Sofia Aivalioti

Healthy, green and climate-resilient cities | URBACT Lead and Ad-Hoc Expert 

Urban health and sustainability expert with 13+ years of experience, having worked with more than 30 European cities across 14 EU countries. I help cities turn health, nature and climate ambitions into actionable, integrated plans, working across FP7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, Interreg and URBACT as consultant, researcher, facilitator and educator. My strengths are One Health, Health Impact Assessment, nature-based solutions and urban greening, climate adaptation, multi-stakeholder engagement, social innovation combined with participatory methods that make peer learning practical. 

I understand very different governance and policy contexts, capacities and starting points. I can guide partners from shared learning to a context-specific Integrated Action Plan, with participatory methods, practical tools and a strong health, climate resilience and nature lens.

Main Skills
- Coordination and leadership: Experienced Lead Expert and project coordinator, guiding transnational partnerships, keeping partners aligned and delivering outputs on time, with a collaborative, solution-oriented style.
- Guidebook and report writing: Author of the One Health for Cities Guidebook (One Health 4 Cities), co-author of the URBACT Knowledge Hub guide on Social Data for Social Policies, and of project deliverables and reports across URBACT, Interreg and Horizon projects, written to be practical, structured and easy to act on.
- Tool development: Creative developer of transferable tools, including a One Health toolkit and a Health Impact Assessment methodology, designed so that cities with very different capacities can adapt and apply them.
- Peer learning and co-creation: Designer and facilitator of online and in-person workshops and knowledge-transfer activities, using participatory, co-creative formats that help cities learn from one another and develop their own Integrated Action Plans.
- Communication and dissemination: Clear, engaging communicator, experienced as keynote speaker and moderator at European and international conferences. I turn complex urban topics into messages and outputs that city staff, politicians and citizens can use.

Core Values
- Collaborative: I believe good urban solutions are built together. I bring cities, disciplines and stakeholders around the same table and make sure every partner is heard and has a role.
- Creative and innovative: I look for fresh, practical ways to approach familiar challenges, from workshop formats to tools, so that learning is engaging and ideas turn into action.
- Empathetic: I listen first and take into account each city’s context, capacity and constraints, so that support feels useful and respectful, not one-size-fits-all.
- Transparent: I work openly, with clear communication, shared methods and honest feedback, so partners always know where the process stands and why decisions are made.

Relevant Experience
- Lead Expert of the URBACT One Health 4 Cities network (2023–2025). I supported nine European cities in developing One Health Integrated Action Plans, bringing together human, animal and environmental health in urban policy and practice. Developed a guidebook and toolkit for One Health Implementation in Cities and I designed and led multiple knowledge transfer workshops.
- Ad-hoc Expert for the URBACT Healthy Cities network (2019–2022), where I contributed to Action Planning Network activities and led the development and implementation of a Health Impact Assessment methodology to help cities assess the potential health implications of proposed actions and strengthen the health dimension of local plans. 
- Project Coordinator of BEGIN & Biodiverse Cities (Interreg NS, 2018-2024). I have designed and coordinated multiple peer-to-peer online and in-person workshops. I delivered communication outputs and project deliverables. 
- Expert evaluator on Horizon Europe & EUI (2021-2026), on topics of climate adaptation, urban health, and environment.
- Lecturer at the postgraduate programme Urbanism and Health at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (2022-2024), focusing on Health Impact Assessment for urban development projects and city master plans and I have been guest lecturer at Sciences Po (Paris Institute of Political Studies) in Paris on One Health Implementation.
- Key-note speaker, speaker, workshop facilitator and moderator in over 15 European and International conferences on topics of urban sustainability, climate adaptation, urban health, nature and health and urban greening.

Education
- MSc in Environment and International Development, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
- MEng in Joint European Master in Environmental Studies – Cities & Sustainability, delivered through a collaboration involving Aalborg University, the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA) and other European universities.
- Visiting Scholar at Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School, focusing on climate adaptation of infrastructure in cities.
- Professional development program Pioneers into Action, Systems Thinking Design, Climate KIC.
- Certified Forest Bathing Guide and Forest Therapy Practitioner, Forest Therapy Hub.

Let's work together!