Festival Team

Patrick Lydon

Which city do you live in?
Daejeon, Korea and Osaka, Japan

Who are you?
Artist and director of City as Nature, where I enjoy producing ecological films and exhibitions, building urban gardens, and writing The Possible City. Here at The Nature of Cities, I am one of your friendly, radical arts editors.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
The ability to take more long naps in the park (which implies of course, creating the conditions for more equitable greenspace for all species, and a less-hurried lifestyle for humans).

Gitty Korsuize

Which city do you live in?
I live in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands – a wonderful city with ambitions on healthy urban living for everyone.

Who are you?
I am an urban ecologist who connects people to nature, nature to people and people who love urban nature with each other.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I hope to share the inspiration from all over the world to each city. Together we build a green world, step by step.

Jie Cao

Which city do you live in?
Beijing

Who are you?
A PhD student majoring in Urban Ecology, studying in the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I am committed to improving the resilience of cities to extreme events through optimizing green infrastructure.

Gareth Moore-Jones

Which city do you live in?
Ohope Beach, Bay of Plenty, Aotearoa/New Zealand

Who are you?
Community Futures Consultant (and ecstatically happy grand-dad)

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
Helping communities understand the context of ‘what’s possible’.

JD Brown

Which city do you live in?
Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Who are you?
Program Director, Biophilic Cities

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
Exploring the intersection of law and planning to promote abundant and equitable urban nature

Carmen Bouyer

Which city do you live in?
Paris

Who are you?
I am an independent artist and arts editor at The Nature of Cities. Along with many collaborators, I create geographically specific images, objects, spaces and experiences that can softly nourish and revitalize our organic bounds with the local earth.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I hope to participate in an artistic movement that celebrates the thriving of all life forms in both poetical and practical ways.

Maria Aragão

Which city do you live in?
Lisboa, Portugal

Who are you?
Landscape Architect, technical assistant to the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Association of Landscape Architects.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
Fierce fighter for more sustainable cities to ensure a future for my two sons and their children and an advocate for therapeutic gardens and the healing power of nature.

Amanda Vincelli

Which city do you live in?
Tio’tia:ke/Montreal and Tongva/Los Angeles

Who are you?
I am an artist, cultural and community organizer invested in creating liberatory spaces for personal and collective emancipation. I co-founded Navel in Los Angeles and, here in Tio’tia:ke/Montreal, I support the work of the SHIFT Centre for Social Transformation and Brique par brique. I am one of the North American curators for the Nature of Cities Festival.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
My hope is to contribute to the empowerment of people through arts-based approaches so we can together build healthier environments in which we can all thrive and live in harmony with nature.

M’Lisa Colbert

Which city do you live in?
Montréal

Who are you?
I am a social/humanities researcher, creative professional, writer, and community organizer dedicated to exploring and better understanding the complexities of urban life.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I hope to help reconnect the human as a vital part of nature, not something outside, above it, and damaging to it. I hope to inspire and create smaller, more beautiful and better functioning places and spaces for all, in and around cities.

David Maddox

Which city do you live in?
New York

Who are you?
I am part ecologist, part musician/playwright, and all of both.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I hope that we all can be better listeners, and learn to collaborate together.

Becs

Which city do you live in?
I’m proud to be supporting TNOC from my wee beach-side town, Whakatane, in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Who are you?
Mother, wife, teacher, place maker and change agent, I’m happiest in my work when I’m enabling the creation of youth-designed and governed places.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
Through my work, supporting the Youth of Kopeopeo project, I can confirm both our wider community and our planet benefit when we look to young people’s experiences and expertise when it comes urban design.

Cathy Oke

Which city do you live in?
Melbourne, Australia

Who are you?
Dr Cathy Oke, Enterprise Principal Fellow in Informed Cities, & Associate Director (Enterprise & Impact) Melbourne Centre for Cities, University of Melbourne.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I hope to contribute equal parts evidence, inspiration and innovation at the nexus of policy, practice and research to build better cities for people and nature.

Hita Unnikrishnan

Which city do you live in?
Sheffield

Who are you?
Postdoctoral researcher studying nature and cities, water commons, urban social ecological systems, and community energy with a focus on India and East Africa. Also a visiting faculty at Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India. Recipient of a Newton International Fellowship by the British Academy in 2018 and a Prof. Elinor Ostrom International Fellowship on Practice and Policy on the Commons in 2013.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?

Claudia Misteli

Which city do you live in?
I grew up between the Colombian coffee region and the Swiss Alps. Now I am based in Barcelona, where I devote a lot of my energy to a personal cultural project called “Contrallum”.

Who are you?
Volunteer in the Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) in the Communication Node. Curator and social designer for the TNOC Festival.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I am a communicator and social designer, interested in how design, communication, and social innovation can shape and reshape more just, sustainable and participatory futures.

Maria Mejia

Which city do you live in?
Which city do you live in?
Based in Bogota with my heart scattered across Germany, the USA, and  The Philippines. 

Who are you?
I’m a Colombian with lots of questions and pretty hair. I’m currently leading the BiodiverCities by 2030 Initiative at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute of Colombia. Volunteer at Fundación Cerros de Bogotá. Conspirator of Urban Nature: Platform of Experiences (2016). Friend of TNOC since 2013. 

Twitter: @okmejia

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I hope we learn how to combat privilege blindness, I hope we grow empathy and collaboration. I hope we nourish our common sense and brush off fear to experiment and explore.

Kevin Lunzalu

Which city do you live in?
Santa Cruz, California

Who are you?
A young conservation leader and climate activist.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
Enhance youth-led contributions to Kenya’s urban biodiversity through urban ecosystem restoration, policy advocacy, and innovation.

Sonia Ríos

Which city do you live in?
I am pleased to support The Nature Of Cities Festival from the North-West of Spain, Galicia and Asturias, which are beautiful green areas. 

Who are you?
Architect & urban planner focused on green and sustainable design. 

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I enjoy biophilic design, nature based solutions, passive  buildings and sustainable strategies, that contribute to make cities healthier and more livable places to live in, while protect the planet.

Karen Tsugawa

Which city do you live in?
Sacramento, California

Who are you?
Web developer and graphic designer that values community care and all the people and small businesses that keep the world going in trying times.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
Fostering community with every person / group I work with, regardless of place, work or platform.

Shanshan Chen

Which city do you live in?
Berlin, Germany

Who are you?
PH.D candidate, landscape ecology, Humboldt University of Berlin. My research focuses on urban green spaces and ecosystem services with big data and remote sensing.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
To make a potential balance between human demand and natural supply for urban sustainable development and smart green city.

Jean-Marie Cishahayo

Which city do you live in?
I live in the beautiful green city of Ottawa, the capital of Canada.

Who are you?
I am an urban economist with a strong passion in green and smart cities  and advocate for smart actions using natural based solutions in building clean, green, inclusive and resilient communities. Having an opportunity to live in 4 continents in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, I am truly a multicultural person striving for peace and sustainable development.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
In the TNOC team, I am acting as Director for Africa and francophones, working hard with my lovely colleagues to promote the above environmental and nature solutions values and especially to attract more francophones friends.

Devansh Jain

Which city do you live in?
Singapore

Who are you?
I am an urbanist, who is passionate about planning different ecosystems in cities with strong interest in Resilient and Smart Urbanism.

What do you hope to contribute in building cities that are better for nature and all people?
I look forward towards planning comprehensive and sustainable ecosystem in cities with complex-built environments, to synthesize beneficial outcomes for its current and future citizens.

Ana Faggi

¿En qué ciudad vives?
Vivo en la ciudad de Buenos Aires, la llamada Reina del Plata famosa por el tango, en Argentina.

¿Quién eres tú?
Soy una docente e investigadora de los temas de ecologia urbana.

¿Qué esperas aportar para construir ciudades que sean mejores para la naturaleza y para todas las personas?
Espero motivar a muchos  para poder planificar y manejar ciudades que recuperen parte de su naturaleza local.