About the Authors

Sir Peter Hall is Vice Chair of Global Urban Development, and Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at University College, London, UK, where he is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Young Foundation. His many books include The World Cities, Cities in Civilization, Urban and Regional Planning, Cities of Tomorrow, Urban Future 21, Technopoles of the World, and Silicon Landscapes. Dr. Hall’s article is an adaptation of his GUD report, produced in 2003, for the European Union’s ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) policy research initiative.

Eric J. Hobsbawm is Professor Emeritus of Economic and Social History at Birkbeck College in London, UK, and a founding member of the Board of Directors of Global Urban Development. He is the author of many books, including his recently published autobiography, Interesting Times, and his highly acclaimed four-volume history of the world from 1789 to 1991: The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, The Age of Empire, and The Age of Extremes. Dr. Hobsbawm’s article is an adaptation of a chapter that was originally published in his book Revolutionaries (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973), and is reprinted with the permission of the author.

Monika Jaeckel is a Senior Researcher at the German Youth Institute in Munich, Germany, founder and Chair of the Mother Centers International Network for Empowerment (MINE) and the Grassroots Women’s International Academy (GWIA), Chair of the Our Best Practices Campaign for the Huairou Commission, and a member of the Board of Directors of Global Urban Development, serving as Co-Chair of the GUD Program Committee on Building Gender Equality in Urban Life. Her books include The Learning City, The GWIA Handbook, Engendering Governance and Development, and Challenging Development. Ms. Jaeckel’s article is excerpted from her recently published book, The Learning City: A New Approach to Urban Development, and is reprinted with the permission of the author.

Ricardo Montezuma is Director of the Humane City Foundation in Bogota, Colombia, and a member of the Advisory Board of Global Urban Development. He served on the Executive Board of the Transmilenio bus rapid transit system in Bogota, and is the author of several books, including Ciclovia. Dr. Montezuma’s article is adapted from his recently published book, The Transformation of Bogota, and is printed with the permission of the author. The article was translated from Spanish by Jonas Hagen.

Geoffrey I. Nwaka is Professor and Dean of the College of Postgraduate Studies at Abia State University in Uturu, Nigeria, and a member of the Advisory Board of Global Urban Development. Dr. Nwaka is the author of Town Planning in Eastern Nigeria and Colonial Calabar.

Donovan D. Rypkema is the Principal of Heritage Strategies International in Washington, DC, and a member of the Board of Directors of Global Urban Development, serving as Co-Chair of the GUD Program Committee on Celebrating Our Urban Heritage. He is the author of The Economics of Historic Preservation, Community Initiated Development, The Economics of Rehabilitation, Economic Development on Main Street, and other works published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Molly O’Meara Sheehan is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC, and a member of the Board of Directors of Global Urban Development, serving as Co-Chair of the GUD Program Committee on Facing the Environmental Challenge. She is the author of Reinventing Cities for People and the Planet. Ms. Sheehan’s article was originally published under the title “Where the Sidewalks End: How the Poor Combat Poverty Daily” in the November/December 2002 issue of World Watch magazine, and is reprinted with the permission of the Worldwatch Institute.

Kaarin Taipale is a Senior Adviser and Immediate Past Chair of ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, and a member of the Board of Directors of Global Urban Development, serving as Co-Chair of the GUD Program Committee on Global Urban Development. She is also former Chief Executive of the Municipal Building Department in Helsinki, Finland, and former Editor of the Finnish Architectural Review. Ms. Taipale’s article is excerpted from her book, Local and Global, published in 2004 by the City of Helsinki, and is reprinted with the permission of the author.

Emiel A. Wegelin is Vice Chair of Global Urban Development, Director of UrbAct in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and former Coordinator of the United Nations/World Bank Urban Management Program (UMP). Dr. Wegelin is the author of Housing the Urban Poor, Urban Low-Income Housing and Development, and New Approaches in Urban Services Delivery, and co-author of Governing Cities and Shelter Upgrading for the Urban Poor. This article is a summarized version of an article by Emiel Wegelin entitled “Refugee-related Housing Issues in selected SEE Countries" in Housing in South Eastern Europe (Paris: Council of Europe Development Bank and the World Bank, March 2004), and is reprinted with the permission of the author. The consulting work underlying this article was conducted for the Migration, Asylum, and Refugee Return Initiative (MARRI) of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, with Swiss Development Cooperation support.

Marc A. Weiss Chairman and CEO of Global Urban Development, and Executive Editor of Global Urban Development Magazine. Dr. Weiss is the author of The Rise of the Community Builders and co-author of Real Estate Development Principles and Process. He served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and HUD Liaison to the President's Council on Sustainable Development in the administration of President Clinton, and as Coordinator of the 1998 Strategic Economic Development Plan for Washington, DC.

Belinda Yuen is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning in the Department of Real Estate and the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore, and a founding member of the Board of Directors of Global Urban Development, serving as President, and as Co-Chair of the GUD Program Committee on Celebrating Our Urban Heritage. Dr. Yuen’s books include Planning Singapore, Sustainable Cities in the 21st Century, Singapore Housing, and Urban Quality of Life.

Muhammad Yunus is the founder and Managing Director of the Grameen Bank in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a member of the Advisory Board of Global Urban Development. Dr. Yunus is the author of the best-selling book, Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. His article is adapted from a lecture he delivered at the Commonwealth Institute in London, UK, and is printed with permission of the author.

Return to top