The Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Multi-Level Analysis of Urban and Spatial Development

original title: Stadtentwicklung beobachten, messen und umsetzen

IzR 1/2021: The authors

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photo: Brigitte Bariol-Mathais

Brigitte Bariol-Mathais
graduated in architecture and town planning and awarded chief architect and planner by the State of France, she is the General Delegate of the French Network of Urban Planning Agencies (Fédération Nationale des Agences d’UrbanismeFNAU), an association which generates on a partnership principle in cooperation with elected persons, local authorities and their associations as well as ministries public engineering and planning tools for urban and territorial policies as contributions to an urban dialogue (further information available at www.fnau.org). FNAU is also in charge of the French Partnership for Cities and Territories (Partenariat Français pour la Ville et le TerritoirePFVT), a platform of French stakeholders preparing the Word Urban Fora of the United Nations (further information available at www.pfvt.fr). Based on her long-standing cooperation with UN-Habitat, Brigitte Bariol-Mathais is also Vice-President of Sustainable City by France – a network gathering representatives of the State of France, local authorities, private enterprises and experts for developing and disseminating innovation on sustainable cities in France and at the international scale (further information available at www.francesustainablecity.org).

photo: Sabine Drees

Sabine Drees
is Senior Adviser for international affairs and global sustainability at the Association of German Cities (Deutscher Städtetag) in Cologne. She also coordinates the transinstitutional SDG Indicators for Municipalities Working Group.


photo: Jürgen Göddecke-Stellmann

Jürgen Göddecke-Stellmann
is a sociologist at the Urban Development Grants and Social Urban Development Division of the BBSR. His tasks comprise the monitoring of urban development grants on the national level and the coordination of the small-scale urban monitoring.



photo: Jasmin Jossin

Dr. Jasmin Jossin
is a Research Associate at the Infrastructure, Economy and Finance Department of the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik – Difu). She currently focuses on general principles and futures issues of sustainable (urban) development and related conflicts of interest as well as municipal sustainability management. Moreover, she works on future urban visions and education for sustainable development. Her methodological expertise is in surveys, statistics and indicators. She holds a doctoral degree in urban and environmental psychology.

photo: Khoo Teng Chye

Khoo Teng Chye
is Fellow and Former Executive Director at the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) in Singapore – a knowledge centre which aims at distilling, creating and sharing knowledge on liveable and sustainable cities through research, capacity development, advisory and knowledge platforms.


photo: Debolina Kundu

Prof. Dr. Debolina Kundu
is a leading Social Scientist and Professor at the National Institute of Urban Affairs in New Delhi.



Satu Lähteenoja
is a Senior Researcher at Demos Helsinki.

photo: Teresa Lauerbach

Teresa Lauerbach
is an economist and since 2016 Senior Adviser at the Urban Development Grants and Social Urban Development Division of the BBSR. Her research focuses on the analysis of small-scale urban development processes and the monitoring of urban development grant programmes.


Tobias Link
works in the Statistics and Urban Research Division of the Geoinformation and Urban Planning Department at the City of Mannheim. He is a member of the KOSIS Urban Audit Community.

photo: Antonia Milbert

Antonia Milbert
is a Senior Adviser and Principal Investigator at the Urban, Environmental and Spatial Monitoring Division of the BBSR. Her research focuses on spatial disparities and trends, amongst others, on sustainable, gender-responsive and equal regional development. She is responsible for BBSR’s spatial typification.


photo: André Müller

Dr. André Müller
is a Principal Investigator and Senior Adviser at the European (and International) Spatial and Urban Development Division of the BBSR. He is responsible for research projects, initiatives and conventions on urban and spatial development in the global and European context of the UN, EU and OECD and acts as bridge builder between science and policies. He focuses in his research on the multi-level analysis of the spatial and urban dimension of programmes and policies worldwide and in Europe as well as development dynamics and financial instruments oriented towards the transformation of cities and regions. Talks, lectures, visiting professorial scholarships and research cooperations took him to Harvard University in Boston, University of Toronto, University of Southern California in Los Angeles, SciencesPo Paris, Delft University of Technology, University of Bonn, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Aalto University in Helsinki, National Institute of Urban Affairs in New Delhi, Mitsubishi Research Institute in Tokyo, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements in Seoul, University of Hong Kong, Singapore University of Technology and Design and National University of Singapore.

photo: Dennis Mwaniki

Dennis Mwaniki
is a Spatial Data Expert at the Data and Analytics Unit of UN-Habitat – the United Nations Human Settlements Programme – in Nairobi, where he coordinates the global activities of UN-Habitat around geospatial data and associated monitoring activities. Among other things, he leads the monitoring of SDG 11.2.1 (Modal Split), SDG 11.3.1 (Land-Use) and SDG 11.7.1 (Open Public Spaces in Cities), which require the use of earth observation data and geospatial analysis techniques. He supports countries and cities in integrating associated tools into their urban monitoring processes. His vision is to see earth observation and geospatial data become mainstreamed one day into urban monitoring processes in all countries and cities.

photo: Robert Ndugwa

Dr. Robert Ndugwa
is the current Chief of the Data and Analytics Unit of UN-Habitat – the United Nations Human Settlements Programme – in Nairobi, where he leads the programme’s efforts in collecting and disseminating global urban statistical information and oversees the development of standards and norms for urban statistical activities including the integration of geospatial, statistical and other information. He also serves on various boards and represents UN-Habitat at various global statistical forums, such as the UN Geospatial Network, Global Forum on Human Settlements, UN Statistical Commission. He is keen in expanding key institutional and leadership networks to support a better understanding of the plight of the vulnerable urban population and how cities grow and function.

photo: Vivi Niemenmaa

Dr. Vivi Niemenmaa
is an expert in environmental governance and sustainable development. She is a Deputy Director at the National Audit Office of Finland in Helsinki and Secretary General of the Environmental Auditing Working Group of INTOSAI (International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions). This global network supports its 78 member countries by developing audit methodologies, facilitating cooperation and sharing best practices. At the National Audit Office, she develops approaches to sustainable development. She was awarded a PhD in Planning Geography by the University of Helsinki and is a recognised trainer (further information available at https://niemenmaa.net).

photo: Arvind Pandey

Dr. Arvind Pandey
is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy and Governance of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Hyderabad.





photo: Oliver Peters

Oliver Peters
is a Research Associate at the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Deutsche Institut für Urbanistik – Difu). His research and teaching focuses on sustainable development, natural resources and circular economic systems that can enable social well-being within the planetary boundaries. He is currently working on quantitative methods, indicators and geo-analyses as part of the SDG Indicators for Municipalities Working Group.

photo: Henrik Scheller

Dr. Henrik Scheller
is Head of the Public Finance and Economy Team at the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik – Difu) since 2015. He is responsible for a large number of interdisciplinary projects on municipal finance and budget management, including topics of fiscal sustainability and intergenerational justice. Many of his projects focus on the nexus between public investments and financing. Prior to his work at Difu, he held an interim professorship at the University of Potsdam. He is the Co-Editor of the Yearbook of Public Finance (Jahrbuch für öffentliche Finanzen), a transdisciplinary publishing project at the interface between science and administration.

photo: Volker Schmidt-Seiwert

Volker Schmidt-Seiwert
is a Principal Investigator and Senior Adviser at the European (and International) Spatial and Urban Development Division of the BBSR. He is responsible for the Continuous European Spatial Monitoring and focuses, based on GIS and regional statistics, on the analysis of spatial structures and development trends, with a particular orientation towards cartography and visualising spatial phenomena and concepts. He has been for a long part of activities and projects of the ESPON Programme – recently the ESPON SUPER Project dedicated to the subject of sustainable urbanisation and land-use practices in European regions.

Dr. Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé
is a Senior Researcher at Demos Helsinki.


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