Carolina Pacchi is Professor of Urban Policies and Vice Rector for Institutional and Territorial Relations at the Politecnico di Milano. Since 2021, she has been the Coordinator of the Master’s Degree Programme in Urban Planning and Policy Design. She has been a Visiting Researcher at several international universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Technische Universität Berlin. Her research has focused on the transformation of governance models and the role of civil society, patterns of social and spatial inequality, the impacts of cohesion policies, the evolving relationship between space and modes of production, and the connection between urban development and education, from schools to universities. She has explored grassroots urban activism and the agency of civil society in urban transformation, with particular attention to the digital dimension. 

Giuseppe Bertrando is a Full Professor of Urban Planning at the Politecnico di Milano, where he teaches in the School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering and is a member of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU). Since 2018, he has served as Chair of the Master’s Degree Program in Urban Planning and Policy Design and is a member of the Academic Board of the PhD Program in Urban Planning, Design and Policy. 
Bonfantini holds a PhD in Urban Planning from IUAV Venice and has held various academic positions at the Politecnico di Milano. His teaching and research activities focus on urban design, planning tools and techniques, and the transformation of historic urban environments. He is also actively involved in international academic collaboration and advanced training programs, including guest lectures in China and Italy, and contributions to summer schools.

Alessandro Coppola is a member of the Teaching Committee of the Doctoral School in Urban Studies and Regional Science at GSSI. MA in History and PhD at the Urban Studies Department of Università di Roma 3. 
His research has mainly focused on qualitative approaches to issues such as neighbourhood policy and politics, community development and organizing, informality, urban shrinkage, urban resilience. His contributions have appeared in journals such as Urban Studies, Urban Geography, International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development, Territorio, Archivio di Studi Urbani e Regionali, Urbanistica, Etnografia e Ricerca Qualitativa and in several national and international academic books. 

Peter Lacoere is a civil engineer-architect and urban planner. He is currently attached to KULeuven as a visiting professor and to HOGENT as lecturer and researcher (DRUM research centre). At KULeuven, he teaches the course Project- and environmental planning (Project- en omgevingsmanagement, A51419). 
Peter’s main research topics are land policy, land use, and land management tools. He obtained a PhD in Architecture at the University of Leuven on the No Net Land Take policy in Europe and in Flanders in particular. He has explored this topic in recent years. His doctoral research has been published (Van groei tot grens. Limits to land take). 

Michelangelo Fusi is Phd candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering, International Cooperation and Mathematics at the University of Brescia, graduated in Urban Planning and Policy Design at the Polytechnic of Milan. His research interests focus on accessibility to the public transport and integration between urban and transport planning. 
Through Michelangelo’s research on the ‘Oltre la Strada’ project, the impacts of national funding on community and municipal development are explored, while also contemplating the delicate balance between revitalization and gentrification

Andrea Benedini is a Phd candidate in Urban Planning, Design, and Policy at Politecnico di Milano, he earned his MSc in Urban Planning and Policy Design at the Politecnico di Milano in 2021. Since his undergraduate studies, his research has focused on green infrastructure and ecosystem services, particularly in relation to stormwater management and flood risk mitigation. 
His current doctoral research explores the role of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in the ecological transition of contemporary cities. His thesis, titled “Ecological transition and the new paradigm for spatial planning: Performance indicators to select Nature-Based Solutions as design tools for regenerating the contemporary city”, aims to develop performance-based indicators to guide the implementation of NBS within urban regeneration strategies. 

Rossella Asja Lucrezia Ferro is an urban planner and researcher at the Politecnico di Milano. She has a background in social movements and housing activism. Her work focuses on urban inequalities, housing justice, and peripheral territories. She conducts social research and contributes to public policy design related to housing and living conditions in marginalized contexts.  Rossella has coordinated non-formal education and intercultural exchange projects for young people and is actively engaged in promoting innovative, area-based cultural and youth policies. Her practice emphasizes community engagement, particularly with youth and marginalized populations, and she explores co-production of knowledge with local networks to foster equitable urban futures. 

Dino Barra is a historian, lecturer, and researcher. Through the association La Città del Sole – Amici del Parco Trotter, he has long been engaged in the enhancement and promotion of Parco Trotter and its surrounding area in Milan. His publications include: 
Le migrazioni: educazione interculturale e contesti interdisciplinari (Edizioni Lavoro, 1995); La scuola del Sole. Cent’anni del Trotter a Milano tra sperimentazione educativa e impegno sociale  (Amici del Parco Trotter Ed., 2022); Via Padova e dintorni. Identità e storia di una periferia milanese  (Amici del Parco Trotter Ed., 2017); and Via Padova. Nascita di una periferia milanese, 1900–1926 (Le Milieu, 2022).