Our Team

Kirstin Miller leads Ecocity Builders’ global initiatives and activities. She works locally and internationally to help cities access ecocity knowledge and specializes in integrating city-based experiences from a diverse range of perspectives. Kirstin has been with Ecocity Builders since the mid-1990s and has served as ED since 2006.

Kirstin is an international speaker and presenter on ecocity design, technology, development and citizen participation. She facilitates Ecocity Builders’ flagship programs, including the Ecocity World Summit conference series and the Ecocity Standards initiative.

Isaias is a Mexican emergent Generative Architect. For Ecocity Builders, he focuses on generative architecture, parametric design, and ecocity digital twin development. He uses a master combination of Rhino 7-grasshopper – Zbrush – Fusion 360 etc… in order to model future cities and neighborhoods and create construction plans and manuals. Over the past year, Isaias has supported the development of seven digital city models for the Ecocity Morocco initiative, an Ecocity Builders project in partnership with the UN Environment Program and Al Omrane, Morocco’s social housing developer. Isaias is additionally supporting the digital design development of several ecocity technologies that will support circular economies and local job creation.

An environmental engineer by training, Nivesh supports the management of Special Projects for Ecocity Builders, including supporting the development of regional ecocity hubs and special events in South Asia. A current focus is to support the buildout of the city of Lalitpur, Nepal’s green city ambitions, along with Ecocity Builders and other local partners. Currently, Nivesh is assisting local coordination in Nepal for the design development of a hydroponic carbon capture and sequestration system that can absorb emissions from industry, the brainchild of UK based inventor Mark Everson.

Dr. Zakarya Driss is an engineer in with PhDs from Claude Bernard University (France) and Rabat University (Morocco) in Chemical and Biological Data Modeling (classical statistics, Fuzzy logic, neural networks). He frequently works as a consultant around environmental issues including water, waste, atmospheric pollution, chemical management, thermal energy and climate change. He has carried out more than 175 studies in this field for both public and private sector. Clients include the World Bank, GIZ, AFD, EIB, KFW, UNIDO, UNDP, CCAC, SEI, MCC (USA), Spanish International Cooperation, WEC (USA), Ecocity Builders (USA), Al Omrane Holding, and OCP Holding. In addition to consulting, Dr. Zakarya remains active in Research and Development. He has published 66 international papers, 7 patents and 3 scientific books.

Heba Khalil is professor of sustainable urbanism & the senior coordinator of the Architectural Engineering and Technology Program at Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. She focuses on community development, informal areas, urban metabolism, urban climate, integrated urban systems, gender equity & land governance. Heba has more than 40 publications & several international research partnerships. She has 20 years of experience working as an architect, urban planner, housing & capacity building expert with a passion for inclusive & sustainable development. She worked with multi-scale agencies, authorities, & clients both local & international. Heba holds a PhD in architectural engineering from Cairo University and has been granted the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship in urban studies at MIT.

Sangeeta Singh is a professor in urban planning, and Director of the Centre for Applied Research at the Institute of Engineering in Lalitpur, Nepal. She holds a PhD in Urban Planning (specializing in ecocities). She has led a number of research projects related to ecological urban planning, disaster resilience, equitable urban resilience, sustainable development, and gender mainstreaming, among others. She is the coordinator of the Nepal National Urban Forum and is the Chairperson of the Women in Engineering and Business Committee at the Nepal Engineering Association. She has published various research works especially in the field of eco cities and sustainable development, and has been a visiting scholar at Kyushu university, (Japan), KU Leuven university (Belgium), and Tibet University.

Mark Everson is a widely-experienced UK-national Chartered Engineer. Over the last decade he’s been working up a novel carbon capture approach that made Finalist in MIT’s Climate CoLab in 2014 and again in MIT’s SOLVE in 2016, the concept being further developed since with leading UK universities, and now with Ecocity Builders and partners. Mark graduated in 1982 from Bath University with a BSc (Honours) in Chemical Engineering, followed by an MSc (Dist) from Warwick in 1995 in Engineering Business Management. Originally a UK MoD-sponsored student he joined the UK’s Royal Ordnance Factories – later part of BAE Systems – managing planning, production, quality, procurement, and systems implementation, gaining a reputation for problem solving. A spell as Manufacturing Director for a leading PPE producer followed. Today he runs a successful company with his wife Lynn.

Debra Efroymson is co-founder and Executive Director of the Institute of Wellbeing (IWB), Regional Director of the Canadian public health NGO HealthBridge, and co-founder and advisor of Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust. Debra has been living in Asia since 1994 in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. She has written and spoken extensively on urban planning, transport policy, and economics. She has helped lead successful advocacy campaigns in Vietnam and Bangladesh on urban planning and transport issues. She is the author of Beyond Apologies, Defining and Achieving an Economics of Wellbeing which lays out thirteen myths about economics that prevent us from achieving genuine wellbeing for all, offers a better way to approach each issue, and suggests how to achieve a better world.

Shivang is a UX Designer, technologist, and an architect. With several years of creating meaningful experiences for people in digital and physical space, Shivang brings a unique blend of creative intelligence and pragmatic attitude. As a Senior Director of Design, he has led clients and product teams from ambiguity to clarity by setting researched-based, data-driven design direction that combine user, business and development goals.

Marco worked for 11 years at BARRA in Berkeley – a think tank developing statistical risk models for equity and fixed income markets around the world. For Ecocity Builders, Marco supports the development of a localized ecocity economic model. He has contributed to the development of Ecocity Builders’ Ecocity Standards since its inception in 2011 in partnership with the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s School of Construction and the Environment. Over the years he has provided added guidance to program development and strategy, including proposals for a pedestrian plaza in the heart of Berkeley, California.

Rick is Associate Dean for Research and Professor at Wayne State University – School of Social Work. He does research on poverty, inequality, migration, and the impact of sustainable community development initiatives. The Association for Community Organization and Social Administration awarded him the 2013 Emerging Scholar Award. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan and Western Michigan University.

Steven is a creative director and visual media entrepreneur with twenty years experience in 360 virtual reality media production, commercial photography, and visual media development. Steven has held senior creative positions in San Francisco, Brussels, and Bangalore.

Steven has produced videos, virtual training materials and VR tours for Ecocity Builders. He also helped lead the production of a virtual reality event Ecocity Builders hosted in partnership with UN Habitat’s Urban Thinkers Campus.

Mr Bercu is a practicing attorney and CEO of Lime, llc., lawyers for interactive media. He is a Director of the Helen and William Mazer Foundation and a former Director for Business and Legal Affairs for Atari, Inc.

Steve is an enthusiastic bicyclist and does pro bono legal work through Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and Creative Capital specializing in intellectual property rights. His foundation has been important in supporting Ecocity Builders’ major San Francisco 7th International Ecocity Conference, redesign of Berkeley’s major downtown street link from the regional transit system to the University of California and the Ecocity Builders’ International Framework and Standards currently in development for assessing and helping guide cities’ progress toward higher levels of accomplishment in the quest for urban sustainability, health and cultural vitality.

Mr Pruetz is former Planning Director of Burbank, California. He is the foremost national expert on transfer of development rights (TDR) and is a planning consultant specializing in TDR and author of The TDR Handbook: Designing and Implementing Transfer of Development Rights Programs (Island Press 2012).

Background for his new book, Lasting Value – Open Space Planning and Preservation’s Successes and motivation for his efforts to transform the cities and rural areas he works with is to prevent what he calls “country-cide,” as more than one million acres of United States rural land is paved and built upon for development. His website at www.SmartPreservation.net dedicated to open space preservation news is a respected source in the field.

Kirstin Miller leads Ecocity Builders’ program development, global initiatives and activities. She thrives on being a practitioner and a life-long learner. She has been with Ecocity Builders since the mid-1990s and has served as ED since 2006. Central to her work is supporting the development of practical approaches to achieving ecocity goals.

Kirstin leads the development of the Ecocity Standards initiative, 18 conditions for healthy cities and a civilization in balance with Earth systems. In partnership with the UN Environment Program’s Cities Unit, she is helping hone a “neighborhood approach” to community health and sustainable development. Recently, she has integrated open source tools and processes into Ecocity Builders’ repertoire, including the customizable New Urbanist SmartCode for cities.

Kirstin helps oversee and lead the Ecocity World Summit conference series, the longest-running conference on ecological urbanism and sustainable cities, along with its sister series, Ecocity Forum.

Kirstin is an Advisor to the Global Carbon Reward Initiative and is a member of the Technical Committee for the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation.  She has been an instructor on ecological cities at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture and UC Berkeley’s Sustainable Design Program. Over the years, Kirstin has mentored dozens of young people via internship programs and special projects. Her background is in education, humanities, journalism and music.

Dr. Sahar Attia is a member of the Egyptian Parliament and an Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University. She is a Member of the Supreme Council for Urban Development -Egypt, board member in the Social Housing Fund, Egypt, a member in the Stakeholders Advisory Group enterprise (SAGE) UN-Habitat, and is Chair of the University Network Initiative -UN-Habitat.

Dr. Attia  has 40 Years of experience practicing Urban Planning, Urban Design, and Architecture in the Academic and Professional Field. Her specializations and fields of interest include Urban Development & Strategic Planning, Community Development, Heritage Conservation, and Urban Regeneration, Upgrading the informal areas, and governance.

Dr. Toregas is one of the leading voices regarding the wise use and impact of technology in government. He led the non-profit local government research organization Public Technology Inc. for more than 35 years, advocating the creation and deployment of new innovative technologies for local governments in partnership with the private sector, and lectures extensively about the impact of the digital age on government.

Dr. Toregas is the Associate Director of the GW Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute, as well as the IT advisor for the Montgomery County MD County Council, where he provides analysis support for more than $200 million annual investments in technology services.

His research interests include cyber security curriculum and work force development and cyber competitions, the intersect of policy and technology in the public sector, and aspects of Social Equity and sustainability in public administration. Dr. Toregas holds PhD and MS Civil Engineering degrees in Environmental Systems Engineering and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, all from Cornell University.

Dr. Bravo is a global academic scholar and educator, passionate public space activist, and social entrepreneur. She has more than 15-years experience in the professional field as urban planner and designer with a specific focus on public space. After completing her PhD in Italy (2008), she has taught, researched and lectured in Europe, the United States, Middle East, Asia and Australia. She is currently Adjunct Professor in Urban Design at the University of Florence in Italy.

Dr. Bravo is the Founder, Editor in Chief and Journal Manager of ‘The Journal of Public Space’, the first, international, interdisciplinary, academic, open access journal entirely dedicated to public space, that she established through City Space Architecture in 2015, in partnership with UN-Habitat. Her lecture ‘Stand up for Public Space!’ has been included in the UN-Habitat Global Urban Lectures series (2017).

She is also the Founder and Curator of the Public Space Museum, the first Italian research centre entirely dedicated to collaborative and transdisciplinary approach to public space practice, merging art, architecture and technology into a complex new discipline. The Museum is developed in partnership with her Italian for-profit company Genius Saeculi, that she founded in 2019.

Mr Stein is former Dean of Architecture at the Boston Architecture College and before that a professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

He also taught at Technicum Winterthur, Zurich, and Ecole d’Architecture Languedoc-Rousillon, Montpellier, France. Mr. Stein is currently President of the Cosanti Foundation, building Arcosanti, Arizona, and keeper of Paolo Soleri’s architectural and philosophical legacy.

Mr. Stein lectures internationally and presents on special invitations such as Keynote at the 100th Anniversary Conference celebrating the founding of Tel-Aviv, Israel. Jeff lives and works at Arcosanti.

Aparajithan Narasimhan brings over 17 years of international experience in various fields including architecture, interior design, sustainable planning and development, construction management and real estate development.

He has worked on various projects in India and the United States in residential, residential mixed-use, active-adult, senior living, health care and research laboratories both new construction and renovations totaling a value of more than US$1.7 billion.

Mr. Register is one of the world’s great theorists and authors in ecological city design and planning.

He is also a practitioner with four decades of experience activating local projects, pushing establishment buttons and working with environmentalists and developers to get a better city built and running. Among his many “firsts,” he convened the first of the Ecocity International Conference Series in Berkeley, California, and was the founding president of Urban Ecology (1975) and Ecocity Builders (1992-2014).

Mr. Register illustrates his own writing, and his books are considered as pleasurable for his imaginative drawings as profound in their ecological urban philosophies and visions. He is the author of Ecocity Berkeley: Building cities for a healthy future (1987), Ecocities: Building cities in balance with nature (2002), and most recently, The Ecocity Coloring Book (2015) and World Rescue – An Economics Built on What We Build (2016).

Santos Mera is a Geographical Engineer in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Universidad Alas Peruanas in Cusco.

He is an international consultant and trainer whose professional experience includes Digital Cartography, Cadastral & Base Modeling Spatial Data, GIS and Satellite Image Management, Systematization of Cartographic Information For Business Use, and Cartographic Modeling for Final Presentations.

He has taught Geomatics in the Surveying Profession and other courses at the Higher Technical School, the National Training Service for the Construction Industry, and the Zonal Management (SENCICO CUSCO) in Cusco, and in the Academic Department of Geography at the National University San Antonio Abad of Cusco (UNSAAC CUSCO) to. He currently works at the Department of Environmental Engineering at Alas Peruanas University in Cusco.

Stephanie Weyer is a landscape architect currently working as Ecocity Design Advisor with the team in Cusco, Peru.

Previously she served as a project manager with Kyle Zick Landscape Architecture in Boston, MA, focusing on parks, trails, and field technology. Stephanie specializes in geospatial- and context-driven site design. She has much experience in the areas of planning, conservation, and historic preservation with organizations as diverse as the National Park Service, Highstead Arboretum (CT), and Regional Plan Association (NYC).

Stephanie is passionate about systems-focused thinking in pursuit of improved historic and environmental resource management, climate resilience and service to diverse human and animal populations.

Indira Reyes holds a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering at UAP Alas Peruanas University in Cusco. Aside from her work at UAP, Indira is the National Director of INGENIO VERDE CUSCO, an organization dedicated to conservation efforts by providing services in several locally and nationally recognized environmental areas.

Using her knowledge and experience, she contributes to the growth of the organization and the improvement of the community as a whole. Indira has participated in various local, regional, and international events and courses on topics ranging from team management, leadership, organizational strategies, corporate sales, social networks, entrepreneurship, startups, culture and environment in regional seminars on water resources, climate change, and macro regional and South American environmental congresses.

Sofia Castro is an instructor & Researcher at PUCP.She holds a Master in Human and Social Sciences with a focus in geography of emerging countries and development from the University of Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne. She also is a Master in Environmental Development from the Pontifica University of Peru at the level of undergrad and graduate, specializing in rural and human environmental development.

Sofia is also a researcher and consultant in diverse socio-environmental subjects with an emphasis on sustainable methods, rural development and poverty. Currently, she is addressing the problems of cities, water resources and climate change.

She was the country coordinator for the project “Lima: proactive climate city” in coordination with the University of Leeds (UK) and Regional Coordinator of programs of the Global Water Partnership: “Water, Climate and Development” that is implemented in the Subcuenca de Santa Eulalia.

Diego Gallardo is an Urbinsight GIS Consultant who studied Geographical Engineering in Geomatics and Territorial Order at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM).

He has experience working in local government as specialist in the use of Geography Information System and cartography design. He leads a Project on the application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remote sensing for urban planning in Lima.

He believes that the environment needs to be considered by all actors involved in the policy making process.

Alexander Montero Pérez is a Data Engineer with the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment (MINAM) with more than 15 years of professional experience in spatial analysis of environmental, territorial and land management.

His specialties include Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, Geospatial Databases, and automated cartography, applied to economic and ecological zoning processes and the evaluation and monitoring of natural resources.

Javier Ramirez More is the GIS Director at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He holds a BA in Geography and MA in Environmental Sciences at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM).

He has over 20 years of experience as a specialist and project analyst in the use of GIS, satellite image processing (remote sensing), and spatial database management. He has also studied GIS for Remote Sensing and Cartography at Universidad Alcalá De Henares (Spain) and holds a degree in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Impact Assessment. A member of the Geographical Society of Lima, he is head of GIS and Remote Sensing at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru’s (PUCP) Center for Research in Applied Geography (CIGA).

In addition to teaching a Cybernetic Cartography and GIS courses at PUCP, Ramírez More has guest lectured in GIS and Remote Sensing at the Cartesius Institute of the University of Twente (Netherlands), the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (Mexico), and IRD Bondy et Institut de Géographie (IRD-France).

Juliana Gutierrez is co-founder and co-director of Low Carbon City, a citizen-led global movement working to tackle climate change in cities.

She has focused her career in international cooperation for the development and sustainability, working, volunteering and leading different social and environmental causes in public, private and academic sector in organizations like UN-Habitat, UNDP, Amnesty International, AIESEC, La Ciudad Verde, among others.

From an academic perspective, she has been researching about low carbon development and post-2020 climate change governance. After earning a BS in finance and international relations and post-graduate studies in political studies, she took international cooperation post-graduate studies in UOC- Catalunya, earned a MA in environmental studies from IIFA- Madrid, and a MA in international studies from Korea University.

A Product Design Engineer from EAFIT University in Medellín, Laura loves to develop and participate in urban projects with the objective of transforming places into kinder environments for people and planet.

She is passionate about sustainability and likes to combine the design process with its social, economic and environmental branches. She has studied graphic design, sustainable cities, and green marketing, and is currently studying specialized Product Design Management.

She believes in social innovation and in “Design Thinking” as a tool for problem solving. Among many other creative projects, Laura is the creator of the “Ecozona” project for “Low Carbon City” and the director of the creative sustainability campaign at La Ciudad Verde #EnBusMaSexy!

Liseth is a Forestry Engineer at the National University of Colombia with specialization in Environment and Geoinformatics at the University of Antioquia.

Her experience has focused on supporting information management within the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, where she was Coordinator of the Development Plan for 2 years and has supported the consolidation of the Territorial Information System.

She has also participated in processes for the generation of geographic and cartographic information in state entities such as the Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute – IGAC, Corpourabá and the National University of Colombia.

Santiago is an architect at UPB University with a Master’s Degree in Urban and environmental Processes from EAFIT University. He is a professor at both universities, teaching architectural design and research methodology at UPB and sustainable development at EAFIT.

He has experience as a consultant in architectural design and urban and environmental studies for public and private institutions, with a particular focus on urban metabolism, transport systems, monitoring urban process and impact evaluation of plans, programs and projects.

Daritza Nicodemo Santana is the Director at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra.

She holds an architecture degree and a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Municipal Management from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra. She is a UIM, Granada, Spain specialist in Territorial Governance and Local Competitiveness and currently a full time professor at PUCMM Santiago’s Department of Architecture. Since 2016 she has been the director at PUCMM’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies.

Daritza is the co-author of the Urban Policy Guidelines for the cities of Cotuí and Hato Mayor del Rey and has participated as coordinator of the Project on Strategic Development Plans for Transboundary Municipalities under the auspices of the French cooperation agency Aide Et Action. She holds the first diploma in the country on Climate Change and Land Use Planning, and in 2015, presented a paper at the Seminar “Climate Change Adaptation and Population Dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean: Key Issues for Policy Makers” developed by the Wilson Center in Washington, USA.

Marco Antonio Gómez is the Executive Director and General Technical Coordinator at the Office of Territorial Planning in Santiago.

He is an architect and magister in Urban Planning and Municipal Management, specializing in Territorial Planning. For the last 11 years he has worked for the City Council of Santiago in the Office of Territorial Planning and currently serves as Executive Director and General Technical Coordinator for the Office of Territorial Planning in Santiago. He has done research for the Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CEUR) at PUCMM in the areas of urban policy development guidelines and territorial planning.

He is a founding member of the Dominican Society of Planners (SODOPLAN) and is a member of the Commission for Land Use Planning, Infrastructure and Land Use of the Santiago Strategic Plan, PES 2020. He also develops teaching materials as professor at PUCMM’s Department of Architecture and serves as senior consultant and private consultant for different private firms and some national and foreign institutions.

Kerman Rodríguez is the General Coordinator in Geomatics and Cartography at the Office of Territorial Planning in Santiago.

He is an architect and holds an executive master in project management from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) and Escuela de Organización Industrial (EOI) in Madrid, Spain.

For the past nine years he has been working for the City Council of Santiago’s Office of Territorial Planning. He has taken part in the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s course on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as applied to urban studies, as well as the first courses on Land Policy for the City of Santo Domingo. Kerman has served as a consultant for several national institutions.