About this event
The sessions of Empowering Women, Public Space and Cimate Change Talks, combine our past topics of Public Space and Climate Change. Partnering together with Her City a joint initiative of UN Habitat and Global Utmaning. Partners of the New European Bauhaus and co-organization with partners of BIDs Belgium and City Space Architecture.
Empowering Women, Public Space and Climate Change aims to create further awareness, research and projects on female led initiatives and gathering experts from a variety of sectors with a focus on empowering diverse women around the world. Engaging in inspiring debates and discussions, taking an inclusive approach to highlight women working in the field.All sessions of Empowering Women and Climate Change recognize the need for more gender equality, racial and social justice. With taking an integrated systemic and connected approach by local governments, private sector and grassroots and civil society organizations, together having a crucial opportunity to enhance their climate responses from social issues to the supply chain, from poverty alleviation and gender equality.
About this session:
In this session we continue sharing, exchanging and hightlighting projects, research and case studies from global perspectives from our partners and extended network. From those working in collectives and initiatives to those in private sector. Discussing the challenges and potential positive impacts with projects and research on the ground. Emphasizing the strong link between each of these topics and the need for a more systemic and integrated approach relating to; empowering women, public space and climate change in communities across the world.
Women’s Collective Action for Climate Action: Discussing the potential of women’s collective action, networks, and movements in shaping the future of climate action and driving transformative change in the context of public space and cities. Exploring ways to strengthen women’s voices and influence in global climate discourse.
This session of Empowering Women and Public Spaces Talks, is co-organised by Rozina Spinnoy, BIDs Belgium and in partnership with Luisa Bravo of City Space Architecture. Partners of Her City, a joint initiative of UN Habitat and Global Utmaning, the New European Bauhaus (as community partners of BIDs Belgium).
This is the second session of 2023 and we look forward to welcoming the following speakers::
CARMEN MAYS
Carmen Mays, MPA is an urbanist and creative entrepreneur that believes in the balance of thought leadership and implementation. She affirms that all people have value, and each place holds invaluable stories.Carmen employs a place-based approach that facilitates agency and self-determination to develop blueprints that industry leaders successfully leverage. She has over a decade of public sector experience, with a significant portion of her career spent in community economic development at various local governments. Carmen served as the Neighborhood Revitalization and Public Safety Administrator for the mayoral transition team in the City of Birmingham. There, she led a team of 70+ community volunteers through the policy development process, culminating with a report that details the community’s policy directives. Carmen also re-launched the Minority Business Development program for the City of Spartanburg in South Carolina, earning Federal Transit Administration approval for the City’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. Additionally, she has led courses on Anti-Racism in Local Government and provided thought leadership on Equity Centered Policy and Programming. Carmen currently serves her hometown as the Chief of Staff to the Honorable Carole E. Clarke, Birmingham City Council District 8. She also is a sought-after speaker, consultant, and creative entrepreneur at her company, Elevators. Carmen is a leader in both the global Placemaking movement and the development of equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems. As an urbanist and placemaker, Carmen is a leader with PlacemakingUS and has shared her expertise as a speaker at Placemaking Week Flint, Placemaking Week Europe, and Well Being Cities, among others. As a founding member of the Black Innovation Alliance and former Grow With Google Digital Coach, Carmen has been at the forefront of programmatic and policy development for entrepreneurs, particularly creatives of color. Carmen enjoys the arts, the outdoors, and travel in her private life. While she has received many awards and recognitions, Carmen’s most prized accolade is “Bestest Auntie in the World.
PROFESSOR SAHAR ATTIA
Dr. Sahar Attia is an Emeritus Professor at Cairo University. She is a member of the Supreme Council of Urban Development in Egypt, a member of the Stakeholders Advisory Group Enterprise (SAGE) in UN-Habitat, and the University Network Initiative (UNI) co-chair. She is also a board member of Ecocity Builders. Her research and practice focuses on sustainable communities, informal areas, healthy cities, and public spaces. She is also the vice chair of the Working Group on Science and Technology in the International Parliamentary Union (IPU). She is the co-editor of 4 books published by Springer.
TIISETSO MOFOKENG
Tiisetso Studied Architecture and City and Regional Planning. Her masters research focused on the safety of public spaces from a gender-sensitive perspective. She uses both architecture and urban planning to help bridge the gap of gender inequality and promote safety in cities through placemaking, spatial planning and design, especially those of public spaces. In spatial design education Tiisetso explores interior spaces as an abstraction of the city, adding new knowledge and probing new ways of thinking within the educational space of spatial design and the built environment. Tiisetso is also the founder of The Hue, a knowledge storehouse:
LUISA BRAVO
Luisa Bravo is a global academic scholar and educator, social entrepreneur and public space activist. She has more than 15-years experience in the professional field as urban planner and designer with a specific focus on public space. Her expertise is grounded in extensive academic postdoctoral research and teaching in Italy and Europe, the United States, Middle East, Asia and Australia. Throughout her academic career, she held different academic positions, in Italy and abroad, and she has been the recipient of prestigious grants and awards such as the Marco Polo scholarship for a postdoctoral research period as Visiting Scholar at IURD – Institute of Urban and Regional Development at University of California Berkeley (USA, 2012) and the Australia Award Endeavour Executive Fellowship for professional development, fully funded by the Australian Government, Department of Education and Training, hosted at the Queensland University of Technology, School of Design, Faculty of Creative Industries (Australia, 2018).
Luisa is the Founder and President of City Space Architecture, an Italian-based non-profit organization promoting public space culture at the global level, and she is the Founder and Editor in Chief of The Journal of Public Space, the first, interdisciplinary, academic, open access journal entirely dedicated to public space, that she established through City Space Architecture in partnership with UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
https://www.cityspacearchitecture.org
ROZINA SPINNOY
Rozina Spinnoy is a Design Strategist and Social Entrepreneur, Owner/Founder of her NGO BIDs Belgium and Design SME’s based in Brussels and working internationally. A community partner of the New European Bauhaus, with her NGO BIDs Belgium. She is also the Founder of the international/community initiative of Empowering Women, Public Space and Climate Change. Recently appointed as the Associate Direct of the Public Space Academy, an initiave of City Space Architecture, with the Ove Arup Foundation. An active member and Leader of the Placemaking Europe Network. Rozina is also an Academician for the Academy of Urbanism and also sitting on a variety of Advisory Councils. Rozina champions a variety of causes, projects and philanthropic activities, ranging from gender equality, urban place-making, inclusion and diversity. A keen advocate for more mental health awareness, inclusive communities and co-designing processes in her wide range of diverse projects. You will find Rozina often sharing her views and passion on the value of Design, Creativity and Foresight for positive impact across our society.
https://bids-belgium.com/empowering-women-public-space-climate-change-talks/
