a law don at Makerere University in Kampala for the last 26 years. He is also widely known in the world of Ugandan sports; especially football and kickboxing, not as a player but a financier.  

Emmanuel B Kasimbazi is a Professor of Law at the School of Law, Makerere University. He has a PhD in Law from the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, a Master of Laws from the University of Calgary, Canada, a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) from the University of Dar es salaam and a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre, Kampala. He is a policy, legal and institutional expert in Environmental and Urban Planning Law. He has worked as a consultant on development projects that are related to urban development and management. These include: Development Urban Development Law in Uganda, reorganization of Water Supply and Sewerage Service Areas in the Urban Water and Sanitation Subsector in Uganda and development of the National Urban Solid Waste Management Policy for Uganda. He has published papers on urban development that include “Promoting Sustainable Development of Cities Using Urban Legislation in Sub-Saharan Africa” and “Environmental Review of Urban expansion the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA)”. He has presented papers in international conferences these are: “Urban Transformations towards Sustainability in Africa: Challenges and Prospects of Urban Planning of Kampala City, Uganda” and “Enhancing Innovative Environmental Sustainability in cities in Africa”.

Noah Kazis is an assistant professor of law at Michigan Law. His research focuses on land use, housing, and local government law. He studies legal and policy mechanisms to make cities and suburbs more affordable, equitable, and integrated, as well as the internal institutional structures of local governments. Kazis’s work has been published in journals including the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, and Michigan Law Review. Before joining the Michigan Law faculty, he was a legal fellow at New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. He also was an attorney for the City of New York, where he represented the city in matters including the development of legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, the defense and implementation of the sanctuary city policies, and two rounds of charter revision.

Jim Kelly is Clinical Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, where he teaches Real Estate Transactions and the Community Development Clinic. He is the author of Drafting Organizational Documents (West 2018) and co-editor of the 6th edition of Real Estate Transactions: Problems, Cases, and Materials (Aspen 2023). Kelly has published several law review articles on community control of land resources through title-clearing litigation and community land trusts. In 2023, he filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court case of Tyler v. Hennepin County.

Shabnam Khan is a distinguished doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, specializing in the critical analysis of statelessness in India under international law. Holding an impressive academic and professional background, she has received numerous accolades, including the Judge Nagendra Singh Memorial Gold Medal and Justice Rajinder Sachar
Memorial Gold Medal for her Post Graduate Diploma in Human Rights, International Humanitarian, and Refugee Laws.
Her professional journey includes valuable internships and roles such as a legal intern at the Delhi High Court and the Legal Unit of the International Committee for the Red Cross. Shabnam has also actively contributed as an evaluator and judge in prestigious moot court competitions, including the International Bar Association-International Criminal Court Moot Court
Competition. Shabnam's scholarly contributions are notable, with presentations at various national and international conferences. She has presented papers on diverse topics, including the Ukraine War's refugee crisis, clinical legal education, and the conflict between land rights and development. Her research has been recognized at significant platforms like the Max Planck Summer Academy for Legal History in Germany. Beyond her academic pursuits, Shabnam is committed to social justice and legal education. She has volunteered with the Delhi State Legal Service Authority and provided pro bono legal services. Her multilingual proficiency in English, Hindi, Urdu, and Arabic reflects her dedication to learning and communication.

Dr. Rajesh Kumar is an Assistant Professor (Visiting) at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, India. He has completed his LL.B., LL.M. and PhD. from the Faculty of law, University of Delhi. He also has M.A. (Masters) in Political Science. His commitment to the research has fetched him scholarships/funding support to participate in the following international programs:(a) Summer Academy in Legal History, organized by Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt, Germany(2018); (b) International workshop on Terrorism and Belligerency, organized by Minerva Centre RLEC, University of Haifa, Israel (2019); (c) 6th Annual International and Comparative Urban Law Conference, jointly organized by the Urban Law Center of Fordham Law School (USA), and UNSW (Australia) at Sydney, Australia (2019); (d) 3rd ,4th, 5th , and 6th Symposium for Alumni and Early Career Researchers (2018. 2019, 2020 (Virtual), 2021 (Virtual), respectively) organized by Max Planck Alumni Association (MPAA), Berlin, Germany. Besides these, considering his credentials he has been given the membership of Max Planck Alumni Association, Berlin, Germany. His research interests are: Comparative Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Urbanization; Federalism and related aspects etc.

Jonathan Kwik is a researcher in international law at the Asser Institute in The Hague attached to the ELSA Lab Defence project. His specialisation is in the laws governing the conduct of hostilities and artificial intelligence (AI). He obtained his doctorate (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam on the lawful use of AI-embedded weapons at the operational level, under Profs. Tom van Engers, Terry Gill and Harmen van der Wilt. He holds a Master of Laws degree (cum laude) from the University of Groningen in international criminal law and criminology, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Groningen in international law. He currently sits as a member of the Board of Experts of the Asia-Pacific Journal of International Humanitarian Law (APJIHL). He is an academic partner of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and has worked together with the ICRC on many occasions in matters of research, policy discussions, and dissemination events. He taught international humanitarian law and public international law at the Soegijapranata Catholic University in Semarang, Indonesia. He has published extensively in the fields of international humanitarian law, targeting law, AI modelling, (international) criminal responsibility and post-conflict reconciliation.

Pamela Lattanzi PhD in agricultural and environmental law, is full professor of agricultural law at the University of Macerata. She is a member of the teaching board of the PhD in Law and Innovation of the University of Macerata and of the governance committee of the  “Departments of Excellence” project - “Innovation and vulnerability: legal problems and protections” of the Department of Law. She is a member of the Control and Management Body of the Marche Agrifood Cluster. Over the last ten years, she has participated in numerous European research projects, holding various qualifications (Deputy coordinator, Principal investigator, Work Package leader and task leader). The research projects were funded by the European Union under the Horizon 2020 program - Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions - Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) and under the FP7-People-Marie Curie-IRSES programme.

Dr. Serena Mariani is an assistant professor in Agricultural Law at the Department of Law of the University of Macerata.

Her current research interests include urban agriculture and urban food systems, that she has been studying within the framework of the Safina-Vitality project, funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU, under the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Melinda Maldonado is an Argentine lawyer (Universidad Católica de Santa Fe, Argentina, 2004) with a degree validated in Colombia (2010). She has a PhD in Urban Studies (National University of General Sarmiento, Argentina, 2021), a specialization degree in Real Estate and Urban Law (National University of Rosario, Argentina, 2010) and studies in Urban Land Policies (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Panamá, 2007). She has extensive experience in the public and private sector in urban and environmental issues. Within this, she has worked for 10 year at Matanza Riachuelo River Basin in Argentina. Furthermore, she has been a faculty member at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy since 2011 and of different postgraduate courses at various universities. Currently, she is working for the UNEP Latin America and the Caribbean Office (LACO Office) on land-value capture to support climate change measures, mainly Nature based Solutions amid Nature4cities program (in 7 countries and 16 cities). Her areas of expertise are: comparative urban law, urban-environmental conflicts and climate change.

Muhammed Martini He is an archaeologist with an MA in Islamic Archaeology from Ain Shams University. He got
another MSC from TU—Berlin in Urban Development and a BA in Archaeology from Damascus University. Martini has diverse research interests in the urban, and archaeological fields such as Heritage Architecture, reused heritage building restoration, and social studies about refugees in Egypt. He has participated in the urban law conference since 2021, which covered different topics about urban laws and heritage, refugees, new urban areas in Egypt, and the reconstruction in Syria. He participated in archaeological excavations in Syria and He worked with TU. Berlin and other
German universities about industrial Heritage building in Egypt 2021. He also received a grant from the DAAD Council to study at TU Berlin University. he joined ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) in 2022 and is a member of the International Society for Islamic Antiquities and Arts in Egypt.

Alessandra Mattoscio is a PhD student in Law and Business at LUISS Guido Carli University, and she is licensed to practice law. Her research area focuses on Administrative Law, and her PhD thesis is on social housing and the model of Community Land Trust.  She graduated with a Law degree from Sapienza University of Rome, and she also graduated from Sapienza School for Advanced Studies

Dr. Jerome Uchenna Orji is an Attorney admitted to the Nigerian Bar. He holds an LL.B (Hons.) degree from the University of Nigeria, and an LL.M from the University of Ibadan, with specialization in cybersecurity and information technology law. He also holds a PhD in Law from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria, with specialization in telecommunications law. He is the author Cybersecurity Law and Regulation (Wolf Legal Publishers: The Netherlands, 2012), International Telecommunications Law and Policy (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: United Kingdom, 2018), and Telecommunications Law and Regulation in Nigeria (Cambridge Scholars Publishing: United Kingdom, 2018), in addition to several peer reviewed papers on cybercrime, cybersecurity, data protection, telecommunications regulation, and other aspects of law. Uchenna is a Fellow of the African Center for Cyber Law and Cybercrime Prevention (ACCP), located within the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime in Kampala, Uganda. Uchenna has also worked as an expert for the Council of Europe, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Dutch Government, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Center of Excellence, Estonia and the Government of Nigeria’s Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Law at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria.

Giacomo Pailli: I graduated cum laude at University of Florence in 2009, with a thesis on European civil procedure law and also hold a LL.M. from NYU accomplished in 2011. In 2013 I defended my Ph.D. in comparative law at the University of Florence, with a dissertation on forum selection agreements in EU, England and USA. I have authored several scientific papers and studies (such as a EU wide study on the service of documents), and have taken part to national and international conferences and seminars. I focus my practice in Commercial and International commercial laws, International private law, International litigation and Italian bankruptcy law. I am also a research fellow at the University of Florence, where I do research and teach in the fields of comparative law, international litigation and civil procedure. I am admitted to the Italian and New York State Bar and am a member of AIJA (Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats), ELI (European Law Institute) and SIRD (Italian society for the research on comparative law).

Valentina Pagnanelli is a lawyer, a Privacy Officer, and Certified Privacy Consultant at TÜV Italia. She provides consulting services to companies and public entities on data governance and personal data protection regulations. She is a member of the Association of Urban Legal Scholars (AULS). Research fellow at the University of Florence, on the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation on local administrations. She published several papers on technological innovation and data governance, focusing on the dynamics of the public sector. She participates as a lecturer in conferences and training events in her areas of expertise.

Marius Pieterse is a professor in the School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he teaches urban and local government law, constitutional law and human rights law. His research focuses on urban governance, local government law and the realisation of socio-economic rights in an urban context. Marius is the author of  "Rights-based Litigation, Urban Governance and Social Justice in South Africa: The right to Joburg" (Routledge, 2017); "Can Rights Cure? The Impact of Human Rights Litigation on South Africa's Health System" (PULP, 2014) as well as a large number of peer reviewed academic journal articles on different aspects of rights-based litigation, socio-economic rights, urban governance, the right to health, the right to equality and the relationship between law and urban space. He is joint global coordinator of the International Research Group of Law and Urban Space (IRGLUS).

Lidia Cano Pecharroman is a PhD Candidate at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning specializing on Environmental Policy Planning for extreme weather events and climate adaptation. As an attorney and policy analyst Cano’s work also encompasses natural resources management, stakeholder engagement, and conflict resolution. Lidia has published work on water security and management policy, DRR and environmental governance and the Rights of Nature amongst others. She is a UN Expert on Harmony with Nature.  Previously Cano was a Legal and Policy Advisor at Climate, Law and Policy, an independent advisory organization that helps design, implement and sustain advances in environmental governance, she was also consultant and researcher providing research and analysis to governments, international organizations and the private sector. Along those lines she collaborated as an attorney and researcher with the UC Berkeley Center for the Law, Energy and Environment, Radon Law Offices, LSE and the Natural Resources and Governance Institute, but her research has also served different UN agencies and governments. Previously she was a Fulbright Scholar, a La Caixa Fellow and a Research Fellow for the Columbia University Women, Peace and Security program. Cano was recently awarded the Martin Family Society Fellowship for Sustainability.  Lidia holds an MIA from Columbia University with a concentration on Energy and Natural Resources Management and a specialization on International Conflict Resolution, and a Masters on International Affairs and African Studies by Universidad Autonoma de Madrid with a visiting fellowship to New York University and a Law Degree by the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, she is a member of the Madrid Bar Association.

Julia Navarro Perioto is a PhD candidate in the Postgraduate Program in Law at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of São Paulo State University, situated at the Franca Campus (PPGD-FCHS-UNESP Franca), holds a Master's degree from the Postgraduate Program in Law at the School of Law of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo (PPGD-FDRP-USP), and a Bachelor of Law from the Faculty of Law of Franca (FDF). Currently contributes to the coordination of the project "Right to the city and political participation in the Master Plans of Franca and São José dos Campos, São Paulo" as a researcher at the"Elza Andrade de Oliveira" Public Policy Studies Center (NEPPs-UNESP). Lawyer and conciliator. The current research focuses on the procedural aspects of lawsuits contesting Popular Participation in Urban Development Master Plans.

Anél du Plessis is Professor of Law and the Chair in Urban Law and Sustainability Governance at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.  She is Co-Rapporteur of the ILA Committee on Urbanisation and International Law and helps steer the Pan-African Chapter of AULS.  Anél’s research and teaching focuses on aspects of urban law intersecting with environmental law, environmental rights, climate change, sustainability and global ecological transformation.

Nikhil Ravindra is a passionate Architect, Urbanist, and Academician. He completed his M. Sc Urban Development in 2019 from TU Berlin, Germany with DAAD (German Federal Government) Scholarships, securing the ‘Urban Development Award’ for a very good Master’s thesis. He has 7+ years’ experience and co-founded two startups: MAQAAD in Cairo (Egypt), and CIANKI in Bengaluru, with a vision to actively contribute to the sustainable growth of people & places. He currently works as an Assistant Professor at Dayananda Sagar College of Architecture. He has participated in internationally funded summer schools/trainings in South Africa, Bosnia–Herzegovina, Hungary, and Romania. Nikhil, mostly through funding, has presented on urban governance, climate action, land management, energy efficiency & digital innovations in international conferences & seminars held in Belgium, India, & Malaysia. He has several research publications to his name & also won awards, for practicing sustainable art, architecture, and urbanism.

Daniel B. Rosenbaum is an assistant professor at Michigan State University College of Law, where he teaches Local Government, Property, and the Local Government Policy Lab. His research explores how local institutions function, evolve, and interact with each other against a backdrop of opaque or inconsistent state oversight. Professor Rosenbaum employs public records requests, interviews, empirical methods, and geospatial tools to understand and distill the operations of under-the-radar local institutions ranging from land banks to airport authorities to parks departments. His scholarship has been published or is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal, Indiana Law Journal, University of Richmond Law Review, Buffalo Law Review, and Marquette Law Review. Prior to joining MSU Law, Professor Rosenbaum spent two years as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where he taught Property, Estates & Trusts, and Local Government and was appointed editor-in-chief of the Michigan Real Property Law Review, a position he still holds. Professor Rosenbaum entered academia after serving as executive director of a public authority that managed distressed property in the Detroit region and advised local municipalities on issues of divestment, land ownership, and development. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Professor Rosenbaum earned a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Curtly Stevens is a doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Dullah Omar Institute under the SARChl in Multilevel Government, Law, and Policy at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He has over five years of research and teaching experience. He holds an LL.B (summa cum laude) and LL.M (cum laude) and is currently pursuing a law doctorate at the University of the Western Cape. His dissertation focuses on local government regulation and monitoring enforced by national and provincial governments, which is said to impede municipal performance in South Africa. This study, which will conclude in 2024, is intended to influence Project 14 of the South African Law Reform Commission, which examines the regulatory burdens placed on South African municipalities. The preliminary research findings of his study were shared with the Commission. Mr Stevens has authored various articles on local government topics relating to South Africa, including the recent Public Procurement Bill and attended several international and national conferences that touched on the topic of regulatory governance.

Laura Vagni is full professor of comparative private law at the University of Macerata, Department of Law, where she teaches Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Private Law and Comparative Law and International Contracts. She is a member of the teaching board of the doctoral course in Law and Innovation.  She is president of the University Scientific Committee and the Rector's delegate for the University library system. Her main scientific interest is in comparative and European private law, with particular attention to the issues of property, trust law, contract law and the protection of trust. She participates in international research groups on the topics of healthy and active ageing, environmental sustainability and the impact of new technologies on law.

Tanya Tiberi

Laura Vagni

Dr. Margarita Vladimirova is a dedicated legal scholar whose academic journey has taken her across continents, enriching the global legal community through various roles and accomplishments. Currently pursuing a PhD in Law at Deakin University in Melbourne, Margarita focuses on the intricate realm of facial recognition technology, a subject of growing importance in today's legal landscape. With a commitment to fostering cross-cultural legal understanding, she served as an associate professor at a prestigious international program at the law school in China (Zhejiang Gongshang University, 2015-2020), where she had the privilege of teaching foreign students. Margarita earned her first PhD from Kazan Federal University (Russia), and a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (CA, USA). In addition to her academic pursuits, Margarita has shared her insights with the wider community through media engagements, including interviews on prominent national radio stations in Australia such as ABC News, Melbourne Radio RRR, Perth Radio and others. She has also contributed articles to reputable platforms like The Conversation, further showcasing her commitment to making legal knowledge accessible to a broader audience.

Johandri Wright was admitted as an attorney of the High Court on 21 October 2022. She completed her Ph.D. in Law and Development at the NRF South African Research Chair: Cities, Law and Environmental Sustainability (CLES) in 2021, where she was also employed as a Ph.D. Researcher. Dr. Wight also holds an LLB Degree (cum laude) and a Professional LLM in Criminal Law and Procedure (cum laude). Her research and resulting publications focus on public governance more broadly. Dr. Wright is passionate about interdisciplinary research and often incorporates fields such as public governance, politics, economics, and other social sciences into her legal research. Her current research topics include issues of public sector corruption, good governance, financial sustainability, and whistleblower protection. Dr. Wright received multiple awards for academic excellence throughout her studies which includes the Best LLB Student for the 2014 and 2015 academic years and the Best LLM student in Criminal Law and Procedure in 2018. Dr. Wright has presented guest lectures on public procurement and municipal budgeting and papers at international and national conferences on corruption and municipal governance issues. Dr. Wright co-published academic articles on municipal financial management and on national and provincial intervention in municipal governance. Recently a manuscript was accepted to be published in a peer review journal on the prevention of corruption in the harvesting of marine resources by African cities. Dr. Wright was also involved in funded research projects. She was also the Editor-in-Chief of the CLES in-house newsletter CLES InPress. Dr. Wright is also a member of the Environmental Law Association, and the Golden Key International Honour Society.

Guanchi Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Law at Vermont Law and Graduate School. His research interest covers law, city, and political economy. His current research projects focus on two primary areas of inquiry. First, what explains the rise and fall of the efforts to rightscale cities in the United States and China? Second, how should housing and zoning law be reformed in the era of geographic disparities? His work has been published or forthcoming in journals including Political Geography, Washington University Global Studies Law Review, Law and Social Sciences, Public Law Study.

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Dr. Evaldas Klimas is associate professor at Mykolas Romeris University. He teaches Real Estate and Construction law. Dr. Klimas graduated from Vilnius University back in 2005 and he was the first to defend his thesis in the area of construction law in Lithuania back in 2011. Since then, he gives lectures to real estate market professionals (developers, architects, urban planners, public officials) related to legal regulations on zoning, planning and construction. He also publishes articles and is author of several books on the field of his expertise.  For example, the Commentary on the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Territorial Planning (2017) is a fundamental work, which was warmly met by other professionals as a piece not analyzing difficult doctrine problems, but also as a tool helping to work for market professionals.

His fields of research and interest are: Territorial Planning Law and Construction Law, Land Law, Environmental Law, Protection of Property Rights, Defence of the Public Interest.

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