Mentors
Panu Lehtovuori
- Panu Lehtovuori is the Professor of Planning Theory at the Tampere University, School of Architecture, and the co-head of Urban Planning Research Group. Lehtovuori’s research interests focus on contemporary forms of public urban space, new urban design approaches and the resource-efficiency of built environment. Lehtovuori is co-founder and LAB lead at SPIN Unit international urban agency. Currently, he is involved in launching Tampere Urban Research Network for Sustainability (TURNS), a university-level collaborative platform for critical and progressive research and practice.
- TURNS
- Tampere University
- panu.lehtovuori@tuni.fi
Peter Ache
- Peter Ache is Emeritus Professor of Planning at the Department of Geography, Planning and the Environment at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research focuses on strategic spatial planning and vision making, especially for metropolitan regions. This research is related to a broader interest in urban futures as a result of lifestyle changes, technological advancements, but also of norm setting and policy making. Currently, Peter Ache works on an edited publication on European Spatial Visions with contributions from various experts in the field.
- peter.ache@ru.nl
Kristi Grišakov
- Kristi Grišakov, an urban planner, currently spearheads the Detail Planning Service within Tallinn City's Urban Planning Department in Estonia. She previously led the Policy and Analysis Division at the Spatial Planning Department of Estonian Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture. With 15 years of academic research spanning Finland and Estonia, Kristi is deeply versed in urban planning and culture across Europe. Her expertise in future thinking methods, evidenced by her contributions to Estonian Human Development Reports, underscores her commitment to visionary planning. Over the past five years, Kristi has led numerous international projects in urban planning, participatory planning, and scenario development. Kristi sees futures studies as a way to push people out of their comfort zones and inspire new ways of thinking about how we plan and shape space in an unpredictable world. Rather than aiming to predict the future, she emphasizes the importance of understanding the present more deeply and giving voice to our collective hopes and fears. Central to her approach is the power of imagination and storytelling—using narratives and future scenarios to explore possibilities, question assumptions, and design more flexible, inclusive planning strategies. She believes that crafting positive, compelling visions of the future is just as important as addressing challenges and crises. Ultimately, she calls for a shift from rigid, linear planning to a creative, value-driven process where imagination becomes a tool for shaping how we live and use space together.
Markus Laine
- Markus Laine (PhD) is a university lecturer in Sustainable Urban Development international Bachelor program. His studies involve local politics, land use planning policies, sustainable urban development, and case study approach. Lately he has acted as PI in an Academy of Finland project, Visions of the City (2022-2026) and a Business Finland project, New urban co-development paradigm for Nordic Superblock (2023-2025).
Helena Leino
- Helena Leino is professor in Environmental Policy at the faculty of Management and Business in the Tampere University, Finland. She is also adjunct professor at Aalto University, department of Built Environment. She is co-leader in the research group Politics of Nature and the Environment (PONTE). Her research has focused on diverse aspects of sustainable urbanisation, participatory knowledge production and transparency and legitimacy aspects of land use planning. She has led several interdisciplinary research projects and is currently working on the INNATURE project that focuses on enhancing biodiversity and social inclusion in urban areas which are using New European Bauhaus as a design.
- helena.leino@tuni.fi
Ali Madanipour
- Ali Madanipour (MArch, PhD) is Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, UK, where he has been the co-founder and former director of the Global Urban Research Unit (GURU). His research has critically investigated the urban transformation processes and their implications for disadvantaged social groups and the environment, in projects on social exclusion, urban governance, public space, knowledge and rationality, temporality and authenticity. His visiting positions include the City of Vienna Senior Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Vienna, the Wits-Claude Leon Distinguished Scholar at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Visiting Professor at the Polytechnic of Milan.
Aleksi Neuvonen
- Aleksi Neuvonen is an experienced social entrepreneur, futures thinker, and transdisciplinary researcher. Aleksi is the co-founder of the think tank Demos Helsinki. He is at his best analyzing and fleshing out complex societal transformations. Aleksi’s way of seeing research is one of an activist’s: research is done for the best of the world and to create impact. His current research focuses on building a notion on images of the future that affect human behaviour at present, especially in the current transformative context of just green transition. Aleksi holds a PhD degree from Radboud University Nijmegen, School of Management. He is an author of dozens of public reports, academic articles, books, and book chapters. Aleksi is also one of the organizers behind the research project Sufficiency solutions for a resilient, green, and just Finland (SISU).
- Demos Helsinki
- aleksi.neuvonen@demoshelsinki.fi
Lina Olsson
- Lina Olsson is an Associate Professor at the Department of Urban Studies at Malmö University and a member of the Institute for Urban Research, IUR. Her research focuses on the urban political economy of urban and regional planning, in particular, municipal land policy, public transportation, and regional development policy. Her current research deals with green financialisation of urban development, transit boosterism, and public transportation as a human right.
Keynote speakers
Hanna Mattila
- Hanna Mattila is research director and director of Turku Urban Research Programme at the University of Turku, Finland. She has previously worked as associate professor (urban design) at Aalborg University, visiting professor/associate professor (geography, Finnish studies) at the University of Minnesota, and senior university lecturer (land-use planning) at Aalto University. Prior to her research career, Hanna worked in various administrative positions, for instance, in regional planning and development. Her research focuses on planning theory, democracy theory, planning systems and planning law, and she currently leads a research project Reconceptualizing justice in planning, funded by Kone Foundation.
Eik Hermann
- Eik Hermann is a lecturer on philosophy and practice-based theory at the Estonian Academy of Arts and editor-in-chief of the architecture magazine Ehituskunst. He completed his MA in philosophy at the Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University in 2005, and PhD in architecture and urban planning at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2025. His current focus lies mainly in the grey areas between the practical and theoretical, material and mental, political and psychological, and pragmatic and poetic.
Peter Ache
- Peter Ache is Emeritus Professor of Planning at the Department of Geography, Planning and the Environment at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research focuses on strategic spatial planning and vision making, especially for metropolitan regions. This research is related to a broader interest in urban futures as a result of lifestyle changes, technological advancements, but also of norm setting and policy making. Currently, Peter Ache works on an edited publication on European Spatial Visions with contributions from various experts in the field.
- peter.ache@ru.nl
Ali Madanipour
- Ali Madanipour (MArch, PhD) is Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, UK, where he has been the co-founder and former director of the Global Urban Research Unit (GURU). His research has critically investigated the urban transformation processes and their implications for disadvantaged social groups and the environment, in projects on social exclusion, urban governance, public space, knowledge and rationality, temporality and authenticity. His visiting positions include the City of Vienna Senior Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Vienna, the Wits-Claude Leon Distinguished Scholar at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Visiting Professor at the Polytechnic of Milan.