Ruxandra Aelenei

I am a versatile and progressive urban planner, architect, and educator, fascinated by the complexity of cities as ever-evolving systems. My professional endeavours focus on finding solutions that enhance the quality of life for all living beings, and I am convinced that a shift towards sustainable lifestyles, practices, and actions is not only achievable but also essential. I enjoy working on projects that focus on the interaction and integration of various urban topics, such as mobility, energy, greening, housing and liveability. 

Besides my activity as a lecturer in urban planning at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, I am regularly involved in organising and facilitating co-creative workshops, knowledge exchange activities, study tours, and trainings for international groups and individuals. I am currently supporting projects financed by the European Urban Initiative, having the following roles: 

•  Innovative Action Expert for the New European Bauhaus demonstrator project SOFTacademy in Tallinn (EE). In this role I provide content related advice and guideance to the city, I capture the learnings of the projects in project outputs and support the project team in various activities. The project focuses on demonstrating a model of collaborative pre-fabricated reinvention of modernist districts into cozy living environments. 
• Transfer Expert - In this role I facilitate and support the knowledge exchange between the Main Urban Authority and their Transfer Partners (three per project), ensuring  the testing and the replicability of the innovative urban solution in various European contexts. I provide tools, methods and support in identifying priorities, defining interventions and pilots, implementing and monitoring them. I support the following projects: 

1. Ground for Wellbeing (Amsterdam, NL) - Multiple climate and water-related risks, from house mould to pluvial flooding, threaten residents already facing poverty and health issues. The project builds on an understanding that soil life and groundwater are critical urban infrastructures for climate resilience and health and wellbeing.
2. Blue4Green (Bruges, BE) - As world heritage city shaped by the role of water, the City of Bruges is also particularly vulnerable to water risks and calls for a holistic and preventative approach optimising the green-blue strategic management. Acknowledging the inner canals are vital to make the city climate change resilient, the Blue4Green project aims at improving the quality and quantity of water supply to mitigate flood, drought and water stress risks.
3. REWILD (Gent, BE) - The project takes greening initiatives to the next level, developing a strategy to reduce soil sealing and deliver on the ‘No Net Land Take’ ambition. Focusing on overcoming the drivers and barriers hindering rewilding initiatives, solutions are tested in pilot projects in three of Ghent’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods.
4. FAVORIT+ (District 6 Bucharest, RO) - The project uses an integrated approach combining nature-based, technological and people-centred solutions to support sustainable renovation of large Soviet-era housing estates. It aims to create a new recipe for energy resilience and climate neutrality in dense urban environments including the use of bio-based materials (to replace polystyrene) and renewable energy sources (biosolar roofs). 
5. ZERO (Arnhem, NL) - The municipality of Arnhem is developing innovative solutions to alleviate grid congestion and ensure the sustainable growth of cities while meeting future energy demands. The solution being designed and piloted in this project integrates social, technological, and organizational perspectives. It empowers citizens to collaboratively create an urban energy plan for their neighborhood, resulting in a fair, sustainable, and future-proof energy grid.
6. CED for the Future (Utrecht, NL) - The City of Utrecht’s rapid population growth and increasing demand for renewable energy are exacerbating electricity grid congestion, delaying 90% of housing projects and hindering both urban development and the city’s decarbonisation goals. To overcome the challenge of grid congestion, the CED for the Future project pilots the Collective Energy District approach in Merwede, a new inner-city urban development project, in which all users at district level cooperate to collectively decrease peak energy demand, increase renewable energy integration and reduce grid congestion.

Throughout my career, I have worked on numerous projects and initiatives in The Netherlands, Romania, Estonia, Iceland, Italy, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain, Georgia, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Mozambique, and Uganda, and I am a firm believer in the power of knowledge sharing and learning from each other (from both successes and failures). I am dedicated to help creating beautiful, safe, and inclusive urban spaces by providing integrated urban planning advice and knowledge in cities, towns, and villages all over the world.  

Given my broad international experience in different environments, I am able to come up with tailor-made, fresh, and realistic ideas and approaches to tackle current challenges and to set things in motion. I work in an integrated way, looking at the big picture first before diving into details, and I enjoy collaborating with experts from various fields of work and disciplines in search of cross-sectoral solutions for urban and rural contexts.