I am a connector and team builder, an expert in - and passionate about - social innovation, a certified project and programme manager and a strategic thinker. Building on my academic knowledge – Business Science and MBA and PMP® – I have a long-track record supporting organisations and consortia in managing or leading complex, multi-disciplinary, transnational projects in different thematic areas and with integrated collaborative approaches. The areas I covered in the public sector - regional and local authorities - are social housing and housing policies, employment development and skills, and innovation and digital transformation. As a social innovation consultant, I worked on the topics of social entrepreneurship, and the arts, culture and creativity industry.

What drives me is supporting teams and people on a journey of positive transformation, the one we need in our cities, with innovation as an impactful and necessary instrument and approach. Social innovation is already changing the way local authorities, citizens, universities, civil society and businesses work together to achieve shared goals. It brings new ways of looking at and deal with challenges and transforms our places and communities to get us closer to a just and better future. 

I hold more than 16 years of experience leading and coordinating complex projects and programs, in collaboration with multidisciplinary partnerships, in international contexts and in different thematic areas. I have worked in the private and public sector and in executive positions in the regional administration, and in European projects in different programs (H2020, URBACT, Erasmus+ and InterregMED).

Since 2020 as a consultant, supporting organisations in the field of Social Innovation and the design and implementation of partnership projects using experimentation and co-creation of solutions to social challenges, developing tools and capacities; in the support to cities with the design and implementation of transfer models for innovations and good practises; in the capitalization of results in the CCI sector (Culture and Creative Industries);  in support programs for social entrepreneurship, especially for young entrepreneurs in vulnerable contexts; and, most recently, in city strategies in the framework of the 2030 Agendas and SDG alignment.  Evaluator of the European Institute of Technology Culture and Creativity.

I am European, born Spanish, grew up in Barcelona, and now also British. I live between the UK and Spain (Minorca). I am fluent in Spanish, Catalan and English. 

I look forward to working with you! Please feel free to drop me an email at monica.nagore@gmail.com

 

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I am senior consultant for green and health cities with experience of over 10 years. As a Lead Expert, I can bring knowledge and experience on topics of urban greening and nature-based solutions, urban health,  mobility, urban planning, social innovation and climate adaptation.  I also have skills in network management, knowledge transfer activities, and facilitation.

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Jose Costero is a sustainable urban policies management professional with 17 years of experience in Pamplona City Council, a medium-sized Spanish city. For the last 7 years, he has held the position of Director of the Strategic Office where he has driven the design and elaboration process of the Pamplona 2030 Urban Agenda, using strategic planning methodologies. One of his main tasks has been the coordination and leadership of the co-design and co-creation process through the governance model of the Urban Agenda, which has enabled the participation of more than 1,000 people and 100 key stakeholders in its design, facilitating co-responsibility and consensus around the strategic framework and the 57 projects identified. This has enabled the Pamplona 2030 Urban Agenda to be unanimously approved by all the local political parties, a pact for its development to be signed with 26 key agents, and the Spanish Government to recognise it as a good practice. The Pamplona 2030 Urban Agenda is a strategic plan that seeks to improve the quality of life of citizens through the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, in line with the New Urban Agenda, the European Urban Agenda and the Spanish Urban Agenda.

Another of Jose Costero's functions in Pamplona City Council has been to coordinate and manage international cooperation projects with partners from other countries in Europe, Latin America and China. In this sense, Jose Costero has participated in a multitude of international projects highlighting the URBACT Making Spend Matter Transfer Network, about responsible public procurement, the Horizon 2020 Stardust project, about smart cities innovative solutions, the Horizon 2020 oPEN Lab project, about generation of positive energy neighbourhoods with living lab methodologies, or the IEE ENGAGE project, about climate change and citizen participation.

In addition, Jose Costero has been responsible for attracting and managing external funding for projects of the Pamplona 2030 Urban Agenda, having managed to attract more than €30 million of Next Generation EU funds in the last 2 years, as well as promoting public-private cooperation projects.

Previously, Jose Costero has worked for 10 years as responsible for local sustainability policies managing projects and plans in areas such as: Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development Strategy, Sustainable Mobility, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors, Energy Transition and Renewable Energies, Urban Food and Agriculture, Biodiversity, Circular Economy, Gender Equality, Public Policy Evaluation, Environmental Education, Citizen Participation, and Digital Transition and New Technologies.

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Mar Santamaria-Varas is an architect and co-founder of the think-tank 300.000 Km/s (www.300000kms.net). She combines experience in strategic and integrated urban planning, participatory processes and data analytics for public policies, with a common goal of responding to the need for a green transition, fuelled by digitisation and leaving no one behind. She has solid experience advising various urban agents, including public administrations (national and local bodies), international organisations, scientific institutions, non-profits and citizens’ groups.

Her pioneering work in the field of urbanism has been recognized for its innovative quality and its impact on social transformation by the European Commission (S+T+ARTS Prize 2019), the Premio de Urbanismo Español 2019, the Premi Catalunya d’Urbanisme 2020 and an Honourable Mention of the UIA's Patrick Abercrombie Prize (2023), among others. Her work has been exhibited at international cultural institutions, including the Festival Ars Electronica (2021 and 2019), BOZAR Bruxelles (2020), the Chicago Arts Institute (2015) or the Centre for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona. She has also created specific content for the Venice Architecture Biennale in the Catalan (Air/Aire/Aria 2021) and Ukrainian Pavilions.

Mar has lectured at several international faculties (visiting lecturer at EPFL Lausanne, Welsh School of Architecture, TU Braunschweig, School of Architecture of Barcelona, IAAC, among others) and public institutions. She has written several scientific publications and other articles for a broad public in relevant national and international reviews and media.

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30-year career fully devoted to place-based economic development and innovative urban policies, with a special focus on the growing role of cities as key actors for change. In 2007, I start as international expert through my own advisory boutique TASO. Since then, and in parallel to numerous technical assistances and assignments, I´ve regularly been appointed (four times so far) as Lead Expert for URBACT  —in URBACT Kairos, the ambition was to fully realize the potential of heritage as a driver for sustainable urban development through an ad-hoc integrated approach; in URBACT InFocus, we addressed smart specialisation as an overarching approach capable to re-invigorate the local economic agendas; in the pioneering URBACT CityLogo, the ambition was re-learning city branding from an integrated and participatory urban development perspective; URBACT Creative Clusters was a systematic exploration on how to promote local creative ecosystems in small and medium-sized cities.

Thus, needless to say I enjoy a lot the ever challenging work of designing and conducting large-scale, transnational peer learning and capacity building projects leading to concrete action planning. In this framework (also including Interreg and H2020) I have supported over 40 cities, including Dublin, Oslo, Liverpool, Bologna, Vilnius, Frankfurt or Skopje. Further to Lead Expert, I have been engaged in other URBACT short-term missions, such as Ad-Hoc Expert or facilitator in past editions of the URBACT City Festival and the URBACT Summer University. It´s worth mentioning that, previous to my work as international expert, I was hired as CEO to launch Seville´s brand new Local Development Agency, where I promoted a renovated local economic agenda and had the opportunity to introduce a number of innovations on how Development Agencies are governed in Spain.

Thematic expertise:

• Communication > city branding

• Culture > urban heritage, cultural and creative industries

• Knowledge economy > innovation ecosystems, innovation spaces, smart specialisation

• Local economy > entrepreneurship and SMEs, cluster development, creative economy

• Strategic urban planning > urban agenda, urban regeneration, multi-level governance, small/medium-sized cities

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In 2018 I founded MGL with the aim of working in urban planning in the Balearic Islands from a local perspective. Today, from Palma, I am professionally developing plans and projects from a territorial perspective, municipal land use and zoning planning, landscape projects and public space execution in collaboration with various teams. With my knowledge in urban planning and having participated in European projects, I am also working to open up dialogue processes by developing processes of dialogue and co-creation with citizens.

I have combined work both in the private sector and in the public administration. Since 2016, I specialized in general and strategic urbanism, most recently in the Department of Urban Resilience of Barcelona City Council (2018-2020) and before that in the General Plan Office of Palma City Council (2016-2017). Previously, I worked at the Urban Strategies studio (2015-2016) in Toronto and at the Jonet-Llop-Pastor office in Barcelona (2013-2015). 

I was co-founder and I am coordinator of the Jane's Walk Palma's movement since 2016 and a member of the board of the Palma XXI association since 2018.

I have always had a strong interest for communications/journalism and international relations and have gained experience in very different positions in these sectors in the past 20 years: from working as an audiovisual journalist for various TV and radio stations to running the Strasbourg office of the international NGO and support programme of the Council of Europe “European Association of Local Democracy” (ALDA). For the latter I also managed a variety of European projects on human rights, participatory democracy and sustainable development in South East Europe and the Southern Caucasus.

In 2008, I moved my base to Valencia, Spain where I worked as Communications and Project Development Officer for the EU programmes INTERREG IIIC South and the INTERACT Point Valencia. In this period, I provided technical assistance and communication advice to Interreg, IPA or ENPI programmes across Europe and had my first contact with the URBACT programme.

Since 2014, I have been a freelance communications and international affairs expert, developing communication strategies and innovative communication tools for a variety of stakeholders and projects worldwide, from the European Commission, EU Delegations to FAO, local and regional authorities, NGOs, universities or private sector actors. I also give trainings in four languages (EN, FR, ES and DE) on all these issues and facilitate or moderate events on a regular basis. Since 2019, I even run my own communications agency which enables me to coordinate bigger campaigns and to work with a team of creatives on different projects including framework contracts for the Council of Europe and FAO.

Between 2021 - 2022, I gave technical communication assistance to the URBACT Action Planning Network KAIRÓS dealing with heritage as a means for urban regeneration. For me it is now a natural step to continue in this direction as an official ad-hoc URBACT expert and I look forward to accompanying other URBACT networks in the upcoming years. So don't hesitate to reach out to me!

 

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• More than 15 years of experience in facilitating transnational learning with city representatives in transnational peer learning projects funded by DG Migration & Home Affairs (AMIF), Regional Policy (UIA) and Justice (REC).
• Core areas of expertise are migration & integration, labour market integration and housing policies
• Experienced in using methods such as peer reviews, communities of practice, thematic benchmarking, mentoring and action learning in city-to-city exchanges.
• Lived in 4 EU member states -  proficient in 5 EU languages.
• Solid understanding of EU policy context in urban and a variety of sectoral policies.
• Enjoys working with city council staff from across Europe in knowledge transfer, action planning and project design.
• A strong believer in the value of well structured, managed and facilitated impact of transnational learning to trigger local change and innovation.

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I am Alberto Lorente Saiz. How can I help you? I'm a creative and proactive technician, who hold a degree in Geography (2011) and a Master's degree in Local Development and Territorial Innovation from the University of Alicante (2012). I also complemented my studies with a research stage on rural development and cooperativism, at the Estadual University of Maringa (Paraná - Brazil) in 2011, a research schoolarship funded by the Human Geography Department (2011) and by the Gender Studies Institute of the University of Alicante (2012) and also by 15 months of professional stage at Local Action Group Eloro (Sicily - Italy), asisting sustainable development and civic participation projects.

I have been the President of the Territorial Delegation of the Valencian Community of the College of Geographers (2015-2023). I am a member of the Board of Administrators of the Jean Monnet Association (since 2022). I am the Secretary of the ASEID Association (Association for Development and Entrepreneurship in the Alcoiá-Comtat Region) and I am responsible for the European projects area of CREA 360 SL. I have more than 10 years of experience in developing and managing European projects, having worked on projects related to sustainable urban development, citizen participation, regional development, tourism, innovation in education, and youth. Above all, I have dedicated myself to bringing European projects and "Europe" closer to smaller cities, developing EU projects for small cities in Spain and other European territories. I count on a long history of helping to implement URBACT projects and integrated urban development plans (Action Plans, Implementation Plans and Transfer Plans) at the local level with cities such as Medina del Campo, Ibi, Santa Pola, or Altea, in networks such as "City Centre Doctor", "Creative Spirits", "Volunteering Cities", "Active NGOs", "iPLACE" or "Health&Greenspace". In addition, I have a long experience in other European Union programs such as Interreg Europe, Erasmus Plus, Creative Europe or Europe for Citizens (CERV), working on very diverse topics from the perspective of peer learning, exchange of good practices, non-formal education, networking and capacity development. I have experience of having coordinated dozens of cooperation projects in the field of the Erasmus Plus program and Europe for Citizens (Network of Towns). Having also coordinated non-formal education activities, exchange of experiences and the development of educational products. Since 2018, I'm also external expert and evaluator of Erasmus cooperation projects for the Spanish National Agency (SEPIE).

Beyond European projects, since 2014 I have worked on the development of dozens integrated and sectoral "city plans", using civic pacticipation methods and integrated approach, highlighting examples as "The Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development Strategy of Medina del Campo","The Innovation Strategy of Vinaroz", "The Urban Agenda of Alcoy", the "Urban Agenda of Benissa", the "City Plan of Alicante", or the "City Plan of Santa Pola" (the first Urban Agenda in Spain). I also coordinated the regional plan for sustainable tourism at the Wine Route of Rueda (Spain) level (by the Interreg Europe Rural Growth project). Furthermore, I worked as technician in the development of the Regional Law about Civic Participation of the Region of Murcia (2014-2015). I also took part, as expert, in the participative processes of the strategic plans of the "Urban Agenda of Comunidad Valenciana" and the "Valencian anti-depopulation strategic plan", among others. In addition, I am an honorary collaborator of the Department of Human Geography at the University of Alicante since 2019, collaborating mainly as a guest lecturer in the Official Master's degree in Local Development and Territorial Innovation (since 2014), organizing specialized seminars and training courses, or participating as a guest lecturer in the Máster in Food City Design (University of Alicante - Università di Parma) in 2021 and 2022, or the E.M.C.T. Euromediterranenan Master in Cultures and Tourism Prof. Cosimo Notarstefano at the University of Bari (Italy) in 2018.

I have also participated in relevant international conferences and seminars such as the "Shapping Fair Cities" conference on the SDGs and the 2030 agenda, organized by the University of Bologna (Italy) in 2020, the "Merge Split 2019" (Croatia) conference, organized by the Association of Croatian Municipalities or the Peer Review about Depopulation organize in Coimbra (Portugal) in 2023 by Interreg Europe program.

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