STARTUP brings together partners from across Europe, based in Rome, Stockholm, Bratislava, Trenčín, Dortmund, Strasbourg, Brussels, Madrid, Seville and Gdańsk.
Together, our team reflects a diverse variety of cultural and urban contexts, working together across Europe to tackle globalised issues with localised solutions.
Sapienza University of Rome is the oldest university in Rome and the largest in Europe. Its mission is to contribute to the development of a knowledge society through research, excellence, quality education, and international cooperation. Sapienza is organized into 11 faculties, one School for Advanced Studies, one post-degree School of Aerospace Engineering, 57 departments, as well as numerous research and service centres. This research project is based in the Department of Social and Economic Sciences, which brings together an interdisciplinary academic staff whose approach to research, while open to theory, is mainly of an empirical nature. Its research program is focused on the functioning of contemporary societies and their interrelationships from historical, comparative, and empirical perspectives.
Rossana Galdini is Principal Investigator of the project. She is Full Professor of Sociology of the Environment and Territory at the Department of Social and Economic Sciences. Her main research fields are urban regeneration, urban reuse practices, cultural heritage, social innovation.
Emma Galli is Head of the Department of Social and Economic Sciences, Full Professor of Public Economics and Editor of the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice (Bristol University Press). Her research fields are political economy, economics of Institutions, economics of corruption, public policies and fiscal decentralization.
Pierpaolo D’Urso is full professor of Statistics and Dean of the Faculty of Political Science, Sociology, Communication at Sapienza University of Rome. He is Associate Editor of several journals. He is World’s Top 2% Scientist (Stanford University). His recent research activity is focused on fuzzy clustering, time series clustering, clustering for complex structures of data, data-driven democracy, electoral data science, statistics for political science.
Silvia Lucciarini is Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Economic Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome. Her work in Economic Sociology focuses on the (re)production of inequalities in work, organizations, and territorial contexts, with particular attention to the social and creative sectors, and co-production strategies.
Fabio Giglioni is Full Professor of Administrative Law at the Department of Political Sciences of the Sapienza University of Rome. His main research fields are Administrative Law, Health Law, Environmental Law, Civic Participation and Shared Administration.
Maria Vittoria Ferroni is Associate Professor of Administrative Law at the Department of Political Sciences of the Sapienza University of Rome. Her main research fields are Environmental Law, Public Services, and Public Economic Law.
Silvia De Nardis is Researcher in Sociology of the Environment and Territory at the Department of Social and Economic Sciences. Her main research fields include urban regeneration, informal urban practices, and bottom-up processes in the contemporary city.
Stockholm University participates in STARTUP via its Department of Human Geography. The department has research and education in Geography, Human Geography and Urban and Regional Planning.
Read more about the department at:
https://www.su.se/english/divisions/department-of-human-geography
Read more about its urban and regional research at:
https://www.su.se/english/research/research-catalogue/sub-subjects/6/urban-and-regional-research
Thomas Borén, professor at the Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University. The focus in his research is on urban and cultural geography with a particular interest in the interaction between urban development strategies, cultural producers and urban decision makers. For previous and current projects, publications etc., please visit: https://www.su.se/english/profiles/b/boren
Adam Gullbergman is a research assistant at the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University. He has previously co-authored articles on Scandinavian lifestyle migration in Southern Europe. He also works as a writer and festival producer.
Magnus Liistamo is a research engineer at the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University and an artist working with long-term digital infrastructures for artistic and cultural practice. His work focuses on continuity and shared working conditions, and on sustaining artistic processes and working relations through negotiated access, needs, and forms of handling.
See https://www.su.se/english/profiles/m/mali6388
Dominic Power is Professor at the Department of Human Geography Stockholm University and is a leading international expert in the area of creative and culture-based industries, innovation and urban policy, and regional industrial competitiveness. His research agenda focuses on the geographical foundations of business competencies, creativity and competitiveness and on the economic geography of contemporary economic change. Principally the cultural and creative industries form the main focus of his research work.
Peter Schmitt is a professor at the Department of Human Geography at Stockholm University. His research focuses on urban and regional planning, the analysis of planning policies and territorial governance, often with a focus on strategic local and regional development. For previous and current projects, publications etc., please visit: https://www.su.se/english/profiles/p/pschm
Lukas Smas is associate professor at the Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University. The focus in his research is on urban and regional planning, including the governance of planning; planning systems and processes; relations between policy, plans and places as well as the political and economic geographical conditions for planning.
For more information please visit: https://www.su.se/english/profiles/l/lsmas
Linnea Sällqvist is a master’s student in Urban Planning at the Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University, as well as a cultural worker within the field of performing arts. She has experience across diverse cultural sectors, and her research interests focus on the cultural and creative industries.
Prof. Maros Finka,M.Arch.,PhD.
Association of European Schools of Planning – President 2020-2022
ARL Hannover – member
UN Habitat III expert
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, guest professor
Slovak Smart City Cluster, co-chair
SPECTRA Centre of Excellence of the EU at Comenius University, Faculty of Management director
Institute of Management of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, professor
Vazovova 5
81243 Bratislava
Slovak Republic
+421905612465
www.stuba.sk, www.spectra-perseus.org, www.priestoroveplanovanie.sk
ILS Research (ILS) is a publicly funded urban research institute based in Dortmund, Germany, dedicated to exploring the dynamics of urban change across different spatial scales and in international perspective. Through close dialogue with practitioners, policy-makers, and societal stakeholders, the institute generates valuable insights that contribute to the sustainable transformation and design of urban environments. The ILS focuses its work on three main research areas: Sustainable Built Environments, Transformation of Urban Spaces and Mobility, and Socio-Spatial Inequalities, Participation and Cohesion. Its research portfolio spans both fundamental and applied projects, combining theory-driven inquiry with practical relevance.
Sabine Weck is head of the research group “Social Space City” at the ILS. She studied Spatial Planning and obtained her PhD from TU Dortmund University. Her main interest is on local economic development in distressed or neglected urban areas, place-based development in declining regions, and spatial justice.
Website: https://www.ils-forschung.de/en/the-ils/ils-staff/weck-sabine/
Jan Bunse studied Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University and Human Geography at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. His research and professional interests focus on processes of urban transformation, citizen-led planning, and the role of spatial commons in shaping sustainable and inclusive urban environments. He is particularly interested in how collaborative and community-based approaches can contribute to the development and renewal of urban spaces.
Website: https://www.ils-forschung.de/das-ils/beschaeftigte/bunse-jan/
Martin Gruber studied Urban and Spatial Planning at the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt and Human Geography at the University of Münster. His research focuses on social and spatial inequalities in cities, exploring how urban transformation shapes people’s identities, everyday experiences, and sense of place.
Website: https://www.ils-forschung.de/en/the-ils/ils-staff/gruber-martin/
The Strasbourg National School of Architecture ENSA Strasbourg is one of twenty schools of architecture under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. Located in the heart of a European region with six million inhabitants, it is affiliated with the University of Strasbourg. The school’s curriculum is characterized by a strong international focus, evidenced not only by its exchange and mobility programs (more than fifty), but also by two double-degree programs with Germany (TU Dresden and Karlsruhe IT). Each year, ENSAS trains nearly 800 students. More than one hundred professors, lecturers and speakers from all disciplinary fields contribute to this training, along with an administrative team of about forty people.
Angelo Bertoni is full professor in urban planning at the ENSA Strasbourg, an architect, and a historian. Member of the AMUP research unit, he leads the Chair of Mobility, Territories, and Projects, which focuses on accessibility and socio-spatial innovations in rural and mountainous areas as key challenges for their habitability. His research is centred on the concept of proximity and the notion of neighbourhood in urban planning, as well as the dynamics of co-construction in urban project.
Mireille Diestchy, Phd in sociology, is lecturer in social and human sciences at the ENSA Strasbourg and member of the AMUP research unit. Her research examines ways of living from housing to territories, exploring, in particular, contemporary resistance linked to environmental issues and participatory approaches.
François Nowakowski, urban planner, architect, PhD in urban planning, is lecturer in urban planning at ENSA Strasbourg and researcher at the AMUP research unit. His research focuses on changes in the interactions between populations and territories brought about by dispersed forms of urbanisation. As a member of the Urbitat+ urban planning studio and in his various practices, he focuses on the democratisation of territorial production and the co-production of projects with residents-users-citizens.
Nicolas Handtschoewercker is a young researcher who joined the team in September. After working as an architect and parametric design expert at the VenhoevenCS agency in Amsterdam, he obtained his PhD in urban planning from the University of Strasbourg (INSA). There, he developed a historical and multi-scale approach to territorial metabolism based on an urban neighbourhood. As postdoctoral researcher, he continues to teach architectural design at INSA Strasbourg.
Léa Goudezeune completes the Strasbourg team as a research assistant. She is a graduated architect and PhD candidate in urban planning at the AMUP research unit (ENSAS, University of Strasbourg), supervised by Prof. Dr. Angelo Bertoni and Dr. Mireille Diestchy, and specializing in cultural urban planning and the impacts of local cultural initiatives on city development.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid is the biggest university in Spain and its based in Madrid. Most members of our team are affiliated to the Facultad de Ciencia Política y Sociologia in different Departments: Applied Sociology, History, Theory and Political Geography, and Social Anthropology. One team member, belongs to the Facultad de Geografía.
Andrés Walliser is the main researcher for the Spanish team and is a professor at the Department of Applied Sociology. He teaches subjects on urban sociology and participative research methods. He has taught courses on urban studies in Spanish, European and US universities.
His research interests related with this project are citizen participation, social movements, urban governance, care in the city, gentrification and displacement. He is co-director of GISMAT, a research group about society, environment and the territory.
Rosa de la Fuente is part of the research Spanish Team, and professor at the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at the Department of History, Theory and Political Geography. Her teaching and research career is centred around urban politics, policies and governance. She is currently part of the UCM Research Group, Space and Power. Vice-Rector for Students at the University Complutense of Madrid (2019-present)
Pedro Uceda is an Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Applied Sociology. His research focuses on the study of processes of urban vulnerability, place attachment, residential mobility, and the right to the city. He is co-director of GISMAT, a research group about society, environment and the territory.
Simón Sánchez-Moral is professor at the School of Geography of Complutense University of Madrid. He teaches subjects on territorial development and urban innovation. His research focuses on regional and urban development, with a particular emphasis on innovation, creativity, employment, and urban policy.
Isabel Barboza is an architect, urban planner, and researcher at START UP project. She holds a master’s degree in Urban Studies (2024) from the Erasmus Mundus 4CITIES program and has been working with different movements for the right to the city since 2016. As a researcher, she has worked in several multidisciplinary urban research networks in São Paulo.
David Berna is a professor at the Department of Anthropology. His research focuses on issues related to the intersection of race, gender/sexuality and social class. He has also worked as an anthropologist and as a coordinator in the design and production of international cultural and artistic projects, such as the Chinese New Year festival in the city of Madrid.
The Centre for Sociology and Local Policies — The Urban Governance Lab, based at Pablo de Olavide University, focuses on research to understand the analytical role of context in socio-political processes in contemporary societies. To this end, it studies the explanatory mechanisms underlying these phenomena through theoretically oriented research applying a pluralistic and multidisciplinary methodological approach, highlighting the role of public policies in the current context of multi-level governance.
Clemente J. Navarro Yáñez is a Full Professor in the Department of Sociology and Director of the Urban Governance Lab (Pablo de Olavide University). His research focuses on public policy analysis and evaluation, governance and participation. He holds a Jean Monnet Chair in European Urban Policies and serves as an Honorary Member of the Board of the Research Committee on Community Research (RC03) of the International Sociological Association.
Manuel Fernández García is a Lecturer in Political Science at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville) and has been a researcher at the Urban Governance Lab since 2015. His research focuses on urban governance, public policy analysis and evaluation, and socio-spatial inequalities, with a particular emphasis on urban change and neighbourhood-level dynamics. He has undertaken research stays at universities in the United Kingdom and at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Patricio Reyes Zubikarai is a researcher at the Urban Governance Lab (Pablo de Olavide University). His work focuses on local governance, the full cycle of public policies, and socio-political dynamics in urban contexts, with particular attention to multi-level governance processes. He applies a comparative and multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of contemporary socio-political challenges.
María Jesús Rodríguez-García is a Tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville) and Vice-Director of the Centre for Sociology and Local Policies (Urban Governance Lab). Her research focuses on local welfare systems and urban policies, with special attention to gender and care and comparative policy analysis. She is a member of the Board of the Research Committee on Community Research (RC03) of the International Sociological Association.
The University of Gdańsk (Uniwersytet Gdański) is a major public research university in northern Poland, located in Gdańsk and founded in 1970. It offers a wide range of programs across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, and plays an important role in Baltic and European studies due to its strategic location by the Baltic Sea. The university educates over 25,000 students (including undergraduates, graduates, and doctoral students) and has a research and teaching staff of more than 1,700 academic personnel.
This makes UG one of the largest and most influential academic institutions in the region, contributing significantly to both education and research in Poland.
Mariusz Czepczyński, PhD, hab. is a cultural geographer, professor at the Spatial Studies Division, and the director of the Institute of Human Geography and Spatial Management, University of Gdańsk. His research on cultural landscapes, post-socialist cities, heritages, critical geographies, and spatial semiotics resulted in numerous publications, including ‘Cultural Landscape of Post-socialist Cities. Representation of Powers and Needs’ (2008) and ‘New Critical Geography’ (in Polish, 2025).
Julia Ziółkowska is an associate professor at the University of Gdańsk. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences, specializing in Human Geography and Spatial Management. Julia Ziółkowska’s research focuses on social capital in the context of cultural events, tourism, and spatial development.
Founded in 1999, KEA European Affairs is a leading international research centre specialising in culture and the creative industries. A pioneer in cultural economics and creative industry policy, KEA combines expertise across the cultural and creative industries. KEA is a trusted advisor to institutions including the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the European Investment Fund, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, drawing on extensive experience from studies and research projects across the cultural and creative sectors. KEA regularly participates in Horizon-funded research projects, acting as both project partner and Work Package leader.
Within the STARTUP project, KEA leads Work Package 9, which focuses on communication, dissemination, community-building, and exploitation. The objectives of this work package are to ensure strong project visibility and awareness at European and local levels; to manage, expand, and sustain the STARTUP community through strategic engagement with stakeholders, local actors, and the New European Bauhaus community; to promote knowledge exchange, best practices, and policy dialogue at EU and local levels; and to establish systematic exploitation processes that support the long-term sustainability and impact of the project and its community.
Federica Antonucci is KEA’s lead in the STARTUP project. Federica has a PhD in Urban Studies from the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria and has been a visiting researcher at KU Leuven and Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She is balancing her academic research with her role as external consultant and researcher as part of KEA team. She is contributing to studies on culture, innovation, new media, and the impact of cultural and creative industries. Federica has an economic background and quantitative and qualitative competences on research methodologies, but for STARTUP, she manages the project’s communication, dissemination and exploitation efforts.
Rhian O’Sullivan works as a Junior Researcher and Consultant at KEA. Specialised in Cultural Policy, Rhian holds an MA in Arts Management from the Lisbon Consortium and a BA in European Studies and Politics from University College Cork. Her research interests exist at the intersections between cultural policymaking, equality, and spatial planning, as well as decoding and deconstructing rhetorical structures in the field. With a passion for music production, Rhian has worked internationally across the visual arts, heritage, and music sectors, and for the STARTUP project, she assists with the project’s communication, dissemination and exploitation efforts.
FOLK/ Konstfrämjandet works toward the mission “art for everyone”.
FOLK/ Konstfrämjandet is a non-partisan organisation that exists throughout the entirety of Sweden and consists of various member organisations and districts. The districts look different, but are united by a strong interest in art and society. The members are various organisations and social movements. Read more about FOLK at:
Per Hasselberg is an artist and executive director of FOLK/ Konstfrämjandet. With a background in urban planning, where the basic mission is a good society for all, his artistic work since the late 1990s has had similarities with Konstfrämjandet’s mission “art for everyone”. He has also initiated Konsthall C, which is an exhibition space and think tank for the community around Hökarängen.
Andrea Creutz is an artist, educator and lecturer at Konstfack’s Department of Visual Arts and Sloyd Education in Stockholm. Her practice, in which collective knowledge exchange and spatial processes are in focus, is situated between the fields of art and pedagogy. She holds a MFA from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and participated in The Whitney Independent Study Program, New York, in the early 2000s.
Niklas Östholm is a curator, art consultant and writer. Niklas has a BA in Art History from Stockholm University and a MA in Curation from Konstfack and has previous experience from several art institutions, including Index, Iaspis, Konsthall C and Botkyrka konsthall (Residence Botkyrka) and has worked as an art consultant for Örebro Municipality and the City of Västerås.
Elli Ånndrake is doing an Erasmus internship at FOLK/Konstfrämjandet. She is studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and works mainly with topics of ecology and biology.
Die Urbanisten is a non-profit organisation based in Dortmund, Germany. Our interdisciplinary team brings together expertise in urban planning, education, art, design, craftsmanship and the social sciences. Together, we work to improve urban coexistence at a local level and create new perspectives for urban living spaces.
Our approach is rooted in collaborative and co-productive urban development. We consider transparency and negotiation processes to be key to genuine participation and lived inclusion.
At the heart of our work is the active development and shaping of urban coexistence with local communities. We design and facilitate participatory processes, provide academic support for citizen-led urban development projects, and implement projects both conceptually and practically.
Annette Bathen is a political scientist who leads participatory initiatives focused on public welfare-oriented and sustainable urban development. Her work combines academic research with hands-on practice to foster inclusive, future-oriented urban transformation processes.
Julie Henkel is an architect and urban planner who works at the intersection of spatial design and collaborative process development. Her focus is on sustainable concepts for urban spaces that combine architectural quality with ecological responsibility and social issues.
Florian Artmann is an educator and the head of our workshop. Through creative projects, he empowers people to shape their own living environment. He sees education and empowerment as a collaborative process in which knowledge, creativity and self-efficacy work together.
Lars Volmerg is a carpenter. His projects combine craftsmanship and sustainable urban development. Together with local people, he develops new solutions for urban spaces and teaches skills for participating in the design of one’s own living space.
The Centre for Contemporary Art LAZNIA is one of the first public cultural institutions established in Poland after the political transformations of 1989. The institution is guided by the motto “We talk about contemporary art,” making art a space for open and inclusive dialogue. Its mission is to promote contemporary art and to explore reality through art, particularly in the context of changing social and political conditions.
CCA Łaźnia functions according to the concept of the “third place,” positioning itself as an open and accessible space for social exchange. It emphasizes locality as a core value, recognizing the unique artistic and social potential of its immediate surroundings. It is based on the belief that a public institution belongs to the community in which it operates and should actively contribute to building that community.
The institution engages artists in educational processes and treats artistic practice as an ongoing, evolving process rather than a finished product.
Curator and design historian, promoter of Polish design and architecture, director of a CCA.
Art historian, curator of educational and social programs, with a research focus on the relationships between art and social and political issues.
ZEMOS98 is a cooperative based in Seville, Spain, that works at the intersections of cultural processes, focusing on education and media as tools for social transformation. The cooperative fosters a culture of participation and advocates for a critical citizenship that challenges dominant narratives.
Lucas Tello Pérez is responsible for new projects and fundraising at ZEMOS98, and coordinates European projects.
Samuel Fernández Pichel is a social and cultural researcher at ZEMOS98. His practice focuses on exploring cultural processes and contributing to collaborative and socially engaged projects.
Pedro Jiménez Álvarez is in charge of ZEMOS98’s management. His interests focus on the transformative relationship between education and communication.
The Piccolo America Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to strengthening local communities through culture and film. Its story began in Rome over a decade ago, when it saved the historic Cinema America from demolition and conversion into apartments and parking lots.
Building on that civic victory, the Foundation moved its screen into the streets of Trastevere: for the past twelve years it has produced Il Cinema in Piazza, a free, open-air film festival. Today it is the city’s leading free film event, welcoming more than 110,000 spectators in its 2025 edition.
In 2021, following a public tender, the Foundation reopened the long-abandoned Cinema Troisi after a complete restoration. Cinema Troisi now serves as a cultural hub that pairs arthouse programming with premieres and artist talks. It also hosts a free study room open 24/7, making it Europe’s first cinema open day and night.
Giacomo Stroppa is Head of Economic Development at Fondazione Piccolo America, where since 2024 he has led analysis, sustainability, and growth across the Foundation’s projects. He holds a PhD in political economy (Universities of Milan and Pavia) and has worked as a researcher at Eurispes and as an economic-financial consultant focused on local development and investment attractiveness.
Founded in 1992 by a group of about ten students from the Haute école des Arts du Rhin (HEAR) Strasbourg, Le Syndicat Potentiel has established itself as one of the oldest artists’ associations still active in France. Le Syndicat Potentiel has based its project on a broad conception of art, encompassing its openness to the world’s transformations, social issues, and its various possible fields and territories of intervention, both existing and yet to be created.
Links:
http://syndicatpotentiel.free.fr/
https://linktr.ee/syndicatpotentiel
Jean-François Mugnier, Director at Le Syndicat Potentiel, born in Annecy in 1970, studied graphic, visual, sound, and multimedia arts between 1985 and 1994 in Grenoble, Annecy, and later in Strasbourg. Since 1998, he has directed and led the activities of Syndicat Potentiel in Strasbourg, before entrusting its programming in 2017 to a artistic council composed of artists and researchers. He is interested in projects that create connections between art, society, and territory, favoring collaborative and experimental approaches that exist on the margins of traditional artistic circuits.
Camille Martin, Project Manager at Le Syndicat Potentiel.
Sophie Prinssen is an artist and researcher working at the intersection of co-creative practices, game design, and collaborative storytelling. She is a member of the Artistic Advisory Board at Le Syndicat Potentiel. Currently enrolled as an ArTeC PhD candidate at Paris 8 (FabLitt) and KU Leuven (Inter-Action) under the supervision of Nancy Murzilli and Steven Malliet, she is pursuing her art-based research project, Ensaigner le réel, which studies tabletop role-playing games as an artistic medium for collaborative critical world-building. She is involved in several collectives, including the Syndicat Potentiel in Strasbourg, where she sits on the artistic council, and Activismes Ésotériques, which she co-coordinates with the artist Cynthia Montier. She has also worked as an exhibition coordinator, production assistant and project manager at various art institutions, including CEAAC, Syndicat Potentiel, the Pernod-Ricard Villa Vassilieff Fellowship and Bétonsalon, a centre for art and research.
Le Syndicat Potentiel – Artistic Council (Collective) Jean-Claude Luttmann, Artist – Bertrand Schmitt, Archaeologist, Sophie Prinssen, Artist-researcher – Léo Sallez, Artist – Elise Alloin, Artist – Jean-François Mugnier, Director – Camille Martin, Project Manager.
Composed of artists and researchers, the artistic council meets weekly to guide and decide on projects organized or hosted by Syndicat Potentiel, as well as to listen to and support anyone with a proposal to submit. It is a collegial artistic direction body that the association established in 2016 to foster collective reflection on the evolution of Syndicat Potentiel’s objectives and resources, and also to allow for the involvement of a growing number of artists and researchers in the association’s activities and projects, complementing the responsibilities of its administrative council.
Zuloark is a distributed open architecture and urbanism office founded in 2001, operating as a collaborative platform with currently active hubs in Madrid, Berlin, Bologna, A Coruña, and Amsterdam. It develops fluid and collective working models based on shared authorship, fostering environments of co-responsibility and networked practice. Organized as a cooperative since 2018 and supported by an extended network of collaborators, Zuloark works as a facilitator across the private sector, the public sector, academia, citizens, cultural institutions, social initiatives, and territories. Working in local contexts internationally, it develops concrete proposals while moving its practice between research, design, education, and cultural production.
Zuloark is conceived as a learning environment, actively contributing to academic contexts and public debate on contemporary architectural and territorial issues. Rather than prioritizing a fixed studio structure or a single final outcome, it focuses on work processes that evolve with each project: adaptive, collaborative, and context-driven. Each project becomes an opportunity to build shared agency and to prototype new ways of working—where how things are made is as relevant as what is ultimately produced.
Aurora González-Adalid Núñez is an architect and researcher specialised in strategic design contributing to Zuloark’s urban innovation work through participation-led and socially driven processes. She combines Design Thinking with creative facilitation to build inclusive, collaborative frameworks that strengthen civic agency and support more sustainable urban environments. Alongside her professional practice, she teaches in academic settings and consistently works at the intersection of education, social innovation, and democratic urban futures.
Manuel Domínguez Fernández is an architect and researcher working across distributed urbanism, event design, and urban pedagogy, with research focused on “middle-out” approaches and qualitative innovation in both theory and practice. He brings long-term experience in placemaking and in organising collective design, building, and management processes rooted in grassroots collaboration. His work is characterised by translating shared knowledge into practical tools and prototypes that can be adopted, adapted, and scaled through networks.
Manuel Pascual García is an architect, researcher, and urban innovation consultant, and a founding member of Zuloark, working at the intersection of design, research, and cultural mediation. He collaborates with public and private organisations on architecture and design projects, strategic consulting, cultural management, pedagogy, and democratic approaches to urban governance. His practice is especially focused on building open, collaborative design environments and long-term platforms where institutions and communities can co-produce knowledge and action.
Luis Galán García is an architect, urbanist, civic designer, and researcher trained in Madrid, working independently and collaboratively across teaching, urban innovation, cultural management, and design in multiple formats. He bridges European and Latin American contexts, bringing a strong interest in civic practice, cultural production, and the public circulation of architecture through talks and publications. His work is marked by collaborative, community-based approaches and by participation in internationally recognised projects and teams.