Members

members

Aimee Byrne

Circularity and regeneration are like sustainability 2.0 – we need to move far beyond a little less energy here, and a little more recycling there, into a system that actively gives back, and restores

Aimee is the E3 Assistant Professor in Climate Adaptation Engineering in the School of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. She was previously a Senior Lecturer and Sustainability Education Lead at TU Dublin where she was also Director of the multidisciplinary Bio- and Circular Economies Research Group. Aimee has dedicated her research to sustainable buildings since 2009. Her work covers a wide spectrum including; retrofit, circular construction, bio-based construction materials, deconstructable and reusable connections, building physics, BIM, energy monitoring and modelling, and structural and thermal testing. Aimee is a respected leader in the field, currently serving on the Board for DYNASTEE (the EU network for Dynamic Analysis, Simulation and Testing of buildings), Management Committee for COST Action CircularB, and National Representative for IEA EBC Annex 94 ‘Validation and Verification of In-situ Building Energy Performance Measurement Techniques’. She has acted as a Principal Investigator on several high-impact projects, including current ones; PUreTex (valorising waste textiles into construction products), SAOLwood (timber construction), BIO-RACE (developing new bio-based materials for 3D printing buildings), and PREDICT (examining the energy performance gap in buildings).

Alexander Wandl

Circular education should not only explain how systems work; it should train students to ask what kinds of systems are worth creating.

Alexander Wandl is Associate Professor of Urbanism at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and a steering group member of the Circular Built Environment Hub. Based in the Netherlands, he is a prominent European voice in the spatial and regional dimensions of circular transitions. Trained as a landscape ecologist and urbanist, his work explores how territorial visions and design strategies can reconnect landscapes, infrastructures, and resource systems to deliver resilient and equitable futures.

Andy Jenkins

It is so important that we exist within planetary boundaries, whilst ensuring the recovery and ongoing health of social, economic, and environmental systems. It the planet fails, we fail. However, with the backdrop of continually disrupted supply chains due to geopolitical destabilisation, resource and energy security has never been so important. A realised circular built environment allows us to protect the planet, whilst decentralising resource and material availability, which provides greater agency for communities to determine their future(s)

I am passionate about urban agriculture, sustainable architecture, and circular urbanism. I search for holistic solutions to the growing number of challenges that cities face due to linear economies, growing populations, resource scarcity, and the climate crisis.

Typically, this manifests as carefully considered design solutions focusing on resource synergies and the interconnectedness of food, water, and energy, to slow and ultimately reverse ecological damage, to generate capital, and to create jobs to provide a better interface between nature, technology, and human development.

My key aim is to make cities healthier, happier, and more engaging places to live and work through the (re)introduction of blue and green infrastructure, inclusive of urban agriculture. Producing food in cities provides a new palette for architectural design, a new pathway for resilient urbanism, and critical infrastructure to assist in working towards bio-circularity in the built environment.

Anna-Karin Stoltz

Real transformation begins when people start seeing themselves as part of a larger system and recognise their ability to shape it together.

Anna-Karin Stoltz is an environmental economist and transition leader with almost three decades of experience supporting sustainable development and societal transformation. As a Senior Project and Process Manager at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, she works on circular construction, climate transition, sufficiency and regenerative development.

Throughout her career, she has worked across government, municipalities, research institutes and innovation programmes, helping organisations navigate complexity and build capacity for long-term change. Her expertise includes systems transformation, governance innovation, policy labs, stakeholder engagement and collaborative learning processes.

Anna-Karin is passionate about connecting research and practice and creating spaces where diverse actors can explore new ways of thinking and working together. Her current interest lies in understanding how circularity, sufficiency and resilience can contribute to regenerative economic and societal structures that support both people and planet.

Ben Croxford

When applying circular economy thinking to the built environment, you have to consider not just the energy and thermal performance of building fabric but also the carbon consequences of material decisions, and the social, economic and logistical factors that must be addressed to achieve an optimum outcome.

Ben is Professor of Environmental Design and Engineering in IEDE and has a wide range of research and teaching experience across the built environment. His research has covered issues including circular building services, cities of making, office refits and de-fits, as well as earlier projects measuring air quality in and around buildings. He has run the MSc EDE developing and teaching several different modules, and now leads the Circular Economy and the Built Environment module (BENV0118). Outside UCL, he acts as an occasional adviser for several small sustainability startups including, Corkbrick, Circular11, and Material Innovation Centre, all these being involved with turning waste materials into useful products.

Benedikt Boucsein

Circularity in education is a must, and it is a magnificent chance to get into dialogue with students about the core of teaching as well.

Benedikt Boucsein studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen and the ETH Zurich from 1999 to 2005 and received his doctorate from 2005 to 2008 at the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture of the ETH under Andreas Tönnesmann on the “Grey Architecture” of the post-war period. From 2007 to 2017 he researched and taught at the ETH Zurich for Felix Claus and Kees Christiaanse. In 2007 he founded BHSF Architects in Zurich with Axel Humpert and Tim Seidel (since 2020 also in Munich). Together with them and Jeanette Beck he edited the magazine Camenzind from 2005-2018. In 2018 he was appointed to the professorship for Urban Design at the TUM.

Bianca Andaloro

Circularity happens when the idea of change becomes permanent.

Bianca Andaloro (IT) is a senior lecturer-researcher at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, where she is involvement in the development of the “Circular Cities and Communities” international track. Her work integrates experience in practice, education, and research between Italy and the Netherlands, with international collaborations. She holds a March (2017) and a PhD in Architecture (cum laude, 2023) from the University of Palermo, with a research on the influence of resilient and adaptive architecture on architectural characters. She has conducted postdoctoral research on climate-adaptive, nature-based urban regeneration within ecological and climate transitions at the University of Basilicata, and she has collaborated with international institutions including the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, and Pusan National University. She has been affiliated as a (guest) lecturer at Fontys Academy of Architecture, University of Palermo, and University of Basilicata. Her work bridges architecture and urbanism, focusing on the relationship between spatial design and ecological, climate and circular transitions.

Burcu Kismet Conk

My research interests include circular economy, BIM, digital twins, and artificial intelligence applications in the built environment.

Also, we can say circular and digital transformation of the built environment.

Dr. Burcu KISMET CONK received her Bachelor’s degree with high honors from the Department of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University in 2017, and her Master’s degree with high honors in Architecture – Building Architecture from Politecnico di Milano in 2020. She obtained her PhD degree in Architectural Design Computing from Istanbul Technical University in 2025. She was a visiting researcher at Edinburgh Napier University, where she conducted her doctoral research on computational design and the circular economy in 2022. She was a visiting lecturer at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology in 2025, where she delivered seminar courses on Building Information Modeling and the circular economy. She worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Architecture at Beykoz University Between 2020 and 2025. She is currently working as an Asisstant Professor at Ozyegin University, Department of Architecture. She has also gained professional experience in architectural offices in Germany and Türkiye. Her research focuses on the circular and digital transformation of the built environment. Her research interests include circular economy, sustainability, Building Information Modeling (BIM), digital twins, and artificial intelligence applications in the built environment.

Byron Ioannou

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Byron Ioannou is a Professor of Urban Planning and Architecture who specializes in the spatial, ethical, and microclimatic dimensions of the built environment. His work advances architectural practices through a distinct pedagogical and research framework centred on compact urban models, nature-based spatial planning, and civic engagement.

As a circular educator, Ioannou bridges theory and environmental design by integrating the New European Bauhaus (NEB) core values and working principles directly into architectural curricula. His design courses and diploma project mentorship focus on critical sustainability indicators, including unsealing and greening common spaces, urban density, biophilia, and the reuse and recycling of existing buildings.

Ioannou’s extensive research portfolio addresses urban climate adaptation, the mitigation of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect through soil unsealing scenarios, and the evaluation of Smart Readiness Indicators (SRI) for energy-efficient educational buildings. Driven by a commitment to community-based practice, he develops frameworks for working with civic society actors and stakeholders to realize local needs, balance conflicting planning interests, and co-design resilient, inclusive neighbourhoods. His textbook publications explicitly connect architectural design with ethics and spatial morality.

Cagri Sanliturk

I see circularity and regeneration as cultural and relational practices of care that move architecture beyond extraction towards stewardship, shared agency, and ecological coexistence. My work explores how commons-based approaches, public engagement, and ecological thinking can reshape relationships between people, materials, and environments to support more resilient, inclusive, and long-term impact.

Dr Cagri Sanliturk is a Lecturer in Architecture at Loughborough University, UK, where he teaches architectural design, research methodologies, and design interventions across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. His research explores architecture as a social, ecological, and civic act, focusing on commons-based practices, spatial agency, public participation, affect, and more-than-human relations. Grounded in the lived realities of cities and their inhabitants, his work investigates how relational spatial practices reshape connections between people, materials, institutions, and environments.

Cagri’s research bridges theory and practice through interdisciplinary and affective methodologies, including site-specific interventions, speculative writing, and community-led design processes. A central strand of his research rethinks sustainability through the concept of aesthetic sustainability, grounding care, attachment and stewardship within the built environment.

He is co-founder of RaRe Design Lab, a mission-driven research and design practice exploring regenerative and relational approaches to architecture through infrastructure, stewardship, and civic participation. Cagri has collaborated with organisations including Heatherwick Studio, PLP Labs, FRAUD, Equality Action, and Leicester City Council. He has delivered international training sessions, including for Council of Architecture India, on regenerative and common-based methodologies within architectural education and practice. He earned his BA from Eastern Mediterranean University and MA/PhD from University of Sheffield.

Cecilia Chiappini

Circularity can help us conceive the entire built environment in terms of new territorialities, fluxes and agencies; reshaping the way we live and interact with each other, space, and matter.

Cecilia Chiappini (NL, IT, AR, 1983) is a senior lecturer researcher at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences. She previously served as an Associate Professor in Adaptive Architecture at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (2023–2025), director of the Master in Urbanism at Fontys (2021–2023), and researcher and lecturer at KU Leuven (2015–2023). Her work integrates extensive experience in practice, education, and research across Europe and Latin America, with a focus on the relationship between spatial configurations and the public realm bridging architecture and urbanism. She holds a PhD in Architecture from KU Leuven (2021), an MAS in Urban Design from ETH Zürich (2012), and a Master in Architecture from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina (2007).

Edyta Skiba

“Architecture is no longer a primary element of urban order; increasingly, urban order is given by a thin horizontal vegetal plane; increasingly, landscape is the primary element of urban order” – Rem Koolhaas

PhD researcher at Lodz University of Technology’s Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning. Graduated in Architecture and Urban Planning from Lodz University of Technology, studied at LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium, and completed postgraduate studies: “Cities and Metropolises” at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She was a guest researcher at Delft University of Technology’s Environmental Technology and Design Section (the Netherlands) and Queensland University of Technology’s School of Architecture (Australia). She’s a member of the CiD Urban Transformation Observatory and has over 10 years of experience as a leading architect. She has collaborated with offices such as BBGK Architekci (Warsaw) or LMA Architects (Helsinki, Finland). Laureate of REVITARE competition for research on degraded areas. Tutor at MEDS DiverCity workshop in Lebanon, and the Archi-Przygody program with the National Center for Culture of Poland. She’s an active member of the Polish Association of Architects and the Mazovian Chamber of Architects.

Her research focuses on using the Circular Society Concept to manage the peri-urban landscapes. She is particularly focused on combating “greenwashing” in urban nature protection and advocating for better management of peri-urban areas—often overlooked yet full of potential for green space and ecological health. She is committed to integrating natural systems into urban design, believing that a balanced approach to growth is essential for both the environment and the well-being of city dwellers.

Federica Rosso

She is a member of the Circular Educators Network, contributing to research and education in the field of Circularity & Regeneration in the Built Environment, with a perspective centered in architectural engineering.

Currently an Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome, Federica Rosso research focuses on human-centred, resilient built environment. Her track record includes over 75 Scopus-indexed articles, 3 monographs, and numerous contributions to international conferences. She is currently Associate Editor for City and Environment Interactions journal (Elsevier), for the section “Built Environment Resilience”. She teaches “Integrated Architectural Design” and “Architectural Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Environment” at Sapienza University of Rome.

A core pillar of her research and teaching is urban regeneration and the multi-objective optimization of the built environment to tackle heatwaves and climate challenges. As Principal Investigator (PI) for competitive projects like PRIN PNRR inURBECitizens and BE-FOR-RESURGO, she led international teams developing integrated strategies for climate adaptation and citizen-sourcing. Her work integrates circularity and materials’ studies to drive sustainable urban renewal. She is the inventor of a patented sustainable construction material (Malt-Opt: colored cementitious mortars with optimized thermal and optical-energetic properties) and has extensively investigated the durability, energy performance, and environmental degradation of stone and cement-based elements.

Franziska Sorger

My work sits at the intersection of materials engineering and architectural practice, with a focus on bio-based and regenerative building materials, hempcrete systems, circular design, and bioregional approaches to construction.

Franziska Sorger studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich, TU Vienna, and the Universidad de Sevilla, completing her master’s degree in 2024. Alongside her studies she worked at several architectural practices and in the collections and archive of the TUM Architecture Museum, building a grounding in material culture and architectural history.

Since May 2025 she has been working as a Research Associate and Doctoral Candidate at the Professorship of Architecture and Design at TUM, where she investigates innovative applications of bio-based building materials in practice, with a focus on material optimisation and standardisation. Her work bridges material science, circular design, and bioregional network-building.

Her doctoral research explores the cultural, technical, and procedural dimensions of regenerative building materials, tracing the conditions under which locally sourced materials find their way into contemporary building practice.

Ilaha Abasli

Circularity is not only a technical or material challenge – it is a political and social one. My work centres socio-materiality as entry points for understanding who and how materializes circular transitions in urban ecologies, and its implications. I bring perspectives from political ecology, and new materialism to circular education, asking not just how we design circular systems, but for whom, and at what cost.

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Circular Built Environment Hub, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft. My research sits at the intersection of circular education, interdisciplinary methodology, and just transitions in the built environment, with a focus on valuing and centring labour in circular transitions. Trained in social sciences, my work engages the socio-material dimensions of circularity through the lenses of political ecology, and discursive-materialist practice, with empirical work spanning EU and Global South urban settings.

Ivana Carević

It is our duty to empower young people, the decision-makers of tomorrow, and teach them how to build responsibly in harmony with nature.

Ivana Carević is an assistant professor at the Department of Materials University of Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering. She has contributed to more than twenty national and international research projects with governmental and industrial partners. Her research of interest is the innovative use of waste as secondary resources in construction, with particular attention to their environmental and safety properties. She currently works on environmental assessment, applying life cycle assessment tool at both product and building level. She teaches the practical part of the master’s course Green Building through project-based learning.

Jan Wurm

The BioDigital ConstructionLab explores materiality and construction of buildings through co-design and co-fabrication with micro-organisms and performing vegetation within the context of circular bio-economy. Outcome of our inter-disciplinary and collaborative research will be tested protocols, prototypes and projects applicable to the entire lifecycle of a building demonstrating scalable solutions for a regenerative design practice

Dr. Jan Wurm is Professor for Regenerative Design at the Department of Architecture at KU Leuven University and leads the EU Engagement for Arup in Europe. He is globally recognized as a leading expert for applied research and innovation in the field of sustainable building systems and materials. Based on his background as a joiner and carpenter, a Researcher and Lecturer at RWTH Aachen and Director at Arup in Europe, Jan is passionate about bridging the gap between academic research and practice in the field of regenerative design and construction. His skill set combines systems thinking with foresight and strategic expertise and deep technical understanding and insights of the construction industry.

Jan understands Materiality as the integrating body to vision, design and build at different scales in collaboration with designers, artists, engineers, and scientists. At KU Leuven he is leading a research program on engineered living building materials for regenerative buildings and has established the BioDigital ConstructionLab working closely with the Department of Biology and Department of Materials Engineering to develop, design and fabricate hybrid materials and systems for construction. The current research focus lies on mycelium-based composites with enhanced aesthetic, functional and environmental qualities integrating surface substrates and digital fabrication technologies.

Johannes Staudt

Regenerative design goes beyond reducing emissions and conserving resources. It is an opportunity to transform buildings into catalysts for sustainable urban development, strengthening relationships between people, place, and the ecological systems that support urban life.

Johannes Staudt is an architect, researcher, and educator working at the intersection of sustainable urban transformation, adaptive reuse, and regenerative design. Since 2021, he has been a Research and Teaching Fellow at the Institute for Energy Efficient and Sustainable Design and Building at the Technical University of Munich.

Prior to joining TUM, he worked internationally for leading architecture practices, including SO–IL and Thomas Phifer & Partners in New York, as well as Herzog & de Meuron in Basel. Earlier professional experience includes Kaufmann | Rüf in Dornbirn and LIN Architects & Urbanists in Berlin. His professional work spans a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from temporary adaptable structures to large-scale urban and regional transformation projects.

He holds a Diploma in Architecture from the Technical University of Berlin and a Master in Design Studies (MDes) from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is a registered architect in Bavaria.

His current PhD research focuses on regenerative adaptive reuse and programming methodologies for sustainable urban development. He investigates how robust, low-tech, and adaptable design strategies can transform existing buildings and neighborhoods into more resilient, sufficient, and regenerative urban systems.

Magdalena Zabek

Designing with circular materials requires fundamentally new strategies that must be integrated from the very beginning. Alongside my teaching, I explore emerging research fields to help shape a new era of architectural practice—one that acknowledges our impact on the planet and our responsibility to future generations.

Magdalena Zabek is Professor of Resource-Efficient Construction at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at TU Dortmund University. Before joining TU Dortmund, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Architectural Engineering + Technology at TU Delft. She studied Architecture at RWTH Aachen University, where she also completed her PhD in 2022 with funding from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). From 2016 to to 2022 she worked for the ERDF-funded project ReBAU at Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier GmbH, where she implemented circular economy strategies in the construction sector at a regional level.

Her research and teaching activities focuse on circular construction, resource-efficient design strategies, circular renovation, and digital tools that support circular design processes in the built environment.

Maja-Marija Nahod

I believe that meaningful transformation in the built environment happens when knowledge is shared across disciplines and translated into practical action. In the collective, I contribute by connecting research, digital innovation, project management and construction practice, with a strong focus on collaboration, circularity and responsible decision-making.

Maja-Marija Nahod is an Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Civil Engineering, specialising in construction management, digitalisation, BIM, project planning and control, and the circular economy in the built environment. She is also a licensed civil engineer, certified project manager, BIM expert, energy certifier, and court expert in construction and real-estate valuation.

Her professional and research work focuses on connecting technological innovation with practical implementation, public-sector governance, regulation, sustainability, and collaborative project delivery. She has participated in complex construction and infrastructure projects, national reform initiatives, international consultancy assignments, and interdisciplinary research and educational programmes.

Her particular interest lies in improving decision-making through digital tools, structured project management, stakeholder collaboration, and evidence-based approaches. She advocates for the responsible use of BIM, data and emerging technologies to support resource efficiency, circularity, resilience, and greater transparency throughout the building life cycle.

Through her work, she seeks to bridge academia, professional practice, public institutions and local communities, transforming research knowledge into applicable solutions for a more sustainable and digitally enabled built environment.

Malgorzata Hanzl

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Małgorzata Hanzl is an architect, urban planner, and Associate Professor at the Institute of Architecture and Town Planning, Lodz University of Technology (Poland). Her research spans urban morphology, walkability, green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and the regenerative dimensions of urban form — examining how cities can be designed to support ecological balance, climate adaptation, and long-term social resilience. She has published widely on these themes, including work on social-ecological urbanism, urban metabolism, land use optimisation, vegetation and climate adaptability, and the redevelopment of modernist housing estates in the context of environmental performance.

A Fulbright Senior Research Award recipient (MIT SENSEable City Laboratory, 2014), she co-edited a special issue on planning resilient cities and regions in the journal Cities and currently participates in the ECIU Seed2 Y-Move international project on sustainable and equitable urban futures. She has been actively engaged with ISOCARP — the International Society of City and Regional Planners — serving on its Scientific Committee (2013–2017) and as Vice President for Publications (2017–2020). She is President of ISUF Polska since 2025 and a member of the Editorial Board of Urban Morphology. A licensed member of the former Polish Chamber of Urban Planners, she also provides expert consultancy in spatial planning.

Matea Flegar

“We measure what we care about, and then we care about what we measure.” Donella Meadows

Matea Flegar is a Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Materials, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb. She holds Master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Zagreb and in Building Science and Environment from TU Wien, and a PhD degree completed in 2025. Her research focuses on sustainable construction materials, low-carbon binders, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for both research and industrial applications.

She has participated in national and international research projects, including the ACT – Advanced Low CO₂ Cementitious Materials project in collaboration with EPFL, Switzerland. Her work combines experimental research with sustainability assessment to support the transition towards environmentally responsible construction.

Alongside her research, she teaches courses in Green Building and Durability of Structures, promotes natural building materials such as clay and earth-based construction, and organizes hands-on workshops for university and high school students within the GREENCO project. Her teaching and outreach activities aim to bridge scientific knowledge, practical construction skills, and sustainable design principles.

Matthias Faul

Architecture and teaching is a closely connected practice: both begin with a careful reading of the existing and seek to create meaningful change through precise, hands-on interventions.

Matthias Faul (born 1991) is an architect (Dipl.-Ing., registered with the Chamber of Architects of Rhineland-Palatinate, and a member of Deutscher Werkbund Bayern) and has been a teaching assistant at the Professorship of Urban Design at the Technical University of Munich since 2020. In his teaching and practice, he focuses on spatial interventions, the activation of vacant spaces, and new forms of public knowledge production.

Meryem Birgül Çolakoğlu

Birgül Çolakoğlu is engaged in both education and research in Architecture. Her educational work focuses on transforming architectural education to address the environmental and social challenges facing the built environment. Her research is twofold: first, it explores computational design methodologies and digital technologies that support innovative design processes; second, it investigates circular, adaptive, and regenerative design approaches aimed at enhancing the sustainability, resilience, and long-term performance of the built environment.

Birgül Çolakoğlu is a Professor in the Architectural Design and Computing Program at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). She received her PhD in Design and Computation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2000 and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the MIT Department of Architecture.

Between 2001 and 2015, she was affiliated with Yıldız Technical University, where she directed the Computational Design Graduate Program from 2008 to 2015. At ITU, she served as Head of the Department of Architecture (2018–2021) and Coordinator of the Master’s in Architecture Program (2016–2023).

In 2020, she founded the Circularity in Built Environment Research Group (CiBE) under the ITU Advanced Studies in Architecture Center and currently serves as its Director. She has taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in architecture, computational design, and digital technologies, including at the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Architecture.

Her research focuses on computational design, digital design technologies, design education, and circularity in the built environment. She is an active member of eCAADe and served as its President from 2018 to 2020.

Moujan Mahdian

Circularity is achieved when it becomes self-evident.

Moujan Mahdian is a designer, lecturer, and researcher specializing in urban transitions, the circular economy, digital innovation, and product design. She holds an MSc in Architecture from KU Leuven and is the co-founder of Imperfect, a startup focused on circular and practical solutions for the built environment. She has collaborated with organizations including the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the New European Bauhaus (NEB), the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership, and Horizon Europe projects to develop data-driven and community-centered solutions for circular cities. In 2024, she was recognized by the European Innovation Council (EIC) as a Woman Leader (WLP) for her pioneering contribution to innovation.

Niklas Fanelsa

As architects and designers we have the unique ability not only to understand complex systems and networks, but also to develop solutions within them, based on scalable design artefacts and processes. In this approach design becomes the method for envisioning future-oriented solutions, rather than relying on past or current knowledge frameworks. As system architects we can extend the design approach into fields such as ecological restoration, circular material flows, more-than-human communities, and regional value-chains.

Prof. Fanelsa represents the approach of an extended architectural practice based on the design of systems in the field of built environment. Architecture and design become application-oriented processes for exploring challenges of our contemporary world. Methods are living labs, 1:1 prototypes and workshops, applied in circular building systems, holistic design and collaborative project formats. He is engaged in transdisciplinary structures for the implementation of research projects and start-ups.

Niklas Fanelsa studied architecture at RWTH Aachen University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. After his studies he worked at De Vylder Vinck Taillieu in Ghent and TBBK Architekten in Berlin. In 2016, he founded the architecture practice Atelier Fanelsa with studios in Berlin and Gerswalde. He was a teaching and research associate at RWTH Aachen University, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and Bauhaus University Weimar. In 2022 Niklas Fanelsa was appointed as professor for the Professorship of Architecture and Design.

Nurhan Abujidi

We believe the complexity of the urban context and its challenges requires an integral approach to achieve justice on diverse fronts (environmental, social, climate..etc). Community engagement is at the heart of any urban transformation.

Nurhan Abujidi has been a Professor at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences since 2016, where she leads the Smart Urban Redesign Research Group. As an architect and urban researcher, she focuses on just and sustainable urban transitions, with particular attention to socio-spatial inequality, circularity, and co-creation. She connects education, practice, and research in an innovative way and collaborates closely with public and private partners on issues concerning livability and the quality of the built environment. In addition to her work as a Professor, she is a co-founder of the European Center for Circular Building Transformation (ECCBT) and is active within regional, national, and international networks committed to the circular and inclusive transition of cities.

Olga Ioannou

Circularity and regeneration require a complete change of worldview that can only be developed and operationalised collectively

Olga Ioannou is Assistant Professor at the department of Architectural Engineering and Technology (AET), and the co-leader of the Circular Built Environment (CBE) Hub of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft. Her work explores circular and regenerative design, more-than-human perspectives, and the role of materials in shaping ecological and social futures. With a particular interest in material innovation and systems thinking, she investigates how design can contribute to environmental regeneration and responsible resource use. Her research engages with themes including circular and regenerative design practices, biodesign, ecological literacy, and design for sustainability. With a strong research background on architectural engineering education, Olga has developed and is currently coordinating several educational initiatives with the aim of integrating circularity in BK curricula: Circularity for Educators, Educators for Circularity, and the Circular Design Atlas.

Poorya Eghtesadi

Circularity is meaningful when it is socially embedded, technologically enabled, and spatially grounded, enabling just and resilient urban futures.

Poorya Eghtesadi is an architect, lecturer, and researcher with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from University of Tehran and a Master’s degree in Architecture from KU Leuven. He works at the intersection of circular urban transitions, spatial–social dynamics, and neighborhood-scale transformation. His work examines how spatial configuration and socio-economic vitality correlate within cities through data-driven analysis and design-research methodologies. His research and pedagogical approach integrates mapping, spatial modelling, social and contextual analysis, and co-design to support just and circular transitions in the built environment.

Robert Schmidt III

We have a value crisis: a disconnect between our values and how we treat the material systems that sustain us. Circularity asks us to reconsider value in what we already have, how it can be reused, and how long it can remain useful.

Dr Robert Schmidt III, BArch, MEng, PhD, is Professor of Architectural Design at Loughborough University, UK, where he previously served as Head of Architecture, leading the establishment and development of the BArch and MArch programmes. He teaches design thinking, architectural design, and systems-based approaches to the built environment and leads the Adaptable Futures Research Group. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology, China and the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil.

His research focuses on adaptability, transdisciplinary design, circularity, and material intelligence. A frequent international invited speaker, he has authored numerous books and publications, including Adaptable Architecture: Theory and Practice. Rob is also a founding partner of RaRe, a mission-driven design practice that explores how design can reshape systems, relationships, and long-term change in response to climate crisis, inequality, and growing societal complexity. Before entering academia, he practised architecture in the United States on a range of civic and public projects, including community centres, museums, and libraries that continue to inform his research, teaching, and practice.

Roberto Cavallo

Circular and regenerative approaches are reshaping the future of design, empowering architects and other designer professionals to move beyond individual buildings and take on transformative roles in shaping communities and ecosystems across multiple scales.

Roberto Cavallo is an architect and associate professor in the Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft. He heads the Theory, Territories, Transition section, chairs the Architectural Design Crossovers group, and is member of the departmental research steering team. From 2014 to 2019, he was the faculty’s director of education. Cavallo earned his Ph.D. at TU Delft in 2008m received the IUS promovendi in 2017, and is currently supervising several Ph.D. candidates. He is president of the European Association of Architectural Education (EAAE) and a founding member of Architectural Research European Network Association (ARENA). His visiting professorships include roles in Shanghai (2013), Hong Kong (2013), Beijing (2014), and Milan (2021). His research explores the relationship between infrastructure and urban transformation, bridging theory, practice, and education. He regularly organizes and leads international events and participates in academic initiatives. He is also a frequent keynote speaker and serves on scientific committees. Since 2013, he has been a Built Environment Expert for the European Commission, advising on EU projects.

Teresa Domenech Aparisi

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Teresa is a lecturer in Industrial Ecology and the Circular Economy and founder director of the UCL Circular Economy Lab and the UCL Plastic Innovation Hub. She has contributed to leading international research in the areas of sustainable industrial development, decarbonisation pathways and the circular economy. Her expertise covers resource and energy implications of industrial sectors including construction (metals and cement), plastics, textiles and the bio-economy. She has also explored the resource implications (e.g. critical materials reliance) of green mobility (e.g. EV batteries) and renewable technologies. Her work also explores resource flows in cities and sustainable urban transitions.

Her work has been published in leading academic journals, including Nature Sustainability, and she has contributed to influential report for the European Commission and UN in the area of the Circular Economy. She delivers talks and lectures internationally in the areas of the circular economy and industrial decarbonisation. She regularly engages with the media (BBC, Channel4, TVR, NTVS, Times and Metro).

She currently is part of the ISO Editorial Teams drafting the new family of standards in the Circular Economy.

Waldo Galle

The best designs are not those that endure unchanged, but those that adapt gracefully.

Waldo Galle is professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and associate researcher for the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO). As a member of the research group VUB Architectural Engineering, he studies the financial and socio-technical feasibility of a circular construction economy. He questions which opportunities the transition towards that economy raises, which constraints it creates, and how the architectural practice changes together with it.

Trained as an architectural engineer Waldo focuses on the environmental savings, functional resilience, and financial feasibility of circular building during fundamental and strategic research, and developed policy recommendations and design support tools in applied and consultancy projects. Together with prof. Niels De Temmerman, Jeroen Poppe, and the other researchers of his team, he develops this expertise further in close collaboration with practice.