Silke Cram Heydrich
Silke Cram Heydrich studied biology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and earned a PhD from the University of Hohenheim in Germany. Since 1994 she has worked at UNAM’s Institute of Geography and currently oversees the Pedregal de San Ángel Reserve, which is managed through an adaptive management program. Her research focuses on soils, including degradation processes, conservation practices, and the ecological functions of soils in cities, with the aim of addressing problems caused by soil misuse and raising awareness of the need to conserve soils for the well-being of all living beings. Her additional interests include geo-biodiversity, geoparks, geosites, edaphosites, and related vulnerabilities.
Jana Crepon
Jana Crepon is a landscape architect and partner at the Amsterdam based landscape architecture office Inside Outside.Throughout her career, she has led numerous projects that combine ecological thinking, artistic expression, and spatial clarity to create regenerative urban environments. She initiated and leads the design research project “Living Soil”, which explores urban soil as a living ecosystem and translates underground biodiversity and ecological processes into design strategies. Her work includes international projects such as the regeneration of the Valpolcevera valley in Genoa, a neighbourhood redevelopment in Winterthur, a gasholder conversion in Münster, a sports campus in Kigali, and multiple projects in Amsterdam. Crepon teaches at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, lectures internationally, and serves on juries and advisory commissions, including major planning processes in Düsseldorf and Cologne and the Cities’ Spatial Quality Commission in Utrecht.
Ignacio Farías
Ignacio Farías is a professor of urban anthropology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research examines ecological and infrastructural transformations in cities and their epistemo-political implications for democratizing urban development. His recent work focuses on the politics of environmental disruptions and on urban ethnography as a mode of city-making. Farías currently leads the ERC Consolidator Grant “Urban Vibrations: How Physical Waves Come to Matter in Contemporary Urbanism” and is a member of the Collaborative Research Centre 1265 Refiguration of Spaces.
Michelle Howard
Michelle Howard is a socio-ecological architect, author, researcher, and activist. Since 2007 she has been a professor of architecture and head of the Platform for Building, Materials, and Technology at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Prior to her academic career, she managed projects with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in France, Italy, Portugal, and Germany. Together with Ingo Vetter, she is currently developing FERALcatalyst, a 25-kilometre biodiversity corridor along the Rhine-Ruhr Express in Düsseldorf. More information is available at www.constructconcept.com.
Daniela Konrad
Daniela Konrad is a professor of sustainable planning and building in urban contexts at the City University of Applied Sciences Bremen. Her work focuses on the transformation of existing buildings, resource-efficient design, circular construction, and adaptive reuse. She conducts inter- and transdisciplinary research aimed at advancing sustainable transformation of the built environment through collaboration between science, practice, and civil society.
Facundo Lucas
Lucas Facundo holds a degree in natural resources and environmental engineering from Salta, Argentina, and master’s degrees in sustainable development (University of Leipzig) and environmental sciences (Università Ca’ Foscari Venice). He has gained research experience at the University of Göttingen and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and currently contributes to the Horizon Europe project SOILSCAPE, promoting soil awareness through innovative communication strategies.
Jasper Meya
Jasper Meya is an environmental economist and has worked since 2023 at the Ministry for Environment, Climate, and Science of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. He coordinates the state’s activities within the Action Program for Natural Climate Protection of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, through which Bremen has received more than twenty million euros in grants since 2024. Before joining the ministry, Meya was a senior researcher at the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research in Leipzig. He earned his PhD at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2018 with a dissertation on the economics of nature conservation and has published more than fifteen papers in leading journals.
Katharina Müller
Katharina Müller completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter before studying environmental engineering in Bremen and Padova. Since 2018 she has volunteered with KulturPflanzen e.V., where she now coordinates further de-sealing activities at Lucie-Flechtmann Square. From 2018 to 2024 she worked for BUND Landesverband Bremen, managing a drinking water project and participating in urban gardening initiatives as well as environmental education for children and adults.
Daniel Orellana
Daniel Orellana is a principal professor at the University of Cuenca, Ecuador. He holds a PhD in geoinformation sciences from Wageningen University, an MSc in geographic information systems from the Technical University of Catalunya, and a BSc in environmental biology from the University of Azuay. His research explores human–environment interactions through a multidisciplinary geospatial approach, with experience in GIS theory and methods and spatial analysis applied to people–environment dynamics. Orellana’s work focuses on urban sustainability, mobility, and public space. He is co-founder of LlactaLAB Sustainable Cities and currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Cuenca. Previously, he headed the Interdisciplinary Department of Space and Population at the University of Cuenca and coordinated human systems research at the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands.
Boris Rewald
Boris Rewald is an associate professor and senior researcher in forest ecology at Mendel University in Brno. He holds a Dr. rer. nat. in botany from the University of Göttingen and completed his habilitation in plant ecophysiology at BOKU Vienna. His research focuses on plant ecophysiology and root ecology, including water and nutrient uptake under stress, root traits, and soil–plant–microbe interactions. Rewald combines field and laboratory measurements with large-scale experiments and has authored more than ninety publications on roots, stress physiology, and soils, linking belowground traits to ecosystem functioning and management in urban, agricultural, and forest ecosystems.
Valentina Rojas Loa
Valentina Rojas Loa is an independent curator, researcher, editor, and project manager. She holds a master’s degree in management and cultural policy from the University of London and develops transdisciplinary projects that bring together researchers, artists, citizens, and activists to explore how we live, build, and imagine our cities and ecosystems. Her projects include the exhibitions Citámbulos: A Trip through the Mexican Megalopolis (presented in Mexico, Germany, Austria, and Denmark) and Bremen spricht – a Multilingual Landscape of Bremen, and she served as director of Changing City: 50 Years of Public Art in Bremen. She currently works with the curatorial team at the Harbour Museum Bremen, where she is developing an exhibition on the Rights of the River.
Jana Schlicht
Jana Schlicht completed her bachelor’s degree in business and media psychology and was accepted into the Max Weber Program during her studies. As part of the program, she participated in a summer academy on democracy, transformation, and conflict. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in economy, sustainability, and societal design at the University of Applied Sciences for Societal Design in Koblenz, focusing on mindset change.
Hannes Schwertfeger
Hannes Schwertfeger is an architect and theorist specializing in the integration of green infrastructure into buildings and urban areas. His work seeks to enhance the value and amenity of the built environment by encouraging institutions, stakeholders, and civil society actors to adopt a performative approach to planning and design. He studied architecture in Kassel, Stuttgart, Rotterdam, and Mexico City and holds a diploma degree in architecture from the University of Stuttgart. Schwertfeger is a research fellow at Fundação Getulio Vargas in Brazil and an alumnus of the DAAD, the Protestant Academic Foundation, and the Akademie Schloss Solitude. He currently co-directs Bureau Baubotanik in Stuttgart with Oliver Storz.
Verone Stillger
Verone Stillger studied landscape development at TU Berlin and completed postgraduate studies in landscape ecology at Paris-Sud University. She has worked as a landscape planner in independent planning groups, public authorities, and freelance practice, developing concepts at various scales for open space preservation and urban development. She later served as professor of landscape planning and regional development at the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück and has held DAAD short-term lectureships in Cameroon. Her work addresses the future of urban habitats, climate adaptation, and urban green spaces.
Alan Vergnes
Alan Vergnes is a lecturer at Paul Valéry University Montpellier and a researcher at the Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE). He studies urban soil ecology with a particular focus on soil de-impermeabilization and has led the Biodiversity of Urban soils in sustainable cities (BISES) project. Vergnes coordinates several interdisciplinary initiatives, including the Living Lab of Urban Nature Based Solutions of Montpellier (LLUNAM) and the biodiversity convention with the City and Metropolis of Montpellier. His work also extends to mediation and arts-science collaborations aimed at making ecological processes more visible and accessible.
Ingo Vetter
Ingo Vetter is an artist and professor of sculpture at the University of the Arts Bremen. He exhibits internationally and frequently collaborates with other artists, resulting in long-term projects such as the Detroit Tree of Heaven Woodshop (since 2005), Loggbok, a mobile public park in Kiruna, Sweden (2011–17), and FERALcatalyst, an initiative for ecological renewal along the new central railway corridor through Düsseldorf (2026–2035). More information is available at http://ingovetter.com.
Christian von Wissel
Christian von Wissel is a professor of urban theory at the School of Architecture at City University of Applied Sciences Bremen and scientific director of the Bremer Zentrum für Baukultur. He studied architecture in Dresden, Berlin, and Madrid and received his PhD in visual sociology in 2016 from the Centre for Urban and Community Research at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research addresses climate adaptation and environmental justice in urban development, gender equality and social participation in architecture and the city, public spaces in pluralistic societies, healthy cities, healthy urban soils and soil-sensitive planning, as well as urban knowledge production with a focus on Latin America. He is co-founder of the urban research collective Citámbulos in Mexico City.
Pauline Wichmann
Pauline Wichmann earned her bachelor’s degree in media management in Wiesbaden. During her work as a student assistant, she participated in the Diversity Certificate Program at the University of Applied Sciences for Societal Design. Inspired by this experience, she is now pursuing a master’s degree in economy, sustainability, and societal design in Koblenz with a focus on process change.
Cyrus Zahiri
Cyrus Zahiri has been a professor at the School of Architecture Bremen since 2021. Before his appointment, he held visiting professorships at the University of Kassel and the Beijing Art Academy. In 2003, together with two partners, he founded the Berlin-based planning office bbzl, which specializes in public space and urban design. He also serves as a jury member in architectural competitions and sits on design boards advising the cities of Berlin and Rostock. Zahiri holds a degree in architecture and a doctorate with a focus on urbanism.