Matt Nohn is the Principal of Rapid Urbanism and the Founder CEO of IAUAI gGmbH. He is an urban economist and development planner with 20+ years of work experience in 40+ countries, helping to solve the housing, land, infrastructure, transportation and employment conundrum, and focusing on resource mobilization and progressive development in ways suitable to any level of political and economic development.
Besides his part-time employment with The World Bank (STC), he consults for UN-Habitat, Cities Alliance, C40, bilateral agencies GIZ and KFW, national government (e.g., Rwanda Green Fund Fonerwa, or National Housing Bank India), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and think tanks (e.g., ITDP, Environmental Planning Collaboration) and the world’s leading consulting firms. In addition, Matt serves as a Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Design at Harvard GSD, and lectures at multiple leading universities.
Matt holds a Master of Public Policy with concentration in Political and Economic Development from Harvard Kennedy School, for which he received the prestigious McCloy Scholarship and where he won the Outstanding Policy Analysis Award (for the best thesis), eventually. Earlier he earned a Post-graduate Certificate in International Affairs from Stiftungskolleg, in cooperation with German National Merit Foundation and the Foreign Office, and was awarded a Dipl.-Ing. Architecture/Urban Planning (TU Darmstadt), after a DAAD Scholarship for postgraduate studies at UFRJ in Brazil. Finally, he kicked off his career with two years of professional training as a journeyman in Masonry Construction.
On a project by project basis, Matt collaborates with an extensive network of associated experts, including but not limited to:
Sabrina Kleinenhammans is the Director of Design with Rapid Urbanism IAUAI. As an Architect, Urbanist, and Designer, she is in charge of the design and communication strategy. She holds a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) from MIT and a German engineering diploma (Dipl.-Ing.) in Architecture from the Peter Behrens School of Architecture in Düsseldorf. She is also the Winner of the 2009 World Architecture Festival’s Student Design Competition with her work In-Between Green in Mumbai.
Evandro Holz is the Co-Founder of IAUAI and a Senior Urban Development Expert. He holds a MSc. in Urban Management (TU Berlin) and a BA (hons.) in Civil Engineering (UFRGS, Brazil), and has 15+ years of experience working in projects in South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. His expertise includes urban management, resilience, housing, territorial planning, policy development, climate change, project finance and environmental management. Evandro is also the Co-founder and CEO of urban tech start-up ClUrb.
Samuel Senesie serves as Regional Coordinator, Sub-Saharan Africa. A former UN Volunteer with UNHCR in Ethiopia and Head of Civil Works Department in Sierra Leone, he has over ten years of postgraduate professional experience. Samuel holds a MSc. in Urban Management (TU Berlin) and B.Eng. with honors in Civil Engineering from the University of Sierra Leone. At Rapid Urbanism he is involved in, inter alia, exploring opportunities for addressing rapid urbanization challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Yumi Higashi Neder is a Volunteer Architect and Urban Designer with IAUAI, supporting the mapping of urban planning processes as the basis for developing the Rapid Urbanism Explorer. She holds a Master of Science in Urban Management from TU Berlin, Germany, as well as degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning from Universidade Estadual de Campinas and in Psychology from Universidade Federal de São Carlos, both in Brazil.
Laura López is a Volunteer Urban Designer at IAUAI, supporting the development of a social impact urbanization project in Chad. She has five years of experience with the public and private sector, developing master plans for residential settlements and educational facilities in Colombia and Guatemala, and participatory design of public spaces in Medellin, Colombia., as well as two years in TOD projects. She holds a Bachelor in Architecture from National University Colombia and is pursuing a MSc. in Urban Management at TU Berlin.
Katherine Prieto is a Volunteer Architect at IAUAI, supporting the development of social impact urbanization projects. As an Architect (San Buenaventura of Cali University, Colombia), she has seven years of professional experience in social housing, mixed-use buildings, social infrastructure and urban and regional planning in Colombia and the UK. Currently, she attends the postgraduate MSc in Urban Management Programme at TU Berlin.
Alicia Beandda is a Volunteer Architect at IAUAI, supporting the development of social impact urbanization projects. She graduated in architecture from the Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia. and has four years of experience working on architecture and new town developments with the private sector and one year on village development with the Ministry of Tourism in Indonesia. Currently, she attends the postgraduate MSc. in Urban Management Programme at TU Berlin.
Adele Vosper is Senior Urban Development Expert. She holds a MSc. in Urban Management (TU Berlin), and a Master of Public Health (La Trobe University, Australia).
Her work focuses on healthy, inclusive and sustainable urban development. She has more than seven years of professional experience gained in Australia, Africa and Europe, including five years in public health.
Eliana Silva is Senior Urban Development Expert. She holds a MSc. in Urban Management (TU Berlin) and a Bachelor in Economics (UCV, Venezuela).
She has eight years of professional experience working on social and urban development projects in Latin America and Europe, particularly with CAF. At Rapid Urbanism, her work focuses on housing, urban economics, resilience and climate change.
Swapnil Kangankar serves as Urban Associate He holds a MSc in Urban Management (TU Berlin) and has a background in architecture (Sir J.J COA, Mumbai). He has an experience of around five years of working on numerous public as well as private sector projects in different affordable housing, urban resilience, planning and architecture. At Rapid Urbanism he is involved in founding the Institute for Advanced Urbanization and Artificial Intelligence (IAUAI).
Alokananda Nath is Urban Planning Expert, focusing on inclusive and smart cities, affordable housing and slum upgrading. She has 5 years of work experience with national consultancies, municipal corporations, research organizations and international agencies. Aloka holds MSc. in Urban Management from TU Berlin, a Master in Urban and Regional Planning from CEPT Ahmedabad and a Bachelor in Architecture from Kolkata.
Patricia Guena Trottenberg is Urban Development Associate. As a MSc. in Urban Management from TU Berlin and graduate architect and urbanist from the Mackenzie University in São Paulo (Brazil), she has eight years of experience in projects for slum upgrading, green areas and open spaces.
In particular, she focuses in environmental issues and participatory processes.
Sofia Fernandez Rosso is Urban Development Associate. As a MSc. in Urban Management from TU Berlin, Architect (UBA, Argentina) and Landscape Architect (UTDT, Argentina) she has gained ten years of professional experience in Argentina, Europe and Asia. Her work focuses in affordable housing, inclusive public space and sustainable urban development.