About us

Francesca Cognetti is an Associate Professor of Planning and Urban Policies at the Politecnico di Milano and the Rector’s Delegate to Public Engagement. Her teaching and research concentrate on public/social housing and social inequalities. She coordinates field labs and action research in deprived neighbourhoods.

Stefano Pontiggia is a Post-doc research fellow in Anthropology at Politecnico di Milano. His inquiries focus on power-related issues, state institutions, migration, political asylum. He has carried out ethnographic research in Italy and Tunisia.

Martin Broz has a PhD in Regional Planning. He explored issues related to social housing and urban growth in Milan and Barcelona. He is experienced in teaching and he presently works in the programming and monitoring of social responsibility projects at the Politecnico di Milano.

Ida Castelnuovo has a PhD in Regional Planning and a post-doc experience dealing with participatory processes, local governance, urban decision-making and public engagement of university. She is a project manager at Polisocial, the social responsibility programme of Politecnico di Milano.

Beatrice De Carli is a Senior Lecturer in Urban Design at London Metropolitan University, and an Associate at Architecture Sans Frontières–UK. Her research and teaching employ a collaborative, design-based approach to address issues of equity, diversity and inclusion in the production of urban space.

Lucia Caistor-Arendar is a freelance urbanist and is the convener of the Resilience by Design programme at Architecture Sans Frontières UK. She is the lead Researcher of DESINC LIVE project on behalf of ASF-UK. es UK. She is the lead Researcher of DESINC LIVE project on behalf of ASF-UK.

Markus Bader is an architect and Professor of Architecture and Building Planning at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). He is a member of the Berlin Council of Arts. He is among the initiators of the “Haus der Statistik” and co-author of renowned artworks involving public space, urban commons and marginal populations.

Katharina Rohde is an urban practitioner working internationally at the intersection of architecture, urban design, art and activism. She holds a practice-based PhD from the International Center of Urbanism (ICoU), Department of Architecture at KU Leuven in Belgium through which she explored questions on “How (do) we live together? Everyday Acts of Citizenship and Urban Practice/s in post-migratory Berlin and Johannesburg”. Since September 2021 Katharina Rohde is Guest Professor for Urban Design at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Oldenburg, Germany.

Viviana d’Auria is an architect, urbanist and Assistant Professor in International Urbanism at the Department of Architecture, KU Leuven. Exploring “practiced” architecture is an integral part of her research, within a more general interest in the trans-cultural construction of cities and their contested spaces.

Layla Zibar’s PhD research – KU Leuven (Belgium) & BTU (Germany) – explores forced displacements urbanism in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. She focuses on the geopolitical and socio-spatial interdependent networks triggering dwelling/homing processes in Syrian refugee camps. She is currently an Urban Researcher in the Refufam project/ Gent University (Belgium).

Giorgio Baracco is a jurist and post graduate in International Relations. As programme coordinator of Refugees Welcome Italia, his objective is to combine social innovation with digital transformation and economic sustainability through a cooperative and sharing approach.

Lucia Oggioni is service designer at Refugees Welcome Italia. She is competent in the development of projects from analysis up to implementation. As a professional, she strongly believes in the power of design as a tool for discovering new ways of doing things and help people’s lives.

Angelica Villa has a degree in International Relations. In her professional experience she has developed skills in cultural and social planning, social activism and urban regeneration. In RWI she works as a Project Manager.

Rowan Mackay is an urban designer with a background in participatory planning and project management. He is Project Lead at Community Led Housing London and has lectured at various universities. Rowan is an Associate of ASF UK.

Tahmineh Hooshyar Emami is an Architect at the London-based AHMM, a Design Tutor at Loughborough University and Associate/ Researcher at Architecture Sans Frontières–UK. Her research interest and teaching revolve around ephemeral urbanisms, power and politics, critical creative investigations into spaces of migration, and borderland conditions.

Anton Schünemann is a graduate of Bauhaus-University Weimar and has worked for several cultural foundations and media agencies. Since 2014 he is the programme coordinator of S27 – Art and Education, where he has been responsible for the development of various projects with/for refugees.

Vera Fritsche is a state-recognised social worker with an educational background in landscape architecture. She is experienced in child and youth welfare and in socio-cultural projects. Since 2016 she is the pedagogical director of S27.

Anna Piccoli holds a Research Master in Media Studies and has a multidisciplinary background. At S27, she belongs to the Project Office team of the “Initiative Urbane Praxis” and contributes to various administrative and project management activities. Previously, she collaborated with a research institute for communication and health in Lugano and with cultural organisations in Amsterdam and worked as a project manager and researcher on projects funded by the European Union.