Alex Abiko is Professor at the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo/USP; specialist on urban and housing management; and, is head of the Department of Civil Construction of the Escola Politécnica of the USP.
Paulo Coelho Avila obtained his baccalaureate in architecture and urbanism (1991) and his Masters in Urban Planning (2003) at the University of Brasilia. From 1991 to 1994 he was assistant researcher in a project named Morphological Dimensions of the Urbanization Process, which investigated the spatial features of several urban sites in the Federal District (DF), especially Brasilia. Since 1995 he has been a partner of Metroquattro Arquitetura Tecnologia, a private firm, where he has carried out jobs in urban and regional planning. Recently, he has provided consulting services to the Secretary of Urban Development and Housing of the Federal District on the Habitar/Brasil Program, which was sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank - IDB. Since 2002 he has been an adjunct faculty in the Department of Architecture and Urbanism at the Instituto de Ensino Superior Planalto (IESPLAN) in Brasilia. His current research interests are in real estate and urban land economics.
Carlos H. Betancourth has recently been working with FormaCompanies ( Irvine CA) in developing a master plan and strategic framework scheme design for the city of surprise in Phoenix (AZ); as well as in the development of urban strategies for different cities in Southern California. He is also working with the Dynamic City foundation in Amsterdam in an investigation of rapidly changing urban environments that has as its current project the case of urban China. In 2004, he undertook research on the future of European cities in the context of the enlarged European community for ING Real Estate ( Maastricht and The Hague, The Netherlands). He also contributed several publications to Archis ( Amsterdam) on issues relating to the process of urbanization in Europe. In 2003, Betancourth elaborated a design proposal for the rapid mass transit bus system in the city of Cartagena ( Colombia) with the intention of adding a civic quality to these engineering projects (with OPA Int.). He also worked in the elaboration of several master plans for medium size cities in el Valle Del Cauca Colombia (Cela/CVC). In 2002 he undertook a research on Colombia’s Urbanization process and elaborated a proposal for an integrated urban policy (with the DNP and UNDP). In 2001 he was a visiting fellow in the London School of Economics doing research on the impact of globalization and new information technology on large cities. Betancourth is a PhD candidate at Columbia University, and holds a Master’s degree in urban design, development studies and architecture.
John Jairo Betancur is currently Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A native of Medellin, Colombia, Dr. Betancur has done a large amount of research on squatter settlements--from the study of the processes of settlement through the details of how people go about the enterprise of survival to efforts at regularization. Dr. Betancur has been studying the impact of globalization and its associated urban restructuring on cities in the developed and underdeveloped world. As part of this, he has completed research on gentrification in Chicago and is studying neighborhood change in US cities. On a related track, he is studying urban restructuring in Latin America--especially what he calls "the informalization" of the Latin American City. In the past, he worked at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellin, Colombia. He is collaborating with various universities in Colombia around this research and other issues tied to urban restructuring.
Maria Olyntha Borba mestre em economia pela Universidade Católica do Perú, atua, desde 1986 na Companhia de Desenvolvimento Habitacional e Urbano do Estado de São Paulo, desenvolvendo trabalhos relacionados, principalmente, à Política de Financiamento e Subsídios Habitacionais endereçados às famílias de baixa renda além da estruturação de novos modelos de suporte institucional à Política Habitacional do Estado de São Paulo. Participação na missão Cooperação Técnica Brasil-França realizada em Paris –1995-com o objetivo de obter conhecimento crítico sobre o sistema francês de locação social. Participação no curso “Improving Housing Finance Systems in Emerging and Advanced Economies” na Wharton Scholl - , Universidade da Pennsylvania em junho de 2002. Mais recentemente, apresentação do trabalho “Housing Finance Policy For Low-Income Families – The Case of the State of São Paulo/Brazil” em palestra no “Joint Congress: Housing Finance in Emerging Markets- Experience and Challenges” -European Federation of Building e UNHabitat- realizado em Berlim , setembro de 2004.
Robert M. Buckley is Urban Advisor in the Transportation and Urban Development Department of the World Bank. He has worked on numerous urban, housing, and housing finance projects for the World Bank over the past twenty years. He is also the author of a book, Housing Finance in Developing Countries, and numerous articles on Housing Finance, Housing Policy and Housing Subsidies.
David E. Dowall is director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) at the University of California, Berkeley. Dowell is also a professor of city and regional planning and former chair of the University’s Academic Senate. Dowall is a leading expert on urban economics and infrastructure policy. He recently briefed the Caltrans Performance Improvement Initiative for the California Performance Review and the California Performance Review, Infrastructure Team. He frequently consults for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Programme, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has served as a policy advisor to local and central governments and businesses in over 40 countries. He chaired the UC Berkeley Academic Senate from 2001-2002, working on the University’s Strategic Academic Plan. He has also been a visiting fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, where he co-authored (with UC Berkeley graduate student Jan Whittington) a report titled Making Room for the Future: Rebuilding California’s Infrastructure, a study on the demands facing California’s infrastructure during the next two decades. His books include The Suburban Squeeze, The Land Market Assessment, and The Warsaw Economy in Transition. He holds a B.S. in economics from the University of Maryland, as well as an M.A. in regional planning and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado.
Ayman Elhefnawi is an urban development specialist working in the research wing of the ministry of housing, utilities and urban communities. Elhefnawi has a number of published papers on the subject of the symposium and earned his Master’s degree from the DPU, UCL and received his PhD from Cairo University on land management subjects. He has a solid 14 years experience in urban development. He worked in several international projects and with a number of international and national organizations, universities, and research centers. Elhefnawi is a member of the highest national committee for agricultural land management and urban development which is affiliated to the Egyptian National Democratic Party.
Marianne Fay is the lead economist for the Finance, Infrastructure, and Private Sector Development Department of the Latin America and the Caribbean Region at the World Bank. She holds a PhD in economics from Columbia University. Her research has mostly focused on the role of infrastructure and urbanization in development, and more recently on urban poverty issues.
Sarah Feldman Docente e Pesquisadora do Departamento de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos da Universidade de São Paulo,onde coordena o Programa de Pós-Graduação em Arquitetura e Urbanismo. Membro do Coletivo Editorial da Revista "Espaço e Debates. Autora de "Planejamento e Zoneamento. São Paulo, 1947-1972". EDUSP/FAPESP, 2005.
Carolina Moretti Fonseca Bacharel em Administração Pública e em Direito, Mestre em Administração Pública pela Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo da Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Doutoranda em Administração Pública é, desde julho de 2004, Assessora Técnica de Planejamento da CDHU – Companhia de Desenvolvimento Habitacional e Urbano de São Paulo, onde foi Chefe de Gabinete por 4 anos.
Daphne Frank is an urban planner and international adviser. She was born in Ecuador and was a project coordinator for a GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) state modernization and decentralization program in Ecuador until 2002. She currently lectures at the Architecture Department at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. Her current research focus is on governmental housing finance programs. She is the author of several articles and books on informal settlements, participation, housing and urban development issues.
Cynthia Goytia is an Urban Economist and a Local Economic Development Specialist from Argentina. Her professional practice is based on consultancy work on local development issues for municipal and city governments in Latin American countries. She has vast experience in partnership building between the public and the private sectors to work upon local development strategies while influencing changes in local governance processes. She is the Associate Director of the Master’s Program on Urban Economics at the Torcuato Di Tella University in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Daniel Graham is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College. He received his PhD from the London School of Economics, and his work is in the areas of transport economics and urban and regional economics.
Murtaza Haider holds a joint appointment with the School of Urban Planning and the Department of Civil Engineering at McGill University where he teaches transportation, land development, and urban infrastructure investment. Professor Haider's research has focussed on integrated transportation-land use modeling, real estate market dynamics, and equity concerns in mobility. He is a member of the board of directors of Canadian Transport Research Forum and of the Transportation Research Board's Transportation and Land Development committee. A graduate of Engineering University in Peshawar, he later earned a Masters in transportation engineering and planning, and a Ph.D. in urban systems analysis from the University of Toronto. He also
obtained a certificate in magazine journalism from Ryerson University. As a former journalist, he has written extensively on development issues in South Asia.
Ramin Keivani holds a PhD in Planning Studies from the Bartlett School, University College London. He is currently Research Coordinator at the Department of Real Estate and Construction – Oxford Brookes University. Dr Keivani is an urban development specialist with a wide range of interests in comparative urban research particularly housing policy in developing and transition economies. Other areas of his interest include globalisation and contested claims to urban land, urban competitiveness, urban regeneration, international land markets studies . He has managed several research projects including ESRC and RICS funded work and provided consultancy services on these topics covering a number of countries including Iran, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Brazil, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. Dr Keivani is co-author of a book on housing policy in developing countries and has published a number of papers on globalisation, housing, land markets and urban development in leading international journals including Urban Studies, Progress in Planning, Habitat International, Environment and Planning, Journal of Property Research, CITIES, Urban Technology, and others.
Amal S. Kumarage graduated from the University of Moratuwa with a degree in Civil Engineering. He returned to Sri Lanka in 1990 after completing his PhD in Transportation Planning & Engineering in Calgary, Canada. He has pioneered the setting up of the MSc in Transport Planning and MEng in Highway & Traffic Engineering and the MBA program in Infrastructure at the University of Moratuwa, where he is Professor, presently attached to the Division of Transportation Engineering. He has published over 25 research papers both locally and abroad. He has won awards in recognition for his research work that has mainly focused on transport problems in Sri Lanka, including regional development, investment analysis and poverty alleviation. Moreover, he has experience working in over 40 major consultancy assignments over the last 10 years functioning as Team Leader in over half of them. He has also been instrumental in several important policy and strategy studies in recent years. He also has served on several statutory boards and led scores of committees and task forces for state institutions. Presently he functions as the Chairman of the National Transport Commission in Sri Lanka.
Alain Durand-Lasserve is Research Director at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), France. He is currently attached to the SEDET Research Centre, University Denis Diderot, Paris. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Research Network on Human Settlements (HS-Net). During the pas few years he has been involved in a series of research studies and consultancies on urban land tenure policies and the regularization of informal settlements in developing countries, for bilateral and multilateral aid agencies and for the World Bank in sub-Sahara Africa and in Asia. He has published widely on housing and tenure issues for the urban poor. His recent publications include Holding their Ground. Secure Tenure for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries (Earthscan, 2003). He has contributed in various publications: La cuidad Inclusiva, edited by M. Balbo, (CEPAL, Naciones Unidas, 2004), and Urban Futures. Economic development and poverty reduction. edited by Nabeel Hamdi (ITDG 2005). He has been involved in the preparation of the Third and Fourth UN-Habitat Global Report on Human Settlements, Cities in A Globalizing World in 2001 and The Challenge of Slums, in 2003. In 2003-2004, he has contributed to the preparation of the UN Millennium Project report, within the Task Force 8 on “ Improving the lives of Slum Dwellers”.
Edward Leman is an urban planner and President of Chreod Ltd., a development research and consulting firm that he established in 1985. Mr. Leman has managed Chreod’s work in China since 1988 in over 70 cities in 22 provinces, including: preparation studies for World Bank urban investment projects in Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guangxi and the Pearl River Delta; participation in the Bank’s recent sector work on urbanization and towns-based development with the National Development and Reform Commission; and ADB-supported policy advisory assignments on municipal finance and public infrastructure investment policy for the Ministry of Finance. His most recent work has been on preparation of city-region development strategies for five cities under the Cities Alliance’s CDS program, preparation of a provincial development strategy for Hebei Province surrounding Beijing and Tianjin, a study on suburbanization trends in metropolitan Shanghai, research on urban and economic development trends in the Pearl River Delta, and preparation of a specialized debt financing vehicle for investment in environmental infrastructure in suburban districts of Shanghai. He also co-authored two books on municipal governance and finance that were published in 2004 by the China Financial and Economic Publishing House.
Joseli Macedo, an architect and urbanist, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida. She received a Master’s degree in Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati, worked as an architect and urban planner for five years and received her certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners before returning to academia to do her doctoral work. After receiving her Ph.D., she returned to her native Brazil where she taught at two private universities for three years. She is a Research Associate with the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing and she also works as an international development and environmental planning consultant both in Latin America and in the United States.
María Mercedes Maldonado, Abogada y urbanista, Profesora asociada e investigadora del Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios Regionales-CIDER de la Unievrsidad de los Andes y docente del Lincoln Institute of Land Policy y coordinadora del Proyecto Demostrativo Operación Nuevo Usme, apoyado por este Instituto. Su principal tema de investigación es el de Derecho a la ciudad y procesos de producción normativa y en ese marco, el régimen de la propiedad, las transformaciones del derecho estatal y las prácticas jurídicas derivadas del urbanismo y el ambientalismo y la informalidad. Como consultora ha apoyado diversos procesos de ordenamiento territorial y gestión del suelo con énfasis en mecanismos de recuperación para la colectividad de las plusvalías derivadas de los procesos de desarrollo urbano.
Anamaria de Aragão C. Martins received her degree in architecture and urbanism (1995) from the University of Brasilia and her doctoral degree in Urbanism (2004) from the University Polytechnic of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain. Since 1996, she has worked as urban planner and designer for the Government of Distrito Federal, Brazil, having served for the Department of Historical and Artistic Heritage of Brasília (1996-1998) and for the Institute of Urban and Territorial Planning in 1999. In 1997, she became a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites- ICOMOS. From 2001 to 2004, as a team member at Prof. Joan Busquets Studio (Harvard-UPC) in Barcelona, she has participated in urban planning and design for the cities of Delft and Helmond (Netherlands), Grenoble and Rouen (France), Coimbra (Portugal) — most involving redevelopment and rehabilitation projects. At the present, she works at Distrito Federal State Secretariat for Housing and Urban Development, Brazil, in the revision of Distrito Federal Territorial Masterplan .
Luís Fernando Massonetto Advogado, graduado na Universidade de São Paulo, doutorando em Direito Econômico pela Universidade de São Paulo, com tese sobre Orçamento Público e Direito Financeiro. Foi advogado da Liderança do Partido dos Trabalhadores na Câmara Municipal de São Paulo (1999-2000). Foi Chefe da Assessoria de Planejamento da Secretaria de Finanças e Desenvolvimento Econômico do Município de São Paulo (2001-2002) e Chefe de Gabinete da Secretaria de Negócios Jurídicos do Município de São Paulo (2003-2004). Atualmente é advogado em Brasília. Autor de papers acadêmicos sobre Finanças Públicas e Orçamento.
Salvador Pérez Mendoza is an Economist and holds a Ph. D. in Urban Studies from the National Institute of Scientific Investigation and the University of Québec in Montreal ( Canada). He is Professor in the Economics Department of the University Autonomous of Puebla and is a member of the Academic Body of Urban and Regional Economy. He is also an Investigator of the National System of Investigators ( Mexico), and his areas of interest are employment and economic activity; competitiveness of cities; and local development.
Manya Mooya is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Land Management, Polytechnic of Namibia. He has previously taught in the Department of Land Economy of the Copperbelt University in Zambia. Mr. Mooya holds a BSc in Land Economy from the Copperbelt University and an Master’s degree in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge in the UK. He is a PhD in Real Estate candidate with the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Maria da Piedade Morais is an Economist, with an MSc in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She is a researcher at the Department of Urban and Regional Studies (DIRUR) of the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) in Brasília since 1998. Her main areas of interest include: Urban Economics, Housing Policy, Urban Indicators, Urban Poverty and Environmental Economics.
William O’Dell is an Associate Research Professor at the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing at the University of Florida and manager of the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse. Before coming to the Shimberg Center, O’Dell was a policy analyst at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research where he was involved in several projects investigating Florida’s Growth Management Act. He has been involved in local and state government issues in Florida for several years. His local government experience includes housing and capital improvement planning.
Jelena Pantelic is currently Senior Operation Officer at the Corporate Secretariat’s Policy Unit (SECPS) of the World Bank and is in charge of upstream review of strategic and policy documents submitted for the review of the Board of Directors of the World Bank. Before joining the Corporate Secretariat, Pantelic was Senior Management Planner at the Infrastructure Vice-Presidency (Anchor) and Senior Urban Specialist at the South Asia Region of the Bank, where she dealt with operational aspects of the Bank’s work. Specifically, she managed urban and infrastructure development projects, as well as hazard reduction operations (including mitigation, response and recovery of earthquakes, floods, cyclones), and has experience in post-conflict recovery. She was Task Team Leader for about ten Bank-supported operations in developing countries ranging in value between US$340 to US$80 million. She worked in diverse countries including Algeria, Armenia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Macedonia, Maldives, Mexico, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Serbia and Montenegro, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States. Pantelic has an academic background in urban planning, policy analysis, hazard reduction and architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. She is author of numerous papers related to hazard risk vulnerability, recovery and prevention.
Rosendo Pujol created and directs the Research Program on Sustainable Urban Development (ProDUS) of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) since 1991. ( www.produs.ucr.ac.cr ) He directs and teaches in the Master’s Program on Gestión Ambiental y Ecoturismo. He teaches also undergraduate and graduate courses in the School of Civil Engineering (UCR). His training is as civil Engineer (UCR, 1972), Seismic Risk M. Sc. (UC Berkeley, 1975), Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning (UC Berkeley, 1991). His work now is centered in the impacts of urban growth, its relation to infrastructure availability and its environmental impacts. He also works on the topics of road safety, poverty maps and land values. He directed the Master Plans for the county of San Ramón and Montes de Oca and three Participatory Strategic Planning Process in Grecia (CR) and the cities of Guápiles and San Ramón; an economic impact analysis of the future road from San José to the Pacific Coast, and wrote a short Environmental Profile of Costa Rica. He teaches transportation issues for World Bank courses on Urban Management. He won in 1995 the Costa Rican national technology research prize Clodomiro Picado.
Glenn Pearce-Oroz, a Chilean and American national, holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Northwestern University (USA) and a Master’s in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico (USA). After working several years as an urban planner for a municipality in Chile, Mr. Pearce-Oroz joined the World Bank where he worked on natural resource management and social development projects in Brazil and urban development activities in Latin America. Mr. Pearce-Oroz is currently USAID’s Sr. Local Governance Advisor in Honduras where he manages decentralization and urban governance activities in 32 cities throughout the country. Mr. Pearce-Oroz last presentation at the 2003 Urban Research Symposium, “Decentralized Management of Water and Sanitation is Viable in Developing Countries: the Case of Honduras,” will appear shortly in the journal Water Policy. He has presented at a number of international seminars and conferences throughout his career.
Markus Ruhling After working several years as a consultant for the GTZ, KfW and World Bank, Ruhling is now an integrated expert at the Instituto de Investigación y Capacitación Municipal (INICAM) in Peru - in a program sponsored by CIM. His research focus is on development theory, fiscal decentralization, and local government. He received a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Giessen and a Master’s degree in European Public Policy from the Free University of Brussels.
Roberto Dimas Vasconcellos Del Santoro é técnico da Prefeitura de Curitiba desde 1978 e atua como consultor internacional em planejamento urbano, transporte e finanças públicas para empresas privadas nacionais e internacionais. Desde 1992, vem trabalhando pelo Banco Mundial em projetos no Vietnam (1998), Costa Rica (1997), Honduras(2004/2005), Equador (1997 e 2004), para o Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento – BID na Argentina (1997/1998), Bolívia (1997 e 2003), Equador (1997 e 2004), El Salvador (2005) e para empresa privada portuguesa em Angola (1992). É formado em Engenharia Civil (1977) na Universidade Mackenzie/São Paulo e possui Diploma de Estudos Superiores em Gestão Urbana na Universidade de Tecnologia de Compiègne-França (1989) e curso de extensão em Administração de Transporte Urbano no Instituto Mauá de Engenharia (1982). Nos seus vinte e seis anos de experiência profissional atuou como Técnico de Planejamento Urbano no IPPUC – Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano de Curitiba e em instituições públicas do Governo do Estado do Paraná como EMOPAR – Empresa de Obras Públicas do Estado do Paraná/ Diretor Técnico (1982), Diretor de Operações do Serviço Social Autonomo Paranacidade (1996/2001) e Secretário de Estado do Desenvolvimento Urbano do Paraná (2002) na gestão do então Governador Jaime Lerner. Coordenou a implantação de diversos programas com financiamentos internacionais como o PROSAM (1991)- Banco Mundial em Curitiba e PARANÁ URBANO I (1996/2001) e PARANÁ URBANO II (2002) – BID, no Governo do Estado do Paraná. Idealizador do Programa Gestão por Resultados implementado por 112 municípios do Paraná.
Carlos Morales Schechinger es egresado de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y de la Universidades de Edimburgo y Birmingham de la Gran Bretaña. Actualmente es profesor de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y del Lincoln Institute of Land Policy en temas relacionados con políticas, mercados, fiscalidad y gestión del suelo urbano. Sobre estos temas ha escrito artículos y capítulos de libro, ha dictado conferencias en foros internacionales y ha impartido cursos como profesor invitado en universidades de diversos países. Su línea actual de investigación es la renta del suelo, las metrópolis y las finanzas públicas. Además cuenta con una amplia trayectoria en cargos públicos en el Gobierno Federal, en la Ciudad Capital y en la Banca de Desarrollo de su país de origen, México. También ha tenido cargos en las áreas hipotecarias de la banca privada y de mercados inmobiliarios en empresas privadas. Además ha realizado trabajo de consultoría, entre otros para Naciones Unidas y la CEPAL.
Martha Schteingart is an Architect and urban sociologist ( University of Buenos Aires and University of Paris). She is also Professor and researcher at the Center for Demographic, Urban and Environmental Studies, El Colegio de México. National Researcher of the Mexican System of Researchers, level III. Publications: 21 books as author or editor; 180 articles in books and journals published in México, Latin America, USA, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and England. Main subjects: urban land and housing; urban segregation; urban environment; poverty and social policies; local management and governance.She was coordinator for Mexico and Colombia of the GURI Project (Global Urban Research Initiative) and advisor of the Ford and MacArthur Foundations. She is now part of the "Consejo de Gobierno" of the Procuraduria Ambiental (Office of the Ombudsman) of the Federal District ( Mexico City).
Tasneem Siddiqui joined the Civil Service of Pakistan in 1965. Working as Director General of the Hyderabad Development Authority, he developed interest in shelter issues. With his team of dedicated colleagues, he was successful in evolving and implementing the innovative concept of `incremental housing development'. The project known as `Khuda-ki-Basti' is now internationally recognized as one of the best options for providing housing to the poor. He was awarded prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1995. For excellence in public service, he won Philippine’s Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1999. He is a prolific writer. Oxford University has recently published his book titled Towards Good Governance, which has been well received.
Gilles Spielvogel is a PhD student in Economics at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris (Sciences Po), a doctoral researcher at DIAL - IRD and a lecturer at University of Lille 2. Previous experiences include research at Princeton University as a visiting student and short term economic forecasting in Ghana as a consultant for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His main areas of research are economic geography applied to developing countries (mainly Brazil and West Africa) and international trade.
Sonoe Sugahara é engenheira eletrônica formada pela UFRJ em 1973 com mestrado em Matemática Pura pelo IMPA (1975) e Doutorado em Economia pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1996). Já foi professora de UFRJ e é presentemente pesquisadora do IPEA na área de Previdência Social. Tem pesquisado usando principalmente dados secundários levantados pelo IBGE nas áreas de seguridade social, e mercado de trabalho.
Haroldo da Gama Torres is an Economist and a demographer with special training on the issues related to spatial distribution of the population and population and environment. Lately, he has also focused his activities on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applied to social policies. He has participated in the development of different GIS-related projects in the areas of sanitation, education, environment (Ph.D. thesis) and small businesses.
David Vetter is currently a free-lance consultant in Rio de Janeiro and holds Ph.D. and Master’s degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and UCLA. He has initiated Dexia Credit Local’s lending and advisory programs in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico as Vice President and Manager of Public Finance (6 years). At the World Bank, Vetter was task manager for preparation or supervision of 12 loans totaling over US$1.6 billion for municipal, state, and provincial governments in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador, and did subnational finance policy studies in Argentina and Chile (10 years). Vetter also worked for 17 years as consultant, researcher and professor in Brazil as: Professor at the National and Catholic Universities of Rio de Janeiro, and the Fundação Getulio Vargas; Senior researcher and department head at Brazil's chief statistical entity (IBGE); World Bank consultant on projects and policy work in Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador; and, Consultant to national and multinational firms, including Michelin and Seagrams.
Weiping Wu is an Associate Professor of Urban Studies, Geography and Planning at Virginia Commonwealth University and has been a consultant to the World Bank. She also was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution and a consultant to the Ford Foundation's Beijing Office. She received her Ph.D. in urban planning and policy development from Rutgers University in 1996. Dr. Wu conducts research and publishes widely in the areas of urban economic geography, migrant housing and settlement, and China's urban development. She has (co)authored and co-edited four books, including Pioneering Economic Reform in China's Special Economic Zones, The Dynamics of Urban Growth in Three Chinese Cities, Local Dynamics in a Globalizing World, and Facets of Globalization: International and Local Dimensions of Development. She has published more than 20 journal articles and book chapters as well. She is a member of the advisory board for the Urban China Research Network and of the editorial board for the Journal of Planning Education and Research.
Belinda Yuen is a Chartered Town Planner and Associate Professor in the Department of Real Estate, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore. Belinda has published over 80 papers and books on urban planning. She is the editor/co-author of the following books that explicate Singapore’s urban planning and housing development: Singapore Real Property Guide, Development Control and Planning Law in Singapore, Planning Singapore: From Plan to Implementation, Singapore Housing,Urban Quality of Life: Critical Issues and Options, Sustainable Cities in the 21 st Century. Belinda regularly serves as resource person and planning expert in various United Nations, Asian Development Bank and World Bank projects. She is currently Vice-President of the Singapore Institute of Planners, Honorary Secretary of the ASEAN Association for Planning and Housing (Singapore) and member of several Singapore government committees and civic groups including Feedback Core Group on Housing and Physical Development; Feedback Panel on Income Tax; Subject Group on Parks, Waterbodies and Rustic Coast Identity Plan, Master Plan 2003; Focus Group and Action Programme Working Committee, Singapore Green Plan 2012. In addition, Belinda is a Planning Appeals Inspector and serves on the Board of Directors of Pacific Rim Council on Urban Development and Prague Institute for Global Urban Development; and Editorial Board, Asia Pacific Planning Review and Cities.
Cecelia Zanetta is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee. She has a degree in architecture from the National University of Buenos Aires and a Master's and Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the Ohio State University, which she attended as a Fulbright grantee. Her main areas of interest include public policy in developing countries, with a focus on the urban and housing sectors and public sector modernization among sub-national governments. During the past fifteen years, Dr. Zanetta has worked as a consultant to the World Bank and other international financial institutions in several countries in Latin and Central America, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru. Firmly grounded on her professional work, her academic research is aimed at building a bridge between practice and the world of ideas to ultimately improve living conditions in developing countries.
Jieming Zhu has been doing research on institutional analysis of urban development in the transitional economy and East Asian cities, and his publications appear in Urban Studies, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Urban Affairs Review, Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies, Environment and Planning A. In 1999, he published a book entitled "The Transition of China's Urban Development: from Plan-controlled to Market-led" with Praeger, while he was International Senior Fellow in Johns Hopkins University. He served as consultant to the East-West Center, USA (1996) and has been invited to make presentations to the institutions of World Bank, Rice University, State University of New York, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Arab Planning Institute, and Ministry of Land and Co-operative Development, Malaysia. He has been engaged in training of Asian, African and American planners. He was Advisor to China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (2000/01); Visiting Professor to Tongji University (2002/03); Advisor to Guangzhou Bureau of Urban Planning (2003/04). He is editorial broad member of Journal of Planning Theory and Practice, Guest Editor for Habitat International.
