Our writers

Markéta Veselá was born in the Czech Republic in a suburb of the capital city Prague. She has lived in the United Kingdom since 1997 and in 2004 she graduated from the University of Southampton with BA Honors Degree in European studies. During her university studies she worked as a trainee at the famous German…

Jillian Glover is a communications advisor who specialises in urban issues and transportation. She is a former Vancouver City Planning Commissioner and holds a Master of Urban Studies degree from Simon Fraser University. She was born and raised in Vancouver, where she lives with her husband and son. In her spare time, she writes about…

Jane Roberts is a very observational and reflective practitioner and trainer of play and playwork. As a playwork practitioner I have worked in the realm of Therapeutic Playwork and researched how beneficial this approach could be in working with children diagnosed with Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder. Jane has spoken at various conferences, on local…

Maria received her Master’s degree in Urban Design from UC Berkeley, USA (2013) and her Master’s degree in Architecture from Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (2010). She is currently working as a freelance Architect in Greece and as a Design Consultant and Workshop Coordinator for participatory planning projects in collaboration with local public elementary schools.…

Chiara is a freelance architect and a collaborator in an architecture studio in Turin. Born in Lecce (Italy), where she lived until she was nineteen, she moved to Turin, where she graduated in the Science of Architecture (2012) and achieved her Masters in Architecture of City Construction at the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy (2014). Chiara…

Burcu Gülay Taşçı; B. Arch, M.Arch. received her B. Arch degree from Department of Architecture at İzmir Institute of Technology (2001-2006). She earned her M.Arch degree (2006-2008) and PhD degree (2010-2014) in architecture from Dokuz Eylül University. Burcu is a doctor and lecturer at Dokuz Eylul Unıversıty of Archıtecture department and her research interests include architecture…

Peter Prakke was born and raised in the Netherlands. Immigrated to Canada and is a horticulturist with a wide range of knowledge in the horticultural industry. He is the author of many publications including the Canadian Children’s Garden Calendar© – The Vitamin A & C Vegetable Garden©. Technical consultant for Time/Life publication “Lawn & Garden…

Helen van Gorkum-Davidson is an early and middle years community developer based in Vancouver, Canada. For the last 15 years, Helen has supported communities and organizations working together to build a strong foundation for children, particularly in urban settings. Currently, Helen is involved in projects focused on children’s rights, child poverty, social-emotional development, place-based initiatives…

Victoria Derr is an Assistant Professor in Sustainability Education at California State University, Monterey Bay in the United States.  For more than 20 years, Victoria has engaged communities in participatory research, design and planning for natural and built communities. From 2012-2016 she was a Co-Coordinator of Growing Up Boulder, at the University of Colorado, in…

Eleni Kapa-Karasavidou studied pedagogy and mass media at the Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Simultaneously she was honoured with a scholarship by the University of Nottingham, where she took a Masters in Cultural Studies. She completed a second MA in Intercultural Education (Linguistics and Culture) and a PhD in Children’s Literature.  She was the organiser of the…

Eugene Lee Davids has submitted his Ph.D in Child and Family Studies at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa) where his research looked at developing and testing a model examining the interaction between parenting styles and decision making styles on adolescent’s healthy lifestyle behaviours. He has also received his Master of Arts (2012)…

Jona Olafsdottir is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Iceland. Her teaching focuses on topics such as drug addiction and domestic violence and she teaches both in classroom setting and supervising in field practice for students in social work. She holds an MA in Social Work from the University of Iceland. She is currently…

Nia Zulhadji is an Indonesia Child Rights/Child Protection activist working with government agencies in SE Asia to develop policies and plans for child-friendly cities. Nia has Law background education and earlier in her career, she worked as a professional advocate for children’s rights within legal child protection procedures. Nia is the founder of the Sriwijaya…

Jenny Wood is a final year PhD researcher t at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Her PhD explores the relationship between the Scottish town planning system and children’s rights (as laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), focusing particularly on the right to play and the right to participate in decision-making.…

Shabira Nupur is working in development sectors since 1997. She has a diversified experiences to work with children, youth, women and other vulnareble communities. Now she is working with World Vision Bangladesh as a National Advocacy Coordinator. As a National Advocacy Coordinator she is leading two sectors which is Child Protection and Participation. As a…

Sven De Visscher is lecturer social work at University College Ghent in Belgium. He also coordinates a team in the department of social work that develops research and teaching projects about education and social work in urbanising contexts. Sven holds a PhD degree in Educational Sciences (Ghent Uni) since 2008. His main research topics include…

Allie Bishop Pasquier lives and works in Bellingham, Washington, USA. She holds her B.S. and M.S. in Early Childhood Education from New York University and the Erikson Institute, respectively. She has worked in a variety of Early Childhood settings as a teacher of one- to five-year-olds. Her current focus is open-ended play and early childhood…

Julia Harkleroad is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Horticultural Therapist.  She earned an M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Friends University and her Horticultural Therapy certification through the distinguished Chicago Botanic Garden.  Julia specializes in work with children, adolescents and their families.  Julia’s clinical approach with children is play based…

Jackie is a Dublin based urban researcher with a particular interest in children’s rights. In 2007 she set up Playtime, an initiative which advocates improving the quality of children’s urban environments. Through her doctoral thesis she explored children’s perspectives of the public realm on their everyday walks and looked at how they construct a sense…

Vasilka Lalevska is a Political Officer for Active – Sobriety, Friendship and Peace and Junis and she is currently based in Stockholm, Sweden. She has studied Economics (BA, specialization in E-Business) and Project Management (MSc), both at the ‘Ss Cyril and Methodius’ University in her home town, Skopje.  Vasilka has been working in the non-profit…

Tamalacà  ‐  tuttamialacittà is a spin‐off and an interdisciplinary research group composed of four women of the Department of Architecture, Design, and Planning of Alghero (University of Sassari, Sardinia, Italy). TaMaLaCà is an international open group and works with a lot of partners and friends to develop and realize several activities and projects. The group…

Marini Widowati is an architect, urban designer and illustrator. Graduated in 1991 from Parahyangan University Bandung, joined Atelier 6, an architecture firm in Jakarta as architect and urban designer for four years. She has over thirteen years experience in Architecture, Master Planning, Site Planning, Architecture Design and Urban Design Guidelines. Currently, she involves in several…