Laura Colini

Laura Colini has been trained as architect at the University of Florence in Italy and holds a Phd in Urban and Territorial Studies. She currently works as Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning in Erkner (near Berlin), Germany, and holds a post-doctoral Grant at Sorbonne Paris IV. Previous position were at the Bauhaus University as Academic Coordinator International Doctorate Programme European Urban Studies (IPP-EU) Doctorate Research Group Urban Heritage (UH), and post- Doctoral Marie Curie Fellow for the research project Mediacity, while teaching classes on urban development and governance to mostly post graduate classes. During the PhD she has been visiting scholar at the Program On Negotiation (PON) Harvard University and fellow at Center for Reflective and Community Practice at MIT, Boston, MA, USA. Colini works on the broad field of interrelations between urban development and urban governance, with a strong focus on social inclusion. Since 2005 she is working as thematic expert for URBACT EU programme, which entails collaboration with the URBACT secretariat and coordination of several EU cities. Since 2009 she worked with DG regio EU COM on several Studies. Additionally, she collaborates with non-profit association such as viaindustriae and oginoknauss dealing with socio-spatial studies, arts and media, and INURA international network for urban research and action.