Meet the leaders transforming our cities

Carlos Moreno is a Franco-Colombian urban planner and professor based in Paris, best known for pioneering the “15-Minute City” concept, promoting sustainable, human-centric urban living where children and families can thrive. His ideas have been widely adopted globally. Carlos serves as a scientific advisor to international organizations and is a fellow of the American Academy of Housing and Communities. He has received multiple prestigious awards, including the OBEL Award (2021), the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour (2022), and the Global Leadership Award for Sustainable Development (2024).

Acclaimed author of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change — hailed as “a landmark and a lightning storm” by the New Yorker and recognized as a Best Book of the Year by both the New Yorker and NPR. A powerful voice for working families and reproductive justice whose insights on urban planning center children’s needs and experiences. Her compelling work has graced the pages of The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, while her dynamic presence has captivated audiences on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and NPR’s Fresh Air. Her 2021 TED talk, “What Working Parents Really Need from Workplaces,” resonated with over one million viewers, demonstrating her exceptional ability to connect with diverse audiences on critical social issues.

Join us to hear Angela, a Seattle-based thought leader, share her visionary perspective on creating truly child-friendly urban environments.

In 1991, Eva Kail curated an exhibition of photography that depicted the everyday travel patterns of eight girls and women in Vienna, revealing a perspective of urban space that had never been considered in the city’s urban planning policy, and sparked a conversation that thirty years later has fundamentally transformed how the city sees its own purpose. Two years later Kail led the newly formed “Office of Women” in city hall, which immediately began producing groundbreaking research, including showing how women’s mobility patterns tended to be long sequences of many short stops that ended up exorbitantly expensive compared to the typical male work commuter, and led to a restructuring of transit fares. “Trip chaining” has become a fundamental concept in child-friendly planning today.

For the Conference topic most relevant is the Concept of Gender sensitive parks and playground design, which Vienna implements consequently, based on an eye opening,social science research, 6 model projects and their evaluation and general detailed planning recommendations. Nowadays every new or redesigned public park or playground follows these promising planning principles. Insights like these fed into Vienna’s gender mainstreaming policy which, under Kail’s leadership, has become a globally renowned model, inspiring replicas at the UN, and cities across Europe. In Vienna it has influenced 60 development projects to date, the most recent of which is Europe’s largest new district, Aspern Seestadt, which will eventually house 20,000 people in an area of 240 hectares.

Retired in 2024, Kail will share some reflections on her illustrious career which is still only barely coming into focus for how deeply influential it has been, and will certainly continue to be over the next century of city making.

Dinah Bornat’s book All to Play For: How to Design Child-Friendly Housing (RIBA Publishers, 2025) is both a plea and a guide—addressed to the UK government in the face of the 1.5 million homes they are promising to deliver – to work with evidence and specifically, consider the needs of children in doing so. Bornat’s research, advocacy, and design practice folds children’s and young people’s views and experiences into the function of their homes and the spaces around them. Her research reveals how our understanding of what makes “good housing” never bothers to observe children’s behavior, let alone speak with them.

At Start with Children Dinah will share multi-house and neighborhood layouts she has studied alongside people living there that prioritize children’s need for doorstep play and places to safely roam, as well as parent’s need for community, and what developers and councils need to know about their benefits for the health of cities.

Tim Gill is an independent scholar, writer, and consultant based in London and a global advocate for children’s outdoor play and mobility. He is the author of Urban Playground: How Child-Friendly Planning and Design Can Save Cities (RIBA Publications) and No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk-Averse Society (described in the New York Times as “a handbook for the movement for freer, riskier play”). Tim is a UK Design Council Ambassador. His consultancy clients include corporates, public bodies, and NGOs from throughout the UK and around the world, and he has spoken to audiences in over 25 countries across six continents. A former director of the Children’s Play Council (now Play England), he was seconded to the UK civil service to lead a government review into children’s play in 2003. Tim is a Churchill Fellow who has studied child-friendly urban planning in North and South America, the Middle East, and Europe. He holds degrees in philosophy and psychology from Oxford and London Universities, and an honorary doctorate in education from Edge Hill University. He is also an honorary patron of the UK Forest School Association. Tim writes for the mainstream media, trade, and academic publishing, and appears regularly on radio and television.

Sam Balto is a passionate Physical Education teacher with over a decade of experience across Washington, DC, Boston, and Portland. Throughout his career, he has been a tireless advocate for active transportation among students. After successfully leading walking school buses for six years, Sam launched a bike bus initiative at Alameda Elementary in 2022 – a program that captured international attention and was even recognized by the White House. Today, Sam is expanding his vision through Bike Bus World, a movement dedicated to inspiring and supporting communities in creating their own bike buses, transforming school commutes into healthier, safer, and more joyful experiences for children everywhere.

Renowned architecture critic and author Adam Gebrian moved with his family to Barcelona in 2017, where his partner would work on her PhD, and he would explore the city’s design heritage each day with their two-year old son. But standing across from legend Antonio Gaudi’s first work – a street lamp from 1879 in Plaça Real – his child’s fascination was instead a large rain puddle just beneath it. “That’s when everything changed.” 

That lesson inspired Three Months in Barcelona, a book that is part architectural guidebook, part memoir, in which Gebrian recounts learning to see the city from the eyes of a toddler and what it reveals about everything from cities’ maintenance and logistics systems, to broad, universal values in master works of architecture. 

The recipient of the prestigious Czech “Architect of the Year” award in 2015, Adam has since written similar accounts in Two Months in Lisbon, Summer in Tenerife, Seven Months in Raleigh, New York, Chicago, and is currently developing a next book on Costa Rica. 

Jonny Anstead is the co-founding partner of TOWN, the largest co-housing builder in the UK. 

TOWN is the developer of Marmalade Lane, a recently built project in Cambridge, UK. The designers Mole Architects, describe the whole site as “essentially a collective playground for kids,” and is recognized as a best-practice model of a co-housing development that maximizes opportunities for free unstructured play for children and an ease of community support for parents.

Anstead will share what drives TOWN’s ethos as a housing developer to “do things differently,”focusing on co-housing, they help ownership collectives through the process of designing together, as well as experimenting with innovating methods of finance in order to bring down costs so that these models of housing are accessible to lower-income residents.

“It is of utmost importance that the urban child has daily access to nature.” 

Helle Nebelong carries the torch of the outdoor adventure play tradition that originated in Denmark in 1943 before spreading across Europe after the second world war. Across a thirty-year career, she is the designer of Copenhagen’s most popular playground, Valbyparken—widely considered to be one of the best playgrounds in the world, which regularly hosts visiting groups of experts who come to observe it. Helle’s philosophy puts children’s ideas at the center of the design process, giving space for the surprise of children’s creativity to influence major decisions in the layouts, not “what we want for them.” Her playgrounds are places of discovery that encourage the thrill of new risks and she was a pioneer of using what is found on and near the site, and re-using simple materials that are nearby. 

Her most recent project is the largest natural playground in the United States, a 16-acre park adjacent to Colene Hoose Elementary School outside Chicago, Illinois. The project includes 4-acres of restored prairie children can run through, and features 92 different types of trees, 100 different types of shrubs and grasses, and is the most significant planting of indigenous species in the state of Illinois in the past 25 years. 

To bring children to nature also means creating new opportunities for nature itself. 

Jakob Steen Christensen is a partner and co-founder of JAJA Architects. He and JAJA are behind numerous internationally recognized urban facilities such as Konditaget Lüders, Harboøre Activity Hall, and Streetmekka Aalborg. Driven by a core belief in fostering play and movement, JAJA is dedicated to creating climate-responsible cities, buildings, and urban spaces that inspire active and engaging lifestyles. 

Their playful approach emphasizes creating architecture that appeals to children. A notable example is GAME Streetmekka Aalborg, transforming a 1963 production building into a vibrant sports and culture center – now a very popular attraction in Aalborg, Denmark.

Visionary leader and founder of thinkfeelchange, a consultancy transforming how mission-driven organizations approach equity and systemic change in urban environments. With an impressive career spanning global challenges—from urban health and clean air initiatives to early childhood development and corporate sustainability—Patrin brings unparalleled expertise to the conversation on child-friendly urban planning. As the former Knowledge for Policy Director at the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, she was instrumental in developing the groundbreaking Urban95 program, reimagining cities from the perspective of a 95cm-tall three-year-old to create urban spaces where young children and families can truly thrive. Drawing from her multicultural background with roots in both the USA and Thailand, and now based in the UK, Patrin offers a unique global perspective on creating inclusive urban environments—all while maintaining her love for both mac & cheese and spicy noodle soups.

Join us to hear how Patrin’s innovative approach to urban transformation is reshaping cities for our youngest citizens.

Michael Feigelson has worked for Van Leer since 2007. Prior to his current role as CEO, he served as the Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation from 2014–2019. Before this he held several other positions including programme director, programme manager and programme officer.

Before Van Leer, Michael spent most of his career serving grassroots and non-profit organisations in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe working with homeless and displaced children and families. Early in his career he also spent time as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. He has degrees from Wesleyan and Princeton Universities, was a Thomas J. Watson fellow and served as a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Behaviour.

Michael enjoys writing (read some of his writing here), swimming and cycling. He is most proud of his role as a father to his daughter with whom he shares a love of music, books and chocolate.

Atsani is a philanthropist, acting as the Director of Child and Youth Health for the FIA Foundation based in London and the lead for the Child Health Initiative. Before his role with the Foundation, he was the Manager of Global Road Safety Projects with the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, managing Fondation Botnar’s child road safety challenge, a global safer and sustainable mobility programme. Previous to this Atsani was the Lead for VicRoads International (Department of Transport), the road authority for the State Government of Victoria in Australia, responsible for winning and implementing international projects funded by multi-lateral banks such as the WB, ADB and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Atsani also has had professional experience in the consulting and energy industry.  He holds a Master of Commerce from Melbourne University and a double degree in International Trade and Management.

Marco te Brömmelstroet holds the chair of Urban Mobility Futures at the University of Amsterdam. As a social scientist, he is interested in how our mobility systems are manifestations of our underlying narratives of what mobility, streets, and society are for. As academic director of The Lab of Thought, and on LinkedIn, he actively disrupts and challenges that thinking with the aim to improve cognitive leniency and accelerate the mobility transition. 

Amongst other works, he co-authored the bestseller Movement: How to Take Back Our Streets and Transform Our Lives with journalist Thalia Verkade. This enlightening and provocative book challenges readers to rethink urban transportation by questioning the dominance of cars in public spaces and advocating for people-centered urban design. Drawing on examples from Dutch cities, the authors explore how reclaiming streets for pedestrians and cyclists can lead to safer, cleaner, and more vibrant communities. Movement has been praised for its insightful analysis and compelling vision for the future of urban mobility. ​

As CEO and co-founder of Early Ideas Limited (trading as Tandem) and Clinical Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Dr. Rob Hughes brings extensive expertise in child health and development to the Start with Children 2025 summit.

Dr. Hughes holds impressive credentials with a medical degree from the University of Bristol, a Bachelor of Science in International Health from University College London, a Master of Public Health from Harvard as a Kennedy Scholar, and a PhD in Child Health and Development from LSHTM. His career spans clinical practice, international development, academia, and industry innovation. As Health and Nutrition Adviser for the UK Department for International Development, he led assignments across Pakistan, Yemen, and Zambia. At the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation in London, he pioneered their Early Childhood Development strategy and programmes as a Senior Fellow.

At LSHTM, Dr. Hughes teaches epidemiology and global health while conducting research on environmental impacts on child development, particularly in urban low- and middle-income countries, and exploring the effects of climate change and emerging technologies.

In 2023, he co-founded Tandem to develop ‘tech for good’ solutions for early childhood, creating digital tools that enhance early childhood experiences with particular focus on supporting underprivileged communities. Dr. Hughes currently serves on the Play Commission, convened by the Centre for Young Lives, further demonstrating his commitment to improving childhood development opportunities.

Juraj Benetin is an architect and urban planner behind many transformative projects in Bratislava. As co-founder and managing director of Compass studio, established in 2004, he has become one of the leading figures in Slovak architecture. His personal and professional philosophy is built on a simple yet profound idea – creating not just buildings, but genuine homes. Spaces where people live fulfilling lives in harmonious communities.

Under joint leadership with architect Matej Grébert, Compass has become one of Slovakia’s most prominent architectural studios, specializing in creating vibrant urban districts. In Bratislava’s historic center, they’re breathing new life into Vydrica; in the inner city, they’re delivering projects like Urban Residence and Nová Vajnorská; on the city’s outskirts, they’re creating modern neighborhoods such as Slnečnice and Nový Ružinov; and they’re sensitively transforming brownfields in projects like Zwirn and Matadorka.

As a native of Bratislava and graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at Slovak University of Technology, Juraj has a special relationship with the capital city. His passion for waterfront urbanization and active participation in discussions about urban development make him not just a successful architect, but an important visionary shaping Bratislava’s future.

Martin Hrouda merges his twin passions of architecture and skateboarding to reimagine urban spaces that foster community engagement and active living. As co-founder of U/U Studio, he leads a design practice committed to transforming public spaces through innovative, inclusive, and community-centered approaches.

Under Martin’s creative direction, U/U Studio develops urban solutions that make cities more dynamic and accessible for all generations. His philosophy embraces the intersection of design, sport, and social connection, creating environments that encourage both physical activity and meaningful community interaction. His landmark project, the Skatepark Janka Kráľa beneath Bratislava’s SNP Bridge, exemplifies his vision by revitalizing a neglected urban area into a thriving destination for sports enthusiasts, cultural events, and diverse social gatherings—proving that thoughtful design can transform overlooked spaces into vital community assets.

Catherine Gall bridges global business experience with cutting-edge urban research as Executive Director of Chaire ETI (Entrepreneurship Territory Innovation), the Sorbonne-based research lab renowned for developing the groundbreaking “15-minute City / 30-minute Territory Model.” Working alongside Professors Carlos Moreno, Didier Chabaud, and Florent Pratlong since 2020, she leads initiatives that challenge conventional city planning paradigms.

With over 25 years of strategy and innovation expertise in the corporate interiors industry at Steelcase Inc., Catherine has orchestrated workplace transformation projects across five continents. Her international perspective is enhanced by her education in Business Management from the Strasbourg School of Business and professional experience spanning five countries.

Catherine led the pioneering “Culture Code” ethnographic research exploring how cultural factors influence working and learning environments across 11 countries. As an author and visiting lecturer at European universities, she continues to investigate the complex interplay between space, technology, culture, and human behavior—consistently seeking solutions that create positive impact for people and organizations through human-centered design methodologies.

Benjie leads global transportation innovation as CEO of the Shared-Use Mobility Center and Chair of the Global Network for Popular Transportation. Through his leadership of the Shared Mobility 2030 Action Agenda, he’s driving collaborative initiatives to transform urban mobility systems worldwide.

A respected voice in sustainable transportation policy, Benjie serves on several influential bodies including the UITP Informal Transportation Working Group, the Digital Transport for Africa Partners Committee, and the MobiliseYourCity Steering Committee. He is also a Senior Fellow for Mobility at the Canadian Urban Institute and previously served on the board of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Benjie brings practical public sector experience to his work, having pioneered as the first-ever Chief of Strategy and Innovation for the Seattle Department of Transportation, where he helped reshape urban mobility approaches in one of North America’s fastest-growing cities.

As the senior foreign correspondent at global media brand Monocle and the executive producer of Monocle Radio, Carlota Rebelo brings valuable insights on urban development and city innovation to the Start with Children 2025 summit. Her work on “The Urbanist” – one of the longest-running podcasts dedicated to city building and urban issues – has established her as a leading voice in conversations about creating better cities for all residents. Through her reporting from major global gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos and UN COP meetings, Carlota regularly engages with mayors, planners, and citizens who are pioneering meaningful change in urban environments.

Carlota’s expertise is documented in her contributions to Monocle’s collection of city travel guides and prestigious publications like “The Monocle Guide to Building Better Cities” and “The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas for Building Better Cities.” With her international perspective – from her Portuguese roots in Madeira Island to her experience as Monocle’s Los Angeles bureau chief tracking US politics – she offers summit participants a unique global viewpoint on creating vibrant, inclusive urban spaces that can better serve communities and their future generations.

Sandra is an urbanist and lead of the project City for Children at Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava. Collaborating with a diverse, multidisciplinary team of the City for Kids project, her mission is to improve access to public spaces for everyone, with a focus on school commutes and free play. The project aims at promoting active mobility for children through participation, behavioural interventions, communication, and urban design. She has studied in Bratislava and Amsterdam, giving her a well-rounded understanding of urban planning and the role of public spaces in society. Her career has been characterized by cross-sector collaboration, with a focus on social justice and inclusive design. As a parent of two children, she’s committed to projects that prepare communities for the future and make them more resilient.

Matúš Vallo has been the mayor of the capital city of Slovakia, Bratislava, since December 2018, when he won the municipal elections. He successfully defended his mandate in the following 2022 elections. His goal, which he has been fulfilling since taking office, is to make Bratislava a stronger, more resilient, greener, and more transparent city, with quality public spaces, accessible public transportation, and support for disadvantaged groups, together with his team. For his efforts to transform Bratislava into a greener city with quality public spaces, he received the World Mayor Future Award. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship at Columbia University in New York, as well as scholarships from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Harvard University, which are exclusively offered to only forty mayors worldwide. He is also a co-founder of the Pact of Free Cities, which he established with the mayors of Warsaw, Prague, and Budapest in 2019.

Mgr. Lenka Antalová Plavuchová is the Deputy Mayor of Bratislava, focusing on urban rental housing and social policy. She is a very experienced municipal politician with a direct focus on affordable housing, the development of rental housing and the innovation strategy in obtaining the city’s housing fund regarding social impact and improving the availability of housing. Since 2010 she has been a local member of the Bratislava-Rača city district and since 2018 she has also been a member of the Bratislava city council. She has worked in community development, education policy and in several national projects within the non-governmental sector in Slovakia. She is the founder of a community center, which was created by the reconstruction of an old, abandoned place in Rača.

Prior to her appointment as Deputy Mayor of Bratislava, she worked as Vice-Mayor in the Bratislava-Rača district, focusing on public spaces, education and communication.

Petra Marko is an acclaimed architect and placemaking expert dedicated to creating people-centric cities and public spaces. She serves as CEO of the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava, driving strategic architecture, urban planning, and participatory placemaking initiatives to enhance quality of life. Prior to her role at MIB Petra co-founded and led a London-based placemaking practice active across public spaces design, town centres regeneration and masterplanning in the UK and Cenral Europe. She led the research and campaign for unlocking London’s small sites, sat on UK’s National Infrastructure Commission and taught as design tutor at The London School of Architecture. An advocate for greener cities and active commuting, Petra has co-authored VeloCity, a strategic vision for the future of the countryside; and Meanwhile City, a best practice and how-to guide for temporary interventions. After two decades abroad, she returned to Bratislava to effect positive change.

Juraj leads the Participation and Urban Studies Section at the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava, where he transforms sociological theory into practical urban solutions. Drawing on his academic background in sociology from Masaryk University in Brno, he expertly applies research methodologies to enhance public engagement across the city’s development initiatives.

As co-author of the influential Participation Manual and contributor to the strategic “Bratislava 2030” vision, Juraj has helped establish frameworks that ensure citizen voices—particularly those often unheard—shape Bratislava’s future. Since joining the Institute in 2019, he has championed inclusive approaches to urban planning that bridge academic rigor with community needs.

His team’s flagship “City for Kids” project exemplifies his citizen-centered philosophy, creating safer, more inclusive environments around Bratislava’s schools while meaningfully involving children in the design process. Beyond physical transformations, Juraj’s work promotes active mobility and temporary space activation, demonstrating how thoughtful urban interventions can foster vibrant community life across generations.