Nataša Pichler-Milanović

Nataša Pichler-Milanović is a senior research associate at the University of Ljubljana in urban geography and spatial planning. She graduated at the Faculty of Geographical Sciences, University of Belgrade and continued her post-graduate studies in urban and regional development and housing policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), University of London. From 1990-1996 she was employed at the LSE as a research officer on comparative urban research projects funded by the European Commission (DG XII, DG XVI). During 1998-1999 academic year she was a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations University (IAS/UNU) in Tokyo, Japan. Between 1996-2004 she was employed at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia in Ljubljana and since 2004 as a senior research associate at the University of Ljubljana. She has been responsible for interdisciplinary research projects, consultancy and project evaluation activities for several ministries in Slovenia and the city of Ljubljana, international organisations (UN, OECD, EU) and the EU programmes – INTERREG, Framework Programme, URBACT, ESPON. She has authored and edited several books and published articles in a variety of journals. She is also a peer reviewer for Urban Studies, Housing Studies, Urban Affairs, International Journal of Housing Policy, Progress in Planning, European Planning Studies, and other regional journals. Her current research interests include planning for resilient and energy efficient cities, territorial governance, metropolisation, polycentricity, functional (urban) regions, territorial governance, property market analysis and urban land use management.

Dirk van de Putte

Dirk Van de Putte has been deputy director of the Urban Development Agency for the Brussels-Capital Region since 2005. In his career, drawing on his twofold training as a construction technician and as an historian, he has worked both in newly created organisations and institutions and in others undergoing crucial transformations. His keen interest in public affairs – at the interface between technical aspects, public service, politics and civil society – and in questions of governance has always led him to take a holistic view of problems, based on an approach to complex phenomena that takes account of different sectors, professional disciplines and scales of intervention. This highly personal approach enables him to take on and successfully accomplish highly complex urban projects, and reflects his engagement in a wide range of fields, from public construction to early childhood, taking in spatial planning, the social and cooperative economy, socio-professional integration, local socio-economic development, social housing, socio-cultural training and social cohesion, all from a strong intercultural standpoint. From these different experiences, he is currently attempting to distil a synthetic method of territorial knowledge and governance based on a paradigm of complexity.”