Meet the leading voices in green infrastructure: an international line-up of architects, engineers, ecologists and policymakers, each addressing the questions that matter most to the professionals shaping tomorrow's cities.
Since 2023, Paloma has served as Director of CINEA, the executive agency established by the European Commission to implement EU funding programmes that boost green growth and clean industry in Europe. Her career spans more than 20 years in the European Commission, and she holds an MBA from IESE Business School, with a background in finance and banking.
Maria Àngels Balsells Bailón is Rector and Chair Professor of Education at the UdL. She was the university's first Dean of the Faculty of Education and its first Chair Professor of Education. With more than 30 years of teaching experience, she has helped consolidate key degree programmes in education, educational psychology, and doctoral studies.
Founding Partner of Batlleiroig, architect and landscape architect Enric Batlle is internationally known for integrating architecture, landscape, and urban planning to create resilient and environmentally conscious urban environments.
Architect and building engineer promoting green infrastructure since 2006, David Vernon Brasfield is Chairperson of the Norwegian Association for Green Infrastructure and Board Member and Supervisor of the World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN). He is leading the WGIC26 workshop on Health and Well-being. A strong believer in the human need for nature, he argues that access to a mutually healthy relationship with nature should be recognised as a universal human right, and champions ethical practice within the green infrastructure community — ecological sustainability and equitable access to green infrastructure.
After 15 years as a civil engineer working on major infrastructure projects, Sergio Carratalá founded MataAlta in 2018 with the conviction that engineering can also help regenerate the territory. At MataAlta Studio, nature, landscape and engineering work together to restore ecological balance and create healthier, more biodiverse and more valuable spaces for people.
Professor at the University of Hong Kong, Wendy Y. Chen specialises in urban green-blue infrastructure, focusing on how nature-based solutions improve urban sustainability, planning, and quality of life.
Architect and founder of ESARQ-UIC Barcelona, Alberto T. Estévez is a leading voice in biodigital architecture, exploring the convergence of design, biology, advanced technology and sustainability. albertoestevez.com
Chiara Farinea is an Italian architect, urban planner and researcher exploring the integration of nature into cities, with a focus on more-than-human and interspecies design and emerging technologies. She has developed innovative urban prototypes implemented across European cities and exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Her work has been published in books and scientific journals. She is Head of European Projects at IAAC, where she leads international EU-funded research projects and teaches.
Cristina Martínez Aransay is Head of the Cities Area at Fundación Biodiversidad (MITECO). An architect specialising in urban renaturalisation and international cooperation, she drives strategies and initiatives to promote green infrastructure, climate resilience, and sustainable transformation in urban environments.
Job Mwangi is Advocacy Manager at The Green Belt Movement and a Kenyan lawyer and communications professional. With more than 10 years of experience in strategic communications and advocacy, his work focuses on environmental governance, forest protection, landscape restoration and community engagement, promoting stronger environmental protection and more climate-resilient development in Kenya.
Steven Peck is co-founder and President of the World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN) and founder of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. A global pioneer in the sector, he drives policy, research, and innovation to integrate green infrastructure and nature-based solutions into cities.
Luigi Petito, 51, is an expert in European public affairs based in Brussels, the crossroads of international affairs and the European institutions. In 2019 he was invited to establish and lead the European Chapter of the World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN). Since then, he has followed EU policy and regulatory developments related to green infrastructure and advocated for its systematic integration in urban areas. He represents WGIN in the European Commission expert group on the implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation.
Gabriel Pérez Luque is Chair Professor of Architectural Construction at the Universitat de Lleida (UdL). A PhD in Architecture and Agronomic Engineer, his research focuses on nature-based solutions, urban green infrastructure, green roofs, and energy efficiency in sustainable building.
Vice President of the One Health Platform (POH), representing the Spanish Conference of Biology Deans (CEDB), and Chair Professor at the Faculty of Biology of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Victoria Pérez García is Cities Area Coordinator at Fundación Biodiversidad (MITECO). She leads urban renaturalisation and resilience initiatives through nature-based solutions, promoting green infrastructure and biodiversity to improve liveability and quality of life in cities.
Architect, academic, and Member of the European Parliament, Marcos Ros works at the intersection of urban policy, sustainability, housing, and the built environment, bringing a strong European institutional perspective to the future of cities.
Founder of the Urban and Territorial Ecology Foundation (FEUT), Salvador Rueda is a pioneer in urban ecology and the creator of the internationally recognised Superblocks model, which is redefining healthier and more liveable cities.
Loredana Scuto is Senior Programme Officer - Urban at IUCN. A specialist in heritage and sustainable development, she drives global initiatives to integrate nature and biodiversity into urban design through nature-based solutions.
Camille is C40's Senior Manager for Urban Planning and the 15-Minute City. An architect and urban planner by training, she is responsible for C40's Green and Thriving Neighborhoods programme, which supports cities in neighbourhood-scale planning and design interventions based on proximity models such as complete neighbourhoods and 15-minute cities, and helps build evidence of their climate, social, economic and health benefits. Before joining C40, Camille was part of the research team at UCLG and worked for architecture firms across France and the United States.
This first group of speakers underscores the ambition, depth, and multidisciplinary vision of WGIC 2026, positioning it as a key forum for global urban debate.