International Advisors

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Biographies

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Sengül Akçar

Sengül Akçar is the Executive Director and Board Member of the Foundation for the Support of Women's Work, Member of the Huairou Commission, and Ashoka fellow. She has worked extensively on women's issues and has contributed to several national, regional and international meetings on issues such as gender, human settlements, governance and poverty eradication. She is a civil engineer and holds an MA in Public Administration from the Bosphorus University, Turkey.

Dr. Alan Artibise

Alan F. J. Artibise is Executive Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University. He also serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Social Science Research. He is a certified planner and a recognized expert in North American urban development and is trained as a political scientist and urban historian.

Before being named executive dean in December 2006, Dr. Artibise served as Dean of Social Sciences at ASU. He previously had been an administrator and professor at several other North American universities, including the University of New Orleans, where he was Dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs; the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he was Executive Director of the Public Policy Research Center; and the Universities of British Columbia, Winnipeg, Victoria and Manitoba. He was the founding Executive Director of the Sustainable Cities Foundation.

Bliss Browne

Her civic leadership positions have included: Director and Past Chairman of the Center for Neighborhood Technology and of the MidAmerica Leadership Foundation; Trustee of the Chicago Sunday Evening Club; Advisory Board member of Public Allies, and board member of Archeworks, Chicago Children's Choir, Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, the Illinois Fatherhood Initiative, the Chicago Board of the Children's Scholarship Fund, and the Community Advisory boards of the Field Museum and the Chicago Historical Society. She also served on the Illinois governor's Public-Private Child Care Council and the Episcopal Presiding Bishop's Consultation on Reconciliation. She was the first women priest ever to preach at Westminster Abbey, in 1979, and has served in parish ministry in Chicago for over 25 years. She was one of 24 members of the Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America, a two-year forum at the Harvard Kennedy School that recognized national innovators in developing social capital.

Jeb Brugmann

Liz Dowdeswell, Co-Chair

Liz Dowdeswell has had an extensive career in government, education and international affairs. From 1993 to 1998 she served as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program, where she transformed the agency's work and focussed on developing programs in state-of-the-environment assessment and reporting, environmental law, trade and globalization.

Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Dowdeswell was the Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Canada from 1989 to 1992, where she was responsible for the national weather and atmospheric agency. In that capacity she played a leading role in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change, adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. She was also Canada's permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organization; principal delegate to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and Canadian Chair of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board.

Ms. Dowdeswell has worked as a management consultant to the Government of Canada and led a number of public inquiries into issues such as Canada's unemployment benefits program, water policy and meteorological services. Recently, Ms. Dowdeswell's professional activities have included: management consulting; Visiting Professor in Global Health, Genomics and Ethics at the University of Toronto; Commissioner of the Commission on Globalization; and Associate Fellow of the European Centre for Public Affairs

Ms. Dowdeswell is the author of numerous publications in both popular press and professional journals. She holds a Master of Science degree in behavioral sciences from Utah State University, a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics and a teaching certificate from the University of Saskatchewan. She is the recipient of nine honorary degrees including six Doctor of Law degrees from various universities, a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax and the Memorial Gold Medal awarded by Charles University in Prague.

Gwynne Dyer

His first television series, the 7-part documentary 'War,’ was aired in 45 countries in the mid-80s. One episode, 'The Profession of Arms,’ was nominated for an Academy Award.  His more recent television work includes the 1994 series 'The Human Race,’ and 'Protection Force,’ a three-part series on peacekeepers in Bosnia, both of which won Gemini awards.  His award-winning radio documentaries include 'The Gorbachev Revolution,’ a seven-part series based on Dyer's experiences in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in 1987-90, and 'Millenium,’ a six-hour series on the emerging global culture.

Prema Gopalan

As the Executive Director of Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) for over 15 years, Prema Gopalan has supported poor rural women in building bridges with local government to facilitate democratic processes that are inclusive of women. She founded SSP in 1994 to build networks of rural ‘social businesses’ that are co-created by private corporations and women survivors of disasters such as the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the Latur and Gujarat earthquakes (of 1993 and 2001 respectively). With the facilitation of SSP, networks of women entrepreneurs have launched retail businesses in renewable home energy products, home groceries and health funds in partnership with BP (previously known as British Petroleum), LIC and others.

Working in the disaster-effected areas of three Indian states, SSP has since 1998, launched 8,944 agri and non-farm businesses through savings and group credit products. Further, it has nurtured 1,820 women retail entrepreneurs with a total consumer base of 63,000 families and cumulative earnings of 2.3 crores. It has ensured more than 33 percent income growth per entrepreneur.

Sir Peter Hall

Peter Hall is the Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London and President of both the Town and Country Planning Association and the Regional Studies Association.

He is an internationally renowned authority on the economic, demographic, cultural and management issues that face cities around the globe. Hall has also been for many years a key planning and regeneration adviser to successive UK governments. He was Special Adviser on Strategic Planning to the British government (1991-94) and a member of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Urban Task Force (1998-1999). Hall is also considered by many to be the father of the industrial enterprise zone concept, adopted by countries worldwide to develop industry in disadvantaged areas.

Gwendolyn Hallsmith

Gwendolyn Hallsmith, the Director of Planning and Community Development for the City of Montpelier, is also the founder and Board Co-Chair of Global Community Initiatives and author of The Key to Sustainable Cities, Taking Action for Sustainability: the EarthCAT Guide to Community Development, and LASER: Local Action for Sustainable Economic Renewal.  She has over 20 years of experience working with municipal, regional, and state government in the United States and internationally. She has served as the Municipal Manager of Randolph, Vermont, the Regional Planning Director in Franklin County, MA, a Senior Planner for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Resources, the Deputy Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and for over fifteen years as an international specialist on sustainable community development.

Her international experience has included work with the United Nations Environment Program, the United Nations Development Program, the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the International City/County Management Association, and Earth Charter International. She has a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Brown University and has studied theology at the Andover Newton Theological School, exploring the links between our wisdom traditions, spirituality, and work on the community level.

The Honourable Mike Harcourt, Co-Chair

Michael Harcourt served as British Columbia's Premier from 1991 to 1996, and as Mayor of Vancouver for 3 terms from 1980 to 1986, and as Vancouver Alderman, 4 terms 1972 to1980.

Mr. Harcourt is a former Chair of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities and now serves as its Honorary Chair. He works with the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation on International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (I-CORD) and chairs the Spinal Cord Injury Quality of Life Advisory Group. He is an Honorary Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners. He has served on the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy where he served on the Executive Committee and Chaired the Urban Sustainability Program.

In May 2003, he was appointed Federal Commissioner on The British Columbia Treaty Commission. His commitment to the treaty process is long-standing; as premier in 1992 he signed the agreement establishing the Treaty Commission.

He Chaired the External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities for the Prime Minister's Office. The Committee held hearings across Canada and submitted its report in 2006.

He co-Chaired the National Advisory Committee for UN-HABITAT's World Urban Forum III, that was held in Vancouver, in June 2006, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the landmark Habitat Conference in 1976, which inaugurated international cooperation on human settlements.

Mr. Harcourt speaks and advises internationally on sustainability solutions.

Degrees and Awards: B.A. and a L.L.B. from the University of British Columbia; Honourary Doctor of Laws from Royal Roads University, Victoria, B.C.; Honourary Doctor of Laws from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.; Honourary Doctor of Laws from University of Northern B.C.; Honourary Doctor of Laws from Okanagan University College; J.B. Harkin Medal Award, Conservation of Nature, May 2003.; Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service Sept. 2005; Canadian Urban Institute Jane Jacobs Lifetime Achievement Award 2006.

Dr. Hazel Henderson

Hazel Henderson is the founder of Ethical Markets Media, LLC and the creator and co-executive Producer of its TV series. She is a world renowned futurist, evolutionary economist, a worldwide syndicated columnist, consultant on sustainable development, and author of The Axiom and Nautilus award-winning book Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy (2006) and eight other books. She co-edited, with Harlan Cleveland and Inge Kaul, The UN: Policy and Financing Alternatives, Elsevier Scientific, UK 1995 (US edition, 1996). 

Her editorials appear in 27 languages and in 200 newspapers syndicated by InterPress Service, Rome, New York, and Washington DC. Her articles have appeared in over 250 journals, including (in USA) Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor; and Challenge, Mainichi (Japan), El Diario (Venezuela), World Economic Herald (China), LeMonde Diplomatique (France) and Australian Financial Review. Her books are translated into German, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, Swedish, Korean, Portuguese and Chinese. She sits on several editorial boards, including Futures Research Quarterly, The State of the Future Report, and E/The Environmental Magazine (USA), Resurgence and Foresight and Futures (UK).

C. S. Holling

Holling received his B.A. and M.Sc. at the University of Toronto in 1952 and his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia in 1957. He worked for several years in the Canadian Department of Forestry in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
After working for Forestry Canada, Buzz Holling was, at various times, Professor and Director of the Institute of Animal Resource Ecology, University of British Columbia, Director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna and Eminent Scholar, Arthur R. Marshall Jr. Chair in Ecological Sciences in the Department of Zoology at the University of Florida. He retired from the University of Florida in 1999, but remains on the faculty as an Emeritus Eminent Scholar.
He has been awarded two major awards from the Ecological Society of America, the Mercer Award given to a young scientist in recognition of an outstanding paper in ecology in 1966, and the Eminent Ecologist Award for "outstanding contributions to the science of Ecology" in 1999. He also received the Kenneth Boulding Memorial Prize, in 2000, the Volvo Environment Prize in 2008, and an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Guelph in 1998. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Royal Society of Canada, a foreign Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and has been awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Arts and Science. He was founding editor-in-chief of the open access online journal Conservation Ecology, now renamed Ecology and Society. He was also the founder of the Resilience Alliance, an international science network.

Dr. Jeff Kenworthy

He is co-author (with Peter Newman, Felix Laube and others) of a number of books. These include: Cities and Automobile Dependence: An International Sourcebook; Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence; An International Sourcebook of Automobile Dependence in Cities, 1960-1990; Back On Track: Rethinking Transport Policy in Australia and New Zealand; and Winning Back the Cities.

As well, he is author and co-author of over 200 other book chapters and journal publications in the area of city policy. He has extensive experience in the areas of compact housing developments, public transport systems and sustainable transport policy and has worked as a consultant for local, state and federal governments in Australia, as well as private organizations and the World Bank. He has also acted in an advisory capacity in the Premier's Department in WA. Dr Kenworthy has lectured internationally in 20 countries and over 50 cities to universities, government agencies and community organizations on city policy issues.

He was for three and a half years Project Director in ISTP for a large project called the Millennium Cities Database for Sustainable Transport for the International Union (Association) of Public Transport in Brussels (UITP). This study includes 100 developed and developing cities in every part of the world and includes comparative data on urban land use, transport, economics and the environment of cities.

Jeff Kenworthy received the Australian Centenary Medal from the Australian Prime Minister’s Office for service to planning and sustainability in relation to public transport and urban form.

Dr. Ashok Khosla

Born in Kashmir in 1940, the son of a university professor and a college lecturer, Khosla gained a masters degree in natural sciences from Cambridge University before going on to do a PhD in experimental physics at Harvard.

After a period teaching in the United States - he was part of the team that designed and taught Harvard's inaugural undergraduate course on the environment - he returned to his native India where he became the founding director of the Indian government's Office of Environmental Planning and Co-Ordination, the first such agency in a developing country.

In 1976 he was appointed director of the UNEP, where he designed and launched Infoterra, the global environmental information exchange. He remained with the UNEP until 1982 when he left to found Development Alternatives, a Delhi-based Non-Governmental Organization devoted to promoting commercially viable, environmentally friendly technologies. He served on the Brundland Commission on Environment and Development (Creating Our Common Future).

Jaime Lerner

Responsible for the creation and structuring of the Institute of Urban Planning and Research of Curitiba (IPPUC) in 1965, he participated in the preparation of the Master Plan for Curitiba that resulted in the physical, economic and cultural transformation of the city. He was Mayor of Curitiba for three terms: 1971/75, 1979/83 and 1989/92. During his first term as mayor, Lerner consolidated the urban transformation and implemented the Integrated Mass Transport System, worldwide acknowledged for its efficiency, quality and low cost. In the two subsequent terms, in addition to the cutting-edge urban planning actions, Lerner intensified an encompassing program that resulted in social advances, ranking Curitiba among the capitals with the highest quality of life in the world.

Elected Governor of Parana State in 1994 and re-elected in 1998, Lerner promoted the greatest economic and social transformation in its history. Supported by a successful investment attraction policy, Parana consolidated its position as the new industrial hub in the country, receiving US$ 20 billion in investments between 1995 and 2001. Emulating the successful experience of Curitiba, during his time in office Jaime Lerner tackled transport, land use, education, health, sanitation, recreation and industrialization as a whole.

Esther Mwaura Muiru

Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt

The Natural Step framework developed by Robèrt in cooperation with a growing network of scientists across the globe, sets out the system conditions for sustainability, plus guidelines to systematically approach compliance with the principles. The framework has been applied to fields as diverse as agriculture, forestry, energy systems, information and selection of tools for sustainable development, green building and the ecological management of river basins. Robert’s system conditions are significant in that they are scientifically-based, but readily understandable, principles for sustainability. The Natural Step is now being applied as a framework for planning and action by municipalities in Canada and around the world.

Alice Soulek

As the Vice-President of LEED Quality Control and Assurance at the US Green Building Council, Alice Soulek supervises the Certification Team as well as development of a new certification model (CERT3) and the new LEED Online system (LO3). Alice has worked in all levels of government and in the private sector as an engineer, infrastructure planner, and attorney. Alice Soulek is a Mechanical Engineer and planner and was a practicing attorney for 8 or 9 years. She holds a U.S. Patent and won the ASME Young Engineer's Design Competition for energy efficient street lighting. She worked for a number of years as the Capital Facilities Planning Coordinator at the City of Olympia (transportation, water, sewer, storm, facilities) where she developed software to facilitate the capital facilities planning process.  A Washington State agency bought the software and is distributing it free of charge to the cities and counties in the State.  In addition, the software was a finalist for the 2005 "Innovations in American Government Award" from the Ash Institute at Harvard University.  Currently, Ms. Soulek provides LEED-NC Silver planning and coordination for a $3 billion new construction program at Fort Bragg that is expected to take 5 years.

Dr. MIchael Sutcliffe

He earned an M. Sc. degree from the University of Natal and a PhD degree from Ohio State University.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Sutcliffe has acted as a consultant to a wide range of local and international organizations and continues to serve as a board member of a number of developmental organizations.  During this period he has written over 500 articles and reports on a wide range of issues, from demarcation and delimitation issues to urbanization, economic analysis and analyzing political trends. He continues to research local government in South Africa, including demarcation and delimitation issues.
Dr. Sutcliffe has been invited to present papers at over 10 non-African conferences including in the USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Scandinavia, Turkey, France, Norway, Australia and at conferences in many parts of Africa.  In addition, he has attended and presented papers at over 150 conferences in southern Africa and South Africa.

Nicholas You

Nicholas You is Senior Advisor, Policy & Strategic Planning, at the Office of the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT - Best Practices and Local Leadership, Kenya.

He is an architect and economist by training. After working in design in Europe in the 1970s he participated in implementing housing and urban development projects in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He joined UN-Habitat in 1982 to help establish municipal training and leadership development programs worldwide, with a particular focus on public-private partnerships, financial management and environmental planning and management.

In 1994 he joined the Secretariat for the Habitat II Conference which resulted in 1996 in the Habitat Agenda - the global plan of action for sustainable human settlement development. As a follow-up to the Conference, he established the Best Practices and Local Leadership Program, a global network of advocacy and capacity-building institutions dedicated to the transfer of lessons learned from best practices in improving the living environment.

After running the program for ten years, he was appointed in 2005 as the Special Advisor for Strategic Planning for UN-HABITAT and in 2007 as Senior Policy and Planning Advisor. During this time he led the preparation of a six-year medium-term Strategic and Institutional Plan for the organization. He is the author/editor of 5 books and numerous articles on housing, urban management and sustainable development and from 2000 to 2004 a visiting professor at the University Federico II in Naples.

In 2004 he was commissioned by the Universal Forum on Cultures (Barcelona) to serve as the curator and chief designer of a major exhibition entitled the “Best Practices City and Water Exhibit” that formed the flagship exhibit of the 141-day Forum. He also initiated, in 2004, the “Messengers of Truth Project” that uses the power of urban music to bring together performing artists, community leaders, the music and entertainment industries to empower disenfranchised urban youth to improve their own livelihoods.