Maurizio Carta is an architect, PhD and full professor of urbanism and regional planning at the Department of Architecture and Academic Senator of the University of Palermo. Founder and Director of the Augmented City Lab, an international research agency about the cities of the future. He was Director of the Urbanism Department, Dean of the Polytechnic School of the University of Palermo and Deputy Mayor for the Historic Center of the Palermo Municipality. He is senior expert in strategic planning, urban design and local development, drawing up several urban, landscape and strategic plans in Italy. In 2015 the International Biennial of Architecture in Buenos Aires awarded him with the prize for "academic investigation". In 2019 he was Italian Design Ambassador for the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He is visiting professor or keynote speaker in several universities and institutions. He is author of more than 300 publications, among the most recent: Reimagining Urbanism (Listlab, 2014), TheFluid City Paradigm (with D. Ronsivalle, Springer, 2016), Augmented City (Listlab, 2017) Dynamics of Periphery (with J. Schroeder, Jovis, 2018), Futuro. Politiche per un diverso presente (Rubbettino, 2019), Città aumentate. Dieci gesti-barriera per il futuro (Il Margine, 2021), Cosmopolitan Habitat (with J. Schroeder et al, Jovis, 2021). Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez is an architect, PhD and he is the head of department of urban resilience research at the Institute of Mobility and Urban Territorial Development in Yucatan. He is a lecturer and active researcher in Marista University of Merida, leading the urban and architecture studio at the School of Architecture and Design. He is member of the curatorial team of the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2021. He has more than ten years' experience as a registered architect and urban designer and a chartered member of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Merida (Mexico). In addition, he was a co-founder of the IMPLAN-Merida (Municipal Institute of Urban Planning in Merida City). His research and professional experience include works in Mexico, Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. He focuses on research topics related to informality in the urban landscape, as well as studies on urban resilience and architectural exaptation. Dr. Lara-Hernandez is an active member of LW Circus which is a program focused specifically on experimental modalities in searching new strategies for sustainable urban and rural development on sensitive natural areas and territories. Additionally, he collaborates at the Cluster of Sustainable Cities in the University of Portsmouth (UK) which is an interdisciplinary research hub working at the interface of sustainable architecture, urban planning, social sciences, ICT and engineering. Antonio has published several academic articles focused on the impact of the transformation of the built environment at the streetscape level towards the diversity and inclusion city centres. Maria R. Perbellini is the Dean of the School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology and a tenured Professor of Architecture. Her leadership advances design innovation, intellectual diversity, emerging computational technologies and interdisciplinary programs. She has been notably recognized, including the 2018 AIA Long Island Educator Award. She holds a B.Arch from the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia in Italy and a M.Arch from Pratt Institute in New York. Prior to NYIT, Perbellini was the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Chair of Instruction in the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University. She also taught at the School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin. She is the co-founder of Pongratz Perbellini Architects (PPA). Among others, PPA received the Segnalazione Premio Compasso d'Oro ADI, XXI Edition with the patented series in stone Hyperwave. Before establishing her own practice, she worked in NYC for Peter Eisenman and John Reimnitz on the design of prestigious commissioned buildings and international design competitions. She is an invited member of the Italian Pavilion Advisory Board at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2021, designer and curator of exhibitions, installations and events, and one of the Creative Directors of the Virtual Italian Pavilion. Perbellini is also and invited member of the NYC Architecture Biennial Advisory Board. With Christian Pongratz, Perbellini is the co-editor of the Monograph on Peter Eisenman for Korean Architects-KA (No.156, 08/1997), and the co-author of the books Natural Born CaaDesigners, (Birkhauser, 2000), Cyberstone (Edilstampa, 2009) and Digital Media for Design (Cognella Academic Publishing, 2016).
