In this episode of Inclusive Urban Futures, recorded live at the World Urban Forum, we had the pleasure of speaking with Professor Ali A. Alraouf, architect, urban thinker, researcher, and educator, whose work is driven by a profound commitment to social justice, cultural identity, and more inclusive cities.

Throughout the conversation, Professor Alraouf reflects on the experiences that shaped his professional journey and inspired his lifelong commitment to creating urban environments where public space belongs to everyone, regardless of income or social status.

A powerful message that emerges from the conversation is his call to move beyond the image of cities and focus instead on their lived experience. Rather than asking how a city can become "the next Singapore," he challenges us to ask how it can become a better version of itself—one that responds to its own people, culture, and aspirations. For Professor Alraouf, successful cities are not defined by iconic buildings or impressive skylines, but by the quality of their public spaces, the everyday interactions they enable, and their ability to foster community and belonging.

The conversation also explores the opportunities and limitations of emerging technologies. While recognising the value of artificial intelligence, Professor Alraouf reminds us that technology can never replace community. Cities must continue to be shaped by people's needs, experiences, and relationships, creating places that genuinely reflect the lives of those who inhabit them.

Speaking candidly about his experience at the World Urban Forum itself, Professor Alraouf also reflects on the gap that can exist between global discussions and urban reality. Discussing inequality, housing, and poverty inside the conference halls, only to step outside and be confronted by neighbourhoods defined by extreme wealth, serves as a powerful reminder that meaningful change requires more than ambitious conversations—it demands action.

Throughout the conversation, Professor Alraouf's deep empathy for people living in disadvantaged circumstances is unmistakable. His reflections reveal a genuine concern for growing inequalities and a belief that architecture and urban planning should ultimately serve people before prestige. Thoughtful, compassionate, and quietly provocative, he reminds us that the future of our cities depends not only on better planning, but on our willingness to place dignity, community, and justice at the heart of urban development.

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Linkedin Ali A. Alraouf : https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-a-alraouf-76516521/

IUF instagram : https://www.instagram.com/inclusive_urban_futures/?hl=en

More About Professor Ali A. Alraouf

Professor Ali A. Alraouf is an architect, urban designer, planner, researcher, and educator whose work explores the relationship between architecture, cities, culture, and social justice. With decades of international academic and professional experience, he has dedicated his career to understanding how urban environments can become more inclusive, sustainable, and responsive to the communities they serve.

A registered architect and urban planner in Egypt, Bahrain, and Qatar, Professor Alraouf has held teaching and research positions at universities across the Middle East and internationally, including as a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. His academic work spans architectural history and theory, urban design, and design studios, while his research focuses on knowledge-based urban development, post-carbon cities, urban regeneration, cultural identity, creative cities, and the transformation of Gulf cities.

Professor Alraouf has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, books, book chapters, and critical essays, and has been invited to present his work at leading universities and international institutions around the world. He has also served as a consultant to organisations including UN-Habitat, UNESCO, ESCWA, and ICOMOS, contributing his expertise to projects that promote sustainable and inclusive urban development.

Today, Professor Alraouf is based in the United States, where he is the Founder and first Head of the Urban Lab and Design Studio at the Center for Middle East Architecture and Urbanism. Through his research, teaching, and professional practice, he continues to advocate for cities that celebrate local identity, strengthen communities, and place people, rather than prestige, at the centre of urban development.

In this episode of Inclusive Urban Futures, recorded live at the World Urban Forum, we had the pleasure of speaking with Pietro Elisei, urban and regional planner, founder of URBASOFIA, and former President of ISOCARP.

As cities around the world face growing pressures from housing shortages, climate change, social fragmentation, and economic uncertainty, Pietro invites us to look beyond individual challenges and consider the city as a complex and interconnected system. While housing remains one of the most pressing urban issues of our time, he argues that sustainability is the fundamental challenge that underpins them all. Creating cities that can thrive socially, environmentally, and economically requires a more integrated and long-term perspective on urban development.

Throughout the conversation, Pietro reflects on the importance of building more inclusive and less segmented cities. He highlights the need to move beyond siloed approaches and embrace systemic thinking, recognising how housing, mobility, public space, governance, and social inclusion are deeply interconnected. For him, the future of cities depends on our ability to understand these relationships and develop solutions that respond to the complexity of urban life.

Recorded amidst the energy and global conversations of the World Urban Forum, this episode offers thoughtful reflections on the challenges and opportunities facing cities today, and why collaboration, integration, and inclusion must remain at the heart of urban futures.

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Pietro Elisei is an urban and regional planner with more than 25 years of international professional and academic experience working at the intersection of urban geography, spatial planning, and European urban policy. His work focuses on urban policy design, urban regeneration, strategic planning, sustainable urban development, governance models, and participatory planning processes.

He is the founder and owner of URBASOFIA and served as President of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) between 2021 and 2024. Pietro is currently President of the Global Design Association and a founding member of the International Urban Professionals Forum (IUPF).

Throughout his career, he has supported cities and regions across Europe and beyond in developing integrated urban strategies, contributing to EU Cohesion Policy, the Urban Agenda for the EU, Horizon Europe, URBACT, and Urban Innovative Actions programmes. He has also worked as an expert for the European Commission, UN-Habitat, and UNECE.

Alongside his professional practice, Pietro is a lecturer, researcher, and academic specialising in urban and regional planning, urban geography, strategic spatial planning, sustainable urban development, and the governance of territorial systems.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pietro-elisei-a1a2071b/

Host: Orna Rosenfeld

 www.ornarosenfeld.com

In this opening episode of Season 2, recorded following the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Dr Orna Rosenfeld reflects on one of the most significant shifts in international urban policy in recent years: the growing recognition of housing as a strategic system shaping economic resilience, social cohesion, climate adaptation, territorial development, and the future of cities.

Drawing on over two decades of work across 56 countries, Orna explores why housing has become one of the defining questions of the twenty-first century and why the next frontier is no longer understanding the housing crisis, but developing the capacity to respond to it.

The episode examines:
• Why housing has finally moved to the centre of global urban conversations;
• The shift from policy ambition to delivery capacity;
• The importance of trust between public institutions, private actors, investors, and communities;
• How participation and inclusion can strengthen implementation and reduce risk;
• The growing mismatch between global demographic realities and existing financial systems;
• The changing geography of urban growth, investment, and development ambition.

At its core, this episode asks a simple but critical question:

Can our institutions, governance systems, and financial architectures adapt quickly enough to deliver the housing, infrastructure, and urban futures that the twenty-first century demands?

This conversation also reflects the mission of Inclusive Urban Futures: to explore how cities, regions, institutions, communities, and decision-makers can create more inclusive, resilient, sustainable, and equitable futures through better governance, stronger partnerships, and integrated approaches to urban development.

Learn more about Inclusive Urban Futures association:
🌍 https://inclusiveurbanfutures.org

This episode sets the stage for a new season featuring conversations recorded at the World Urban Forum with city leaders, international organisations, academics, practitioners, and innovators from around the world.

Because the future of cities will not be determined by what we know.

It will be determined by what we are capable of delivering.

In this episode of Inclusive Urban Futures, we had the honour to interview Professor Amira Osman, a Sudanese/South African Professor of Architecture at the Tshwane University of Technology and the 70th President of The South African Institute of Architects (SAIA). 

What is the most inspiring about Professor Osman’s work is her unshakable commitment to building inclusion in some of the most challenging places in the world where in her words, 'separation in the built environment was engineered through hundreds of Apartheid laws'. While the laws are cancelled, their physical manifestation still shapes the way the people live today.  

As the South African Research Chair in Spatial Transformation, Professor Osman believes in positive change in the built environment and the architectural profession's critical role in achieving more inclusive and equitable cities. She believes in architecture as a path to offer people a better chance in life, improving livelihoods and connecting communities. ‘Every project and site level intervention has the potential to be transformational’ she says.

We were inspired by her words, leadership, unwavering optimism and crystal-clear vision to transform the South African urban landscape in service of inclusive urban futures. We hope you will be too. 

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More about Professor Amira Osman  

Amira Omer Siddig Osman is a Sudanese/South African Professor of Architecture at the Tshwane University of Technology. In 2023 The South African Institute of Architects (SAIA) inaugurated Amira Osman as its 70th President. Professor  Osman holds the position of SARChI: DST/NRF/SACN Research Chair in Spatial Transformation (Positive Change in the Built Environment) and is the Joint Coordinator of the international group CIB W104 Open Building Implementation. She is also the Chair of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 9th International Conference on Appropriate Technology (ICAT), Pretoria, November 2020. Amira obtained a B.Sc. in 1988 and an M.Sc. in 1996 both from the University of Khartoum in Sudan. She has a diploma from the Institute for Housing Studies in Rotterdam (IHS) in 1992 and PhD in Architecture from the University of Pretoria in 2004. Amira hosted and convened the World Congress on Housing in 2005 at the University of Pretoria and the Sustainable Human(e) Settlements: the urban challenge in 2012 at the University of Johannesburg. She served as UIA 2014 Durban General Reporter and head of the Scientific Committee for the International Union of Architects (UIA) and the South African Institute of Architects (SAIA). 

Discover more about Professor Amira Osman: https://amiraosman.co.za/

Find our Host and Executive Producer, Dr Orna Rosenfeld at: https://www.ornarosenfeld.com/  

Understanding the dimensions, ramifications and dynamics of systematic exclusion and discrimination is fundamental to raising awareness about it, educating about it, changing culture, and most importantly, addressing it. As painful as exclusion is, understanding it and deconstructing it is a fundamental first step if we are to move towards inclusive futures. 

Inclusive Urban Future was honoured to interview NGO Monitor Vice President Olga Deutsch. A leader in her own right Olga Deutsch is a household name in international media from Israel to Australia. Olga brings a critical analysis of exclusion through the lens of contemporary antisemitism, empowering perspective to understand the dynamics of exclusion and lessons on how to ensure our common global futures are inclusive for all. 

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Discover more about Olga Deutsch 

Olga Deutsch is the vice president of NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that promotes greater transparency among foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations operating in Israel. Olga graduated from the University of Belgrade and the University of Munich with degrees in banking, insurance, and finance. She was awarded a Fellowship with the Ford Motor Company, graduating as a Community Leader at the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University in New York. Before making Aliya in 2009, she served as the Chairperson of the European Union of Jewish Students, an umbrella organization for 34 national unions. In 2008, she received the International Leadership Prize from the American Jewish Committee. Over the past 12 years, Olga has held senior positions in the private sector in Europe and Israel. Olga is fluent in Serbian, English, Hebrew, and German.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-israel-deutsch-55b0882/

Discover NGO Monitor: https://www.ngo-monitor.org/expert/olga/

Host and Executive Producer, Dr Orna Rosenfeld at: https://www.ornarosenfeld.com/  

Our collective ideas and aspirations touch the ground and are cast in stone through urban design, planning and real estate development. The question of whether we are building inclusive urban futures or not is answered then and there and decided for generations. This question is critical in peacetime but even more so in the aftermath of an armed conflict. 

The Inclusive Urban Future was delighted to interview Dr Haris Piplas, Senior Consultant, Co-Directing Urban Design and Planning Initiatives at Drees & Sommer, Switzerland.

‘We all know that the cities are the biggest human invention,’ Dr Haris noted for Architecture & Design. ‘When people started moving to the cities [he continues], the human civilisation started blooming because different people, opinions, skills, knowledge, political power and culture, densified. And this is where humankind started growing and developing further. But in this century, when we look at our society today: climate change, social and economic crisis, the cities are also our biggest catalyst and challenge. But how do we deal with it?’ 

Tune into this exciting interview and discover how.  Explore what inclusive urban futures mean in the context of urban design, planning and development. How can inclusive urban futures be engineered in peace and in post #conflict environments and after #war. But most importantly, what can people of #Ukranine today learn from experiences from the Former #Yugoslavia. 

Discover more about Dr Haris Piplas 

Co-Directing Urban Design and Planning Initiatives at Drees & Sommer | Switzerland

Haris Piplas is a city designer. Having lived in Berlin, Sarajevo, Milan, Vienna, and Zürich, he is imbued with a city radical spirit, which he brings to his urban development and infrastructure planning plans. Knowledge and diverse visions are at the heart of Haris’ work, with research, stakeholder participation, and activism all influencing how he conceptualises practical solutions. His approach is to fully understand the city he aims to change. As such, Haris develops tools, methodologies, and mechanisms that combine interests, opinions, and expertise to create an inclusive city structure. His work stretches as far and wide as the Mediterranean, Switzerland, Germany, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, China, and Latin America. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harispiplas/ 

Discover more about Drees & Sommer, Switzerland  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dreessommerch/ 

Website: https://www.dreso.com/ch/

Find our Host and Executive Producer, Dr Orna Rosenfeld  https://www.ornarosenfeld.com/  

Ideas and policies are as good as their implementation. There may not be a policy sphere where this is truer than in the cities' pursuits of inclusive urban futures. 

The poly-crisis the world has been exposed to since 2020 has exacerbated inequalities across people and places, especially in large cities, where vulnerable groups such as migrants, the poor, women, and the elderly, among other population groups, were hit hard. 

As a response to the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the OECD launched the Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative as early as March 2016. In 2023, Champion Mayors is a coalition of 59 mayors committed to tackling inequalities and promoting more inclusive economic growth in cities.

The INCLUSIVE URBAN FUTURES had the honour to interview Ms. Sena Segbedzi, Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Coordinator, who manages the OECD's global coalition of mayors committed to advancing inclusive growth in cities, creates a platform for global mayors to share lessons and good practices implementing economic and social policies to reduce inequalities through research and policy guidance on equitable development of cities. 

Join us as we discover Sena's global take on inclusion through her work and global presence. 

More about Sena Segbedzi

Sena Segbedzi coordinates the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative, a global coalition of mayors, where she provides evidence-based policy advice and guidance to local leaders on how to use social and economic policies to reduce inequality and spur growth, develop the strategic direction and manage a team of analysts working on place-based solutions to advance inclusive growth in cities. 

In addition, Ms. Segbedzi leads the OECD's work on public sector innovation in city government, maps why cities innovate, what helps cities to innovate successfully, and resident outcomes in cities that are making these investments. 

 Prior to the OECD, Ms. Segbedzi worked at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to promote fiscally healthy and inclusive cities through land-based finance. She has held several positions of increasing responsibility within Ford Foundation's Economic Opportunity and Assets portfolio, including programme manager for the Foundation's work on the economic recovery and equitable development of Detroit (US).

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sena-segbedzi-5a1b1310/  

More about the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative

Across the world, local leaders are taking a stand against rising inequalities. Through innovations in health care delivery, to living wage campaigns, from the issuance of official identification cards for all city residents to facilitate access to public services to mobile apps to improve urban mobility for people with disabilities – mayors and local governments are advancing policies and programmes that boost equity and economic growth. As a response to the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the OECD launched the Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative in March 2016. Champion Mayors form a coalition of willing leaders who have committed to tackling inequalities and promoting more inclusive economic growth in cities.

Discover the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative: http://www.oecd-inclusive.com/champion-mayors/about/ 

Learn more about the OECDs Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/ 

Find our Host and Executive Producer, Dr Orna Rosenfeld at: https://www.ornarosenfeld.com/ 

The world of scientific research and education is crucial to exploring ways of inclusion and implementing it. Scientific research deepens understanding, education broadens views, but most importantly, academic institutions can act as an essential vehicles for societal transformation needed for ataining inclusive futures.

To this end, Inclusive Urban Futures is honoured to launch the 2023 series with Prof. Tommaso Vitale, the Dean of the Paris Institute of Political Studies 'Sciences Po' Urban School. A cherished professor and a leading international sociologist Dean Vitale dedicated his scientific career to examining disparate dimensions of exclusion to enable us moving toward inclusion. But most importantly, Dean Vitale is someone who 'walks the scientific talk' by ensuring that students from all walks of life and from all corners of the world have the opportunity to study at Sciences Po, one of the most prestigious educational establishments in France that educated most of the French ministers and presidents since the 1950's. Dean Vitale's is inclusion in action, bringing ideas from scientific conceptualisations to and with Urban School students right where they can make a fundamental societal change – around the tables where the decisions are made. 

More about Prof. Tommaso Vitale: 

Prof. Tommaso Vitale is the Dean of The Paris Institute of Political Studies Sciences Po Urban School, where he teaches 'Urban Sociology' and 'Urban Policy Analysis'. In addition, he is a researcher at Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée, where he co-coordinates with V. Guiraudon the research program "Cities, borders and (im)mobility" and the research program' Cities are back in town'. He is also member of the scientific board of Délégation Interministérielle à la Lutte Contre le Racisme, l'Antisémitisme et la Haine anti-LGBT (DILCRAH) and CEE representative in the Board of Institut Convergences Migrations. He is co-editor of the peer-review Journal PArtecipazione e COnflitto, The Open Journal of Socio-political Studies.

Having been trained within a Weberian theoretical framework that assigns cities a generative role in structuring social, political and economic interactions, his research looks at community action not as a form of solidarity but as a form of collective action not requiring a common identity. 

Prof. Tommaso Vitale: https://www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etudes-europeennes/en/researcher/tommaso-vitale.html
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tovitale/?originalSubdomain=fr

More about Paris Institute of Political Studies – Sciences Po and its Urban School 

Established in 1872, the Paris Institute of Political Studies (French: Institut d'études politiques de Paris, also known as Sciences Po ) is a research university, with the status of grande école and grand établissement, located in Paris, France, with additional campuses around France. Sciences Po offers courses and conducts research in political science, history, economics, law and sociology. Sciences Po Urban School is dedicated to studying contemporary trends and challenges in the built environment worldwide and exploring future solutions through applying cutting-edge social and political science. 

Discover Sciences Po Urban School: https://www.sciencespo.fr/ecole-urbaine/en.html 

Find our Host and Executive Producer, and adjunct professor at Sciences Po Dr Orna Rosenfeld at: https://www.ornarosenfeld.com/ 

To celebrate the end of the first mini-series of the Inclusive Urban Futures podcast we have decided to expand the visions of inclusion even further, to go beyond cities and individual disciplines, to national and supranational levels of European diplomacy. 

To this end, we are honored to introduce our special guest Eva Srnová Diplomat at the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union in charge of the Cohesion Policy, Regional Policy, Urban Matters and Just Transition.
 
 Starting on July the 1st, 2022 Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union will be Czechia's second presidency of the Council held until 31 December 2022. Therefore, this interview could not have been more timely.  

As this podcast mini-series have revealed, inclusion can take many forms and interpretations across disciplines and geographies, but what does it mean in the lens of high EU diplomacy and international affairs? What is the interpretation of this term? How does it translate to policy? Do all agree? How are the changes made? These are some of the vital questions asked by many.  

In this episode, we have a rare and unique occasion to hear from a diplomat Eva Srnová who is tackling these critical questions on an everyday basis.

Among different important issues Hon. Srnová speaks about the just transition and inclusion she underlines are the backbones of the Cohesion policy, the largest investment policy for the European Union. The EU defines this policy as one that promotes and supports the 'overall harmonious development of its Member States and regions.

However, ensuring harmony takes everyday work and dedication of many. The role of international stakeholders and leaders like Hon. Srnová is key to sustaining the structure that supports and advances the inclusive development of all EU member states, regions and cities in the EU.  

Hon. Srnová leads with heart and by example. How? Tune into this celebratory episode to learn just how.  

With over 15-year experience, Eva is an expert in regional and urban policies. She has a background in a national association of cities, towns and municipalities, national public administration and the European Parliament. She now contributes with a Czech view to the EU investment instruments and policies that support regional development and just transition in the Council.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-srnov%C3%A1-a2211890/ 

Find our host end executive producer at: https://www.ornarosenfeld.com/ 

In this episode of Inclusive Urban Futures, we  explore inclusiveness through building technology. We speak about intelligent facades and building energy with Dr Carlos Ochoa, Building Energy Senior Researcher at IERC - International Energy Research Centre in Ireland, whose scientific publications have been cited over 1000 times worldwide. 

The focus on building facades may seem to be narrow when regarded from a perspective of urbanization as a whole and quite remote from the notions of inclusion. But in our conversation, Dr Ochoa proves quite the opposite. 

Building facades are a vital part of the conversation in the context of building energy regulation, they are the buildings’ outer shell that protects the users from heat and cold, but also regulate the building energy flux as well as the level the CO2 emissions. In this way, facades have a direct link not only to the discussions about climate change and the role of the built environment in it but also about energy poverty and general housing affordability.  

Dr Ochoa dedicated his career to studying building outer shells and the development of intelligent facades. He explains that is it important to bring access to advanced and intelligent facade technologies to wider society as one of the ways to contribute to inclusive urban futures. He highlighted that the process of creation of the new facade technologies is as much about engineering as it is about understanding the needs of the building users (owners, tenants etc.) and the community. And so this conversation helped us explore inclusiveness from yet another perspective – technology and access to it. 

However, Dr Ochoa also highlighted the current shortcomings of the existing built environment, pointing out that even the new construction suffers from the limited implementation of the available facade technologies that can better regulate building energy and CO2 emissions. Among other important issues, he spoke about the importance of public policies and finance in making these technologies more widely implemented and accessible to wider society. 

Dr. Carlos Ochoa is an architect with a specialization in sustainable environmental design analysis. He has a PhD and MSc from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, where he researched the efficient use of energy and daylight for human comfort and architectural planning of intelligent facade elements. Further specialization in human-based experimentation was acquired during his postdoc at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Other noteworthy achievements include the development of NewFacades, a computer selection tool for the early architectural design stages. Very few examples of such tools exist.

 Currently, he is the project coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project MiniStor (www.ministor.eu) at the International Energy Research Centre, based in Cork, Ireland.

Website: http://www.ierc.ie/ 

http://www.ierc.ie/core-team/#carlos-ochoa-senior-researcher 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carloseochoam/

Find Dr Ochoa's publications on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0BJBeToAAAAJ&hl=en 

Connect with the host and executive producer of the INCLUSIVE URBAN FUTURES, Dr Orna Rosenfeld at: https://www.ornarosenfeld.com/